What does Google say about SEO?

Should your alt attributes describe the image's context on the page, not just what's visually shown?

John Mueller Nov 03, 2022 ★★★

The alt attribute should not only describe the image itself, but also its context on the page. For example, for a beach photo on a hotel website, specify that it's the beach near the hotel.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos

Can you really rely on service workers for SEO success?

Martin Splitt Nov 01, 2022 ★★★

Service workers are optional features that may not be supported or may fail during registration. Browsers can refuse to register them, and sites must be designed to function even if the service worker fails to register.

Can Googlebot actually index a website that relies on service workers to display its content?

Martin Splitt Nov 01, 2022 ★★★

Googlebot cannot register service workers. If a site waits for service worker registration before loading main content via client-side JavaScript, the content will not be indexed and pages will remain empty for Google.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks

Does Googlebot really ignore the service workers on your site?

Martin Splitt Nov 01, 2022 ★★★

A service worker can change a site's behavior for a returning visitor versus a new visitor. Google assumes that people coming from search results are new visitors and therefore do not benefit from service worker features.

Can the JavaScript console really uncover critical rendering issues that hurt your SEO?

Dave Smart Nov 01, 2022 ★★

The JavaScript console in Google's testing tools can provide useful information about rendering issues, but its effectiveness depends on how well the site logs errors and events in the code.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Should you really inject console.log statements to diagnose Googlebot rendering failures?

Dave Smart Nov 01, 2022 ★★

To identify where a site fails during rendering, ask developers to add console.log statements at each step of the loading process, then rerun tests live to see exactly where the process stops.

Should you really verify rendered HTML in Search Console to diagnose your indexation issues?

Dave Smart Nov 01, 2022 ★★

In the URL Inspection tool of Search Console, you can view the rendered HTML to verify if the expected content is present. You can even search within this HTML to confirm the presence or absence of specific content.

Content Domain Name Search Console

Is your service worker secretly sabotaging your Google rankings?

Dave Smart Nov 01, 2022 ★★

In your browser's DevTools, under the Application tab, you can check 'Bypass for Network' to disable the service worker and see how your site behaves without it, which helps identify whether the service worker is causing problems.

AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

What are Google's live testing tools really showing you about your site's rendering issues?

Dave Smart Nov 01, 2022 ★★

Live testing tools like URL Inspection, Rich Results Test, and Mobile-Friendly Test allow you to see in the 'More Info' tab which resources were loaded successfully, failed, or were not attempted, helping you identify rendering issues.

Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Mobile SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Search Console

How can you use Search Console to uncover hidden indexation problems caused by service workers?

Dave Smart Nov 01, 2022 ★★

To diagnose indexation issues related to service workers, use Search Console to verify the number of indexed pages, identify 404 errors, and examine whether only the minimal HTML shell is indexed without the main content.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Search Console

Is developer collaboration really the breakthrough you need to unlock indexation problems?

Dave Smart Nov 01, 2022 ★★

When facing an indexation issue, you must quickly collaborate with developers by explaining the observed problem and retracing step-by-step how data travels from server to screen to identify where the process breaks down.

Content Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO

How can service workers accidentally hide your entire content from Googlebot?

Dave Smart Nov 01, 2022 ★★★

Intercepting normal content fetch requests exclusively in the service worker for offline functionality can prevent Googlebot from accessing this content, because the bot cannot benefit from service worker features.

Content Crawl & Indexing

Your page is indexed but invisible: is it a technical issue or simply outranked by competitors?

Dave Smart Nov 01, 2022 ★★

Before investigating technically, you must first check whether an indexed but non-visible page isn't simply ranking poorly due to competition or content issues, rather than a technical indexation problem.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Can product structured data really help you stand out in Google SERPs, or is it just table stakes now?

Alan Kent Oct 31, 2022 ★★★

Adding product structured data to your web pages helps your product pages stand out in Google search results.

Domain Age & History E-commerce AI & SEO

Do structured product data really improve Google's understanding of your content?

Alan Kent Oct 31, 2022 ★★★

Adding structured product data helps Google better understand the content of your web pages.

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO

Does Google really want to show rich product snippets in search results, or is it just pushing you toward Google Shopping?

Alan Kent Oct 31, 2022 ★★★

By providing Google with information such as ratings, prices, availability, and other product details via structured data, Google can display this additional information directly on the search results page.

Domain Age & History E-commerce AI & SEO Local Search

Are URLs with hash (#) really invisible to Google?

John Mueller Oct 26, 2022 ★★★

Most of the time, the part located after the hash symbol (#) in a URL is ignored by search engines during crawling and indexing. Only the part before the hash is used for indexing.

Content Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Do URL hash fragments (#) create separate pages in Google's eyes?

John Mueller Oct 26, 2022 ★★

URLs containing a hash symbol (#) are used to create links to a specific section of a page. The part before the hash is the page address, the part after is the reference to a precise location. In terms of crawling and indexing, it is always the same ...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Domain Name

Can JavaScript Really Change How Google Treats URL Hash Fragments?

John Mueller Oct 26, 2022 ★★★

There is an exception to standard hash processing in URLs: when JavaScript on the page performs special actions with these URL fragments. In this case, processing can be different and falls under JavaScript site management.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Do You Really Need to Translate Your URLs to Match Your Content Language for Better Rankings?

John Mueller Oct 24, 2022 ★★★

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that it is not mandatory to assign web pages written in a language a URL in the same language: "There is no need to use English URLs if the content is not in English. Keywords in URLs are a bit overrated, so I wouldn...

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Social Media International SEO