What does Google say about SEO?

Search through official Google statements about search engine optimization

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9052 statement(s) found
Does the target attribute in links really have an impact on Google SEO rankings?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★
Google completely ignores the 'target' attribute in HTML links because it only concerns browser behavior (opening in a new tab, frame, etc.). Only the 'href' attribute matters for crawling. A link without href or with an empty href is considered to p...
Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure
Is Google Search Console really the only source of truth about your actual performance?
Martin Splitt Mar 22, 2022 ★★★
Google Search Console offers information based on real user data, particularly through the Page Experience report. This data reflects how Google actually sees your site and how different users experience it in the real world.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO Search Console
Do you really need to migrate your microdata to JSON-LD for structured data?
Martin Splitt Mar 22, 2022 ★★
Both structured data formats, microdata and JSON-LD, are accepted by Google. If a site already uses microdata, it may be more efficient to update it rather than convert everything to JSON-LD, even though JSON-LD is popular.
Structured Data AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO
Does Google really expect developers and SEO teams to finally work together?
Martin Splitt Mar 22, 2022 ★★
Google offers tools that facilitate collaboration between developers and SEO professionals, such as Chrome DevTools and Search Console, which enable analysis of how the site is built and how it performs in actual search results.
Search Console
Could testing your site across different browsers be the missing link to your SEO success?
Martin Splitt Mar 22, 2022 ★★
It's crucial to test how a site renders across different browsers, machines, and mobile devices, because users access websites in many different ways that standard development testing doesn't always cover.
Mobile SEO
Do you really need to wait a full year to evaluate SEO performance on a seasonal site?
Martin Splitt Mar 22, 2022 ★★
For sites with seasonal variations, it is important to collect data over a complete year before drawing definitive conclusions, as user behavior and performance can vary significantly depending on the periods.
AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console
Does Google really choose page titles independently of what users actually search for?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★★
Page titles displayed in search results are now chosen based on the page itself, rather than on the user's search query. You can use a 'site:' search to see the currently indexed title and resubmit the page for reindexing to refine the titles.
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO
Discovered but not indexed: Has Google really never crawled these pages at all?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★★
When a page appears as 'discovered - currently not indexed' in Search Console, it means Google has seen a link to it but has not yet crawled it. The next step would be 'crawled - not indexed' before eventual indexation.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Discover & News AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Search Console
Why Is Google Refusing to Index a Technically Perfect Website?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★★
More and more sites are technically correct (sitemaps, internal links) but Google doesn't index all their content because the quality bar is rising. It's no longer enough to be technically sound and spam-free: content must be perceived as truly criti...
Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam Search Console
Should you still bother fixing broken redirects years after a migration?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★
For a failed migration in 2020 with many broken links, after two years, fixing those redirects will probably make little difference anymore. What mattered was capturing the lost external links at the time of migration. After this delay, the impact is...
AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Redirects
Is switching from a ccTLD to a gTLD really enough to conquer new international markets?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★★
Switching from a ccTLD (country domain) to a gTLD (generic domain) to target other countries completely changes the level of competition. Ranking well locally doesn't guarantee ranking globally: you need a generic domain and long-term work, not just ...
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Local Search International SEO
Subdomain or subdirectory: Does Google really have a preference?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★★
Google does not prefer either subdomains or subdirectories. Using blog.example.com or example.com/blog is equivalent from an SEO perspective. What matters is that both parts of your site are well-connected to allow signal passage.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO Domain Name
Why Do Click Counts Differ Between Page-Level and Query-Level Reports in Search Console?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★
The differences between page-level and query-level clicks in Search Console are explained by anonymized queries. At the page level, all data is visible, but certain low-volume queries are not displayed in the detailed report to protect user privacy.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console
Do structured data errors really block your pages from being indexed?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★★
A page can be indexed even if structured data is incomplete, incorrect, or absent. A page can even be indexed if the HTML is completely broken. Schema.org errors absolutely do not block a page from being indexed.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Structured Data
Does internal linking really show Google which pages matter most on your site?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★★
Internal linking allows you to signal to Google what matters on your site. For seasonal or priority content, you need to create visible links from your home page. Google follows these signals to determine which pages to prioritize and crawl faster.
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure
Should you really remove all breadcrumb schemas except one to avoid confusion?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★
If a page contains multiple contradictory breadcrumb schemas, Google may ignore them all and try to determine the structure itself, particularly from the URL. You must have only one set of breadcrumb structured data per page, even if multiple breadcr...
Domain Age & History Structured Data AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name Pagination & Structure
Why are your CSS background images invisible to Google Images?
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022 ★★★
Images embedded via the CSS 'background-image' attribute are generally not detected for Google Images. Google focuses on the img tag with its src attribute, the picture element, or direct links to image files. To be indexed, an image must use these s...
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos Links & Backlinks PDF & Files
Do User Engagement Signals Really Influence Google Rankings?
John Mueller Mar 21, 2022 ★★★
John Mueller explained during a webmaster hangout that Google does not take into account "engagement" (i.e., interactions: time spent on page, bounce rate, number of pages viewed on the site, traffic, scroll, conversion rate, etc.) on a page as a rel...
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO
Do Links in Editorial Content Actually Carry More SEO Weight Than Footer or Sidebar Links?
John Mueller Mar 21, 2022 ★
John Mueller explained during this same webmaster hangout that the search engine takes into account all outbound links from a page, whether they are in the editorial content or around it (header, footer, sidebar, navigation menu). But that the algori...
Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure
Can a 500 Error on Your robots.txt Really Block Your Entire Site Crawl?
John Mueller Mar 21, 2022 ★★★
Still in this hangout, John Mueller indicated that if, when the bot attempts to read a site's robots.txt file, it received a server error (5xx type) via a CDN or not, this resulted in a loss of display of its rich results (obtained through the presen...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Local Search
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