What does Google say about SEO?

Is CLS really a full-fledged Google ranking factor you can't ignore?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★★

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is defined by Google as one of the three Core Web Vitals. These are factors that Google considers important for user experience across all web pages.

Domain Age & History Web Performance

Are your images sabotaging your CLS without you even knowing it?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★★

Images can contribute to Cumulative Layout Shift problems if they are used incorrectly, particularly when the browser does not know their dimensions before the page renders.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos Web Performance

Does specifying image dimensions really fix Cumulative Layout Shift?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★★

Fixing CLS issues can be as simple as including image dimensions in your HTML markup. This way, the browser knows exactly how much space to reserve for the image.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos JavaScript & Technical SEO Web Performance

Does LCP really measure how fast your main content appears on screen?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★★

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures the time needed to display the main content on screen. Like CLS, it's a Core Web Vital metric.

Content AI & SEO Web Performance Local Search

Should you really prioritize loading your hero images to improve LCP?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★★

Large hero images at the top of the page should be downloaded as a priority because they can affect the page's Largest Contentful Paint score.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos Web Performance

Is lazy loading really hurting your above-the-fold images and LCP?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★★

Performance degradation can occur if lazy loading is used for above-the-fold images. Recent versions of Lighthouse report if a lazy-loaded image impacts LCP.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos Web Performance Search Console

Why is PageSpeed Insights the performance tool you should prioritize for SEO?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★

PageSpeed Insights is a useful tool because it presents both lab data and field data in a single report.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console

Can HTTP/2 really boost your site's performance without major technical overhaul?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★

With HTTP/2, browsers can download multiple images more efficiently in parallel over a single network connection. An HTTP/2 site can also push images to the browser before it even requests them.

Domain Age & History HTTPS & Security Images & Videos

Should you really convert all your images to WebP for SEO?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★

The WebP format is now supported by nearly all browsers in use, making it a strong combination of efficiency and adoption for web images.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos

Are lab data really enough to optimize your Core Web Vitals, or do you need real user metrics?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★

Field data collected from real users demonstrates whether you've truly solved a problem for your users, unlike lab data which has significant limitations.

AI & SEO Web Performance

How is the Chrome User Experience Report revolutionizing the way you measure your website's actual performance?

Alan Kent May 06, 2022 ★★

Field data can be collected via the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX), which makes anonymized Chrome data available for popular websites.

AI & SEO

Should you really keep the 'priority' tag in your sitemaps?

John Mueller May 05, 2022 ★★★

Google does not use the 'priority' tag in sitemap files. This information is explicitly mentioned in Google's official documentation. Website owners tend to mark all their pages as priority, making this data unusable.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Should you really remove the 'changefreq' tag from your sitemaps?

Gary Illyes May 05, 2022 ★★★

Google does not use the 'changefreq' (change frequency) tag in XML sitemap files. It is impossible for site owners to accurately predict how often a page will actually change, making this information unreliable.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Why does Google ignore the 'lastmod' tag in your sitemaps?

Gary Illyes May 05, 2022 ★★★

Google does not use the 'lastmod' (last modified) tag in sitemaps because it is highly unreliable. Websites often update this date for minor changes such as HTML tags or copyright notices, without any actual modification to the main content.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Search Console

Should you still bother filling in the lastmod tag in your XML sitemaps?

Gary Illyes May 05, 2022 ★★

Unlike Google, Bing uses the 'lastmod' tag from sitemap files. Google doesn't use it due to its poor reliability, as sites often update it without any significant content changes.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Does submitting a sitemap really guarantee that Google will crawl your URLs?

Gary Illyes May 05, 2022 ★★★

Submitting a sitemap does not guarantee that Google will crawl the listed URLs. The sitemap simply indicates to Google that these URLs exist, without any instruction to crawl them. The process of what enters the crawl queue is far more complex.

Crawl & Indexing Domain Name Search Console

Should You Stop Using Video and Image Tags in Your XML Sitemaps?

Gary Illyes May 05, 2022 ★★

Google is considering deprecating certain video and image sitemap extension tags that have equivalents in structured data. This would avoid conflicts between sitemap data and structured data, the latter always being up-to-date upon page rendering.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name Search Console

Does a crawlable site really guarantee better user navigation?

John Mueller May 05, 2022 ★★

A site that's easily crawlable by search engines also allows users to navigate and discover deep content. If the site is crawlable, users can click and explore, which is the ultimate objective.

Content Crawl & Indexing Pagination & Structure

Should you replace sitemap extensions with structured data?

Gary Illyes May 05, 2022 ★★

Certain tags and attributes from sitemap extensions (video, image, etc.) have equivalents in schema.org structured data. It is preferable to provide this information through structured data because analysis happens in one place and the data is more c...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Structured Data AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name Search Console

Should you update lastmod when adding structured data to your pages?

John Mueller May 05, 2022 ★★

Adding structured data to a page can be considered a significant change that justifies updating the lastmod date, even if the user sees no visual change. This can allow search engines to display different snippets.

Domain Age & History Structured Data AI & SEO Images & Videos Pagination & Structure Local Search