What does Google say about SEO?

Does Schema Markup Really Help You Appear in AI-Generated Answers?

John Mueller Jan 06, 2026 ★★★

In a statement he specifies represents only his personal view (and not Google's), John Mueller nuances the impact of Schema on LLMs. According to him, effectiveness varies depending on the feature and how each search engine or LLM uses this structure...

Domain Age & History Content Structured Data E-commerce AI & SEO International SEO

Why Can't Google Announce Its Core Updates in Advance?

John Mueller Dec 23, 2025 ★★

On Bluesky, John Mueller responded to an article by Barry Schwartz regarding Core Updates. According to John Mueller, it is impossible for Google to announce a precise date in advance for these updates, as these improvements are rolled out as soon as...

Algorithms Content Discover & News E-commerce AI & SEO

Should You Really Migrate Your Entire Site to Preserve Your SEO?

John Mueller Dec 23, 2025 ★★★

In an exchange with a user on Bluesky, John Mueller clarified his position on using the address change tool in Search Console during a non-standard migration. When asked whether the address change tool can be used when a few old URLs are still receiv...

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Redirects Social Media Search Console

Why do so many SEO professionals still confuse robots.txt and no-index? Here's what you need to know

Google Dec 18, 2025 ★★★

robots.txt and no-index are completely different. robots.txt tells crawlers not to explore a URL, while no-index tells them not to include the URL in the index. If you block with robots.txt, Google cannot see the no-index tag. Use robots.txt to contr...

Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Should you really optimize your entire site after an algorithmic update?

Google Dec 18, 2025 ★★

To plan improvements after a ranking drop caused by an algorithmic update, you need to make improvements across your entire site, not just on individual pages. You must examine your entire site and identify where improvements can be made.

Algorithms Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Is Search Console finally giving you the AI visibility you need—or just keeping you in the dark?

Google Dec 18, 2025 ★★★

Search Console now displays clicks, impressions, and other metrics from AI features like AI Overviews. Overall traffic is covered, although it's currently unclear whether your specific page was cited by the AI.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Local Search Search Console

Do you really need to optimize your site differently for Google's AI Overviews?

Gary Illyes Dec 18, 2025 ★★★

For AI Overviews and Google's AI mode, the technical infrastructure remains the same as traditional SEO: standard indexing and crawling. There are no additional structured data or specific optimizations needed for these AI features.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Is Google Trends really a strategic tool to guide your SEO editorial strategy?

Google Dec 18, 2025 ★★

Content creators can use Google Trends to identify popular topics among their audience. It is recommended to configure the target region, compare terms and subjects, and explore trending questions related to the topics covered to find relevant conten...

Content AI & SEO

Can Search Console truly reveal what your audience is really searching for?

Google Dec 18, 2025 ★★

The performance report in Search Console shows the main queries generating traffic to your site. This allows you to infer your audience's interests and identify queries for which you're not well positioned but should be.

AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console

Is SEO really dead or just undergoing a transformation right before our eyes?

Gary Illyes Dec 18, 2025 ★★

The first mention of 'SEO is dead' dates back to 1998. SEO has never stopped existing; it has simply evolved with search engines and users. Current changes are primarily driven by Generation Z, which seeks more direct and easily accessible informatio...

AI & SEO

Does content quality directly impact your Google indexation rate more than you think?

Gary Illyes Dec 18, 2025 ★★★

To improve indexation rates, you must publish content that users will find useful and of high quality, created with expertise. If content is not useful or interesting to users, indexation rates decrease. Quality is essential.

Content Crawl & Indexing

Does a sitemap really guarantee that Google will index all your pages?

Google Dec 18, 2025 ★★

Using sitemaps facilitates Google's discovery of your content. While this doesn't guarantee indexation, from a technical standpoint, you must ensure Google knows where your content is located and that it can be explored without obstacles.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Search Console

Is your CDN or firewall silently blocking Googlebot without you even knowing it?

Gary Illyes Dec 18, 2025 ★★

CDNs and firewalls can add rules that automatically block Google's traffic, sometimes without your intervention. It's important to regularly check your CDN or firewall to ensure no rules are blocking the crawling of your content.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing

Does Google really use the Knowledge Graph to identify topics in Trends, or is it just keyword grouping?

Google Dec 18, 2025 ★★

Topics in Google Trends come from Google's Knowledge Graph, which is a collection of entities representing real-world people, companies, and events. The association between search queries and topics is based on understanding the context of user searc...

Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO

Does Google's search index really have a hard capacity limit?

Gary Illyes Dec 18, 2025 ★★★

Google's index has a technical limit and is not infinite. However, it is dynamic: pages enter and exit the index. If you publish higher-quality content than a competitor, that competitor may be removed from the index and your content may take its pla...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Does traditional marketing really matter for ranking higher on Google?

Gary Illyes Dec 18, 2025 ★★

With high competition, you need to convince users to visit your site through marketing techniques: social networks, creative advertising, etc. When people visit your site naturally, Google is more likely to appreciate your site as well.

Content AI & SEO

Does structured data really have no impact on your SEO rankings?

Google Dec 18, 2025 ★★★

Structured data has no influence on ranking in search results. Its function is solely to help Google understand and display your content in an enriched manner.

Content AI & SEO Local Search

Should you really have all your automatic translations checked for SEO purposes?

Gary Illyes Dec 18, 2025 ★★

For automatic content translations, it is necessary for a person to verify the quality to ensure that the translation is at least comprehensible. A simple method is back-translation to verify that the meaning has not been altered, although linguistic...

Content AI & SEO Images & Videos International SEO

Should you abandon AEO and GEO acronyms in favor of the classic SEO approach?

Danny Sullivan Dec 17, 2025 ★★★

SEO remains the general term that encompasses all practices for optimizing search engines, including new AI formats. Acronyms like AEO, GEO, or others are simply sub-categories of SEO, not entirely separate disciplines.

AI & SEO International SEO

Should you really ignore AI Overviews in your SEO strategy?

Danny Sullivan Dec 17, 2025 ★★★

Google officially confirms there's nothing really different to do for the new AI formats. Content creators don't need to adapt their SEO strategy specifically for AI Overviews or generative formats.

Content AI & SEO