What does Google say about SEO?

Why does creating a sitemap expose more technical problems than it solves?

John Mueller May 05, 2022 ★★

The sitemap creation process forces website owners to crawl their own site and understand the technical details of crawling: URL parameters, session identifiers, link structure. This exercise often reveals crawlability problems.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Pagination & Structure Search Console

Are session identifiers in URL parameters still sabotaging your site's crawlability?

Gary Illyes May 05, 2022 ★★

Session identifiers in URL parameters create a pseudo-infinite number of URLs for search engines, making crawling impossible. This widespread problem in the 2000s was revealed to webmasters when they created their sitemaps.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Search Console

Does submitting your URLs via API really guarantee indexation without Google crawling them?

John Mueller May 05, 2022 ★★

Even if URLs are submitted directly via APIs like the Indexing API or IndexNow, search engines must still crawl the pages to confirm that the content matches. This prevents mismatches between what is submitted and the actual content.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Does hreflang really boost your ranking in a targeted country?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

Having a local version of a page via hreflang does not make that page rank better. Google simply swaps the URL displayed in search results for the local version if it is indexed, but at the same ranking position.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Local Search International SEO

Should you really reduce the number of pages to optimize your international SEO?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

In internationalization, having fewer pages is almost always better than having more pages. If content doesn't need a specific local version, it's better not to create it to facilitate maintenance.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Local Search International SEO

Does Google really use domain authority to rank websites?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

Google does not use a domain authority (domain authority) concept. It's a third-party metric developed by other companies, not by Google.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Is your content trapped behind buttons that Googlebot refuses to click?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

Googlebot doesn't click on buttons during crawling. If an age verification interstitial blocks content loading and requires a click, this can block indexation and crawling.

Content Crawl & Indexing

Are JavaScript interstitials really safe for your SEO?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

Displaying an interstitial via JavaScript or CSS on top of already-loaded content is acceptable to Google Search and is not considered cloaking, as long as the main content can be loaded normally.

Content JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure Penalties & Spam Local Search

Does Google penalize you for translating content between languages?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

Translating a page from one language to another is not penalized. Google considers this as creating new content with new words and phrases, which can be crawled and indexed normally.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing International SEO

Should you really use Google's Indexing API for all your content?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★

The Indexing API is designed for very specific types of content. Using it for other content types doesn't really make sense, although it's not illegal or problematic.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Can Googlebot actually access your .htaccess file?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★

Googlebot generally cannot access the .htaccess file because servers are configured to block external access. However, Google sees the effects of this file since it controls how the server responds to requests.

Crawl & Indexing PDF & Files

Does Google really give its own platforms an unfair advantage in search results?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

Content hosted on Blogger, Google Sites, or other Google platforms receives no special treatment in search results. It must be discovered, crawled, and indexed like any other content on the web.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Does the meta description really impact your Google rankings?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

The meta description is primarily used as a snippet in search results and is not used for ranking. However, a good snippet can make your page more attractive to users and increase clicks.

Domain Age & History Content

Should you really choose your structured data based on the rich results you're targeting in the SERPs?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★

Instead of asking which structured data to use for a given site type, you must first identify which visual attributes you want to see in search results, then implement the appropriate structured data for these features.

Images & Videos

Does Google really use only main content to identify language on multilingual pages?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

Google bases language determination on a page's main content. If the main content is in English but there is a lot of content in another language, Google can become confused about the page's actual language.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO International SEO

Does Google really ignore your page titles when the language doesn't match your content?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

If a page title is in German but the main content is in English, Google will struggle to determine what to display in search results and will completely ignore the titles you've provided.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Local Search International SEO

Can a technical bug during a Core Update really cause your site to crash in rankings?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★★

The information used for Core Updates is collected over the long term. A technical problem that occurred just at the time of an update launch would not suddenly cause a drop. The effects observed result from problems over a longer period.

Algorithms Content AI & SEO

Can technical problems really trigger a ranking drop during a Core Update?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★

Technical problems are generally not triggers for Core Updates because they differ from quality issues. Some 404s or scattered broken links would not trigger quality algorithm interventions.

Algorithms Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Can poor machine translations really sabotage your international SEO strategy?

John Mueller Apr 29, 2022 ★★

Using low-quality automatic translations that are indexed can lead Google's algorithms to treat these pages as poor quality and not classify them as good pages.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO International SEO

Is creating truly 'useful' content really the secret to ranking on Google?

Kenichi Suzuki Apr 26, 2022 ★★★

To succeed in SEO, you must provide something useful and helpful to users. You cannot create content for yourself, but instead must think about what users need and what they're searching for.

Content AI & SEO