What does Google say about SEO?

Can social media really coexist with your website in Google Images results?

John Mueller Aug 07, 2025 ★★

Web pages from a website and those from social networks containing the same image are very different in their context, so they can coexist in web search results. In image search, Google might recognize duplicates and group them, but this doesn't prev...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos

Should you really create a dedicated page for every image on your website?

John Mueller Aug 07, 2025 ★★★

If you want your images to be individually discoverable, create unique landing pages for each image with unique descriptive text. This helps Google understand that it's the main image of the page with supplementary information, rather than a gallery ...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos

Are URL fragments (#) killing your image visibility in Google search results?

John Mueller Aug 07, 2025 ★★★

Using URL fragments (#) to display individual images is problematic because it doesn't create distinct, indexable landing pages. It's better to have unique URLs for each image if you want them to be discoverable individually.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Images & Videos Domain Name Local Search

Are responsive images really enough to boost your Google rankings?

John Mueller Aug 07, 2025 ★★

Using responsive images (different versions for different devices) is a good practice, but it won't get your site to rank in the top position. These are best practices to follow, but you need to do more to rank well on generic terms.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos Mobile SEO PDF & Files

JPEG, WebP, AVIF: Which image format should you choose for SEO in 2025?

John Mueller Aug 07, 2025 ★★

Google supports multiple image formats including JPEG, AVIF, WEBP and BMP. JPEGs work everywhere and are acceptable, but other modern formats are also supported. The complete documentation lists all supported formats.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos Pagination & Structure PDF & Files

Why aren't your videos showing up in Google's video search results?

John Mueller Aug 07, 2025 ★★★

For a video to appear in video search results, it must be the primary element on the page. When users click on a video thumbnail, they expect to see a video, not a large photo gallery with a random video attached.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos

Do custom URLs on third-party platforms really hurt your SEO rankings?

John Mueller Aug 06, 2025 ★★★

A custom URL created on a third-party communication platform (such as a community forum) has no negative impact on the main website's search engine optimization. This configuration is perfectly acceptable to Google.

AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure

Subdomain vs separate domain: Does Google really make a difference for your SEO?

John Mueller Aug 06, 2025 ★★★

Google attempts to index both the main site and the support site, whether they're on different subdomains (support.example.com vs www.example.com) or on completely different domains. Both versions are treated independently.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO Domain Name

Does Google really prioritize support sites for help-related queries?

John Mueller Aug 06, 2025 ★★★

Google tries to recognize when a user is performing a search related to support and displays the support site in the results accordingly. Each site is shown in search results when it's appropriate.

AI & SEO Local Search

Should you host your customer support on the same domain for SEO benefits?

John Mueller Aug 06, 2025 ★★★

Having a support site on the same domain name with a different subdomain, or even on a completely different domain name, is a perfectly normal configuration that causes no SEO problems whatsoever.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Should You Use LLMS.txt to Optimize Your SEO for AI?

Gary Illyes Aug 05, 2025 ★★★

Gary Illyes recently stated on Bluesky that the LLMS.txt file, designed to "control" LLMs' access to web content, strongly resembles the meta keywords tag from the 1990s, which quickly became obsolete and ineffective. He thus highlights the little in...

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure PDF & Files

Is Classic SEO Really All You Need to Rank in AI Search?

Google Aug 05, 2025 ★★★

Fabrice Canel, Product Manager at Bing, states that to optimize visibility in AI Search, simply following usual SEO best practices is sufficient—a view shared by Google. In a recent blog post, his team emphasizes the importance of XML sitemaps, the l...

Content Crawl & Indexing Discover & News E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO PDF & Files Local Search Search Console

Should You Already Be Optimizing Your E-commerce Site for Conversational AI Agents?

John Mueller Aug 05, 2025 ★★★

John Mueller suggests that e-commerce site owners should check whether their stores are accessible to AI agents, such as those used through ChatGPT for shopping. An experiment conducted in Switzerland showed that some sites remained inaccessible due ...

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO

Is Google Really Using MUVERA to Revolutionize Its Search System?

Gary Illyes Aug 05, 2025 ★★★

During an exchange at Search Central Live, Gary Illyes confirmed that Google uses a method similar to MUVERA, an innovative multi-vector search technique compressed into fixed vectors, which enables fast and accurate retrieval at scale. MUVERA combin...

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Is title truncation in Google search results actually hurting your SEO?

John Mueller Jul 30, 2025 ★★

According to John Mueller, truncation of product names in Google search results does not constitute a violation of guidelines. Google can shorten titles displayed in search results for display reasons, without penalizing the site.

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO

Should You Delete Past Event Pages or Keep Them for SEO?

John Mueller Jul 29, 2025 ★★★

John Mueller provided practical advice on the SEO management of web pages for shows, events or performances once they have ended. He compares this situation to that of out-of-stock products in e-commerce, emphasizing that there is no universal soluti...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console

Do You Really Need a New 'GEO' Strategy to Show Up in Google's AI Overviews?

Gary Illyes Jul 29, 2025 ★★★

Google confirms that no particular optimization is necessary for AI Overviews and AI Mode. Gary Illyes has clearly established that traditional SEO practices are more than sufficient to rank in the new AI-powered search features. The company emphasiz...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO Pagination & Structure International SEO

Should You Use a Noindex Header to Protect Your llms.txt Files from Google Indexing?

John Mueller Jul 29, 2025 ★★

John Mueller answered a question about llms.txt files and their potential impact as duplicate content. He explained that these files would only be considered duplicate content if their content was identical to an HTML page, which wouldn't make sense ...

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Should you really use the canonical tag to manage tracking parameters?

Google Jul 25, 2025 ★★★

Google recommends using the actual Canonical URL tag to prevent the appearance of tracking parameters in search results. It's a practical and effective method to indicate the preferred version of the page.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Should you use noindex or robots.txt to manage tracking parameters? Here's what Google actually recommends

Google Jul 25, 2025 ★★

Meta noindex tags and the robots.txt file are alternatives for managing URLs with tracking parameters. Each method presents advantages and disadvantages that must be weighed according to your context.

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