What does Google say about SEO?

Search through official Google statements about search engine optimization

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8789 statement(s) found
Should you still optimize keyword density for SEO in 2025?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★★
Google does not use optimal keyword density. Its systems recognize a page's topic even without mentioning keywords. However, it is preferable to be explicit and use the same terminology as your users.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO
Can a 404 code targeting Googlebot block the indexing of your pages?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★★
If your server returns a 404 code only to the Googlebot user agent while users can see the page normally, Google considers that the page does not exist and cannot index it. It's a server configuration error.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing
Why does Google refuse to index dynamic multilingual content on a single URL?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★★
To add a language to a site, you must create separate URLs for each language version. Automatically swapping content on the same URL doesn't work for search engines. You also need to create internal links to these versions.
Content Links & Backlinks Domain Name International SEO
How should you properly set up canonical and alternate tags for an m-dot architecture?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★★
For a site with desktop and m-dot versions: the desktop version is always the canonical URL. On desktop, place a rel canonical pointing to itself and a rel alternate pointing to m-dot. On m-dot, place only a rel canonical pointing to desktop.
Crawl & Indexing Images & Videos Domain Name
Are image EXIF data really useless for SEO?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★
Google does not use image EXIF data for SEO. The only image metadata currently used is IPTC.
Domain Age & History Images & Videos
Should you update your sitemap's lastmod date every time you make a minor change?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★
The lastmod date in an XML sitemap file should indicate when content has changed enough to justify a new crawl. If comments are critical to the page, their date can be used.
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Search Console
Should you really separate news sitemaps and general sitemaps to avoid duplicate URLs?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★
Including the same URLs in both a news sitemap and a general sitemap causes no problems, although it's not ideal. It's generally simpler to have separate sitemaps.
Crawl & Indexing Discover & News Domain Name Search Console
Is Google really ignoring your carefully crafted meta description in favor of something else?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★★
Google does not guarantee the use of the meta description you write. Snippets are auto-generated and can vary depending on the user's search query. Google uses different parts of the page according to relevance.
Domain Age & History Content
Does disavowing toxic backlinks really help you recover your lost rankings after a penalty?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★★
Disavowing spammed links you created can help algorithms trust your site again, but it will not reposition your site as it was before. You need to work to rebuild your reputation from the ground up.
Algorithms AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam
Why do 301 redirects remain absolutely critical when migrating to a new domain?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★★
When changing a company name that modifies URLs, the most important thing is to ensure that old URLs redirect to new ones with 301 redirects. You then need to verify the new domain in Search Console.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Redirects Search Console
Does Google really require identical content on mobile and desktop for mobile-first indexing to work?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★★
For mobile-first indexing, you must provide the same content on both mobile and desktop versions of your site, and ensure that both users and Google can access both versions.
Content Crawl & Indexing Mobile SEO
Do you really need to request removal of redirected URLs from Google's index?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★
After moving content with 301 redirects, there is no need to request the removal of old URLs from the index. This happens automatically over time. If old URLs appear in specific searches, this is normal.
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Domain Name Redirects
Does verifying your site in Search Console really improve your SEO rankings?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★
Having a verified site in Search Console or changing the verification code and method has no effect on indexation or ranking. Search Console provides data to improve your site.
Crawl & Indexing Search Console
What happens when your hreflang links fail to validate completely?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★
Hreflang clusters are formed with validated links. If an hreflang link cannot be validated, it will not appear in the cluster, but the cluster will be created with the other valid links. Pages marked noindex are not eligible.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks International SEO
Are 'Made by X' footer links really safe for your SEO?
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023 ★★
Footer links like 'made by Squarespace' that come with the theme are not problematic. If you control the link, it is recommended to add nofollow and verify that the anchor text is reasonable.
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks
How Can XML Sitemaps Help You Manage Internal Duplicate Content?
Gary Illyes Jan 30, 2023 ★★★
Gary Illyes explained on LinkedIn that it's important, when a site has internal duplicate content, to indicate in the XML Sitemap the URL of canonical pages to help Google properly distinguish between canonical and duplicate pages: "It's normal to ha...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name PDF & Files Social Media Search Console
Can Two Websites Share the Same Brand Name Without SEO Penalties?
John Mueller Jan 23, 2023 ★★★
John Mueller explained on Mastodon that the fact that two sites have the same name, the same "brand" (but of course not the same domain name...) does not pose a problem for Google in technical terms (and not in legal terms)...
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name
Does Google Really Use Web Page Traffic as a Quality Indicator for Content?
John Mueller Jan 23, 2023 ★★★
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that traffic on a web page is not necessarily representative of the quality of its content. A page can have low traffic and still be very relevant: "Traffic is not a measure of the usefulness or quality of content (....
Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Social Media
Do you really need to stack three layers of product data to impress Google?
Alan Kent Jan 17, 2023 ★★
To get started, it is advisable to begin with structured data on web pages, then add an automatic Google Merchant Center feed that creates a feed from page content, and finally move to a high-quality direct product data feed.
Domain Age & History Content E-commerce
Why settle for Google-only Schema.org when Bing, Yandex and other search engines are already exploiting it?
Alan Kent Jan 17, 2023 ★★
Schema.org markup is used by search engines beyond Google. It is therefore useful to consult the schema.org website to understand the broader range of structured data available for e-commerce sites.
Domain Age & History Structured Data E-commerce
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