What does Google say about SEO?

Are tracking parameters damaging your search visibility? Here's why Google shows them—and how to fix it

Google Jul 25, 2025 ★★

Tracking parameters can appear in Google search results. This is a common issue that requires action to maintain a clean search presence and user-friendly experience.

AI & SEO

Do CSS class names really affect your search engine rankings?

Martin Splitt Jul 24, 2025 ★★★

CSS class names have no effect on search engine optimization. They are simply identifiers used to assign styling rules to HTML elements. You could name them all 'blurb' without any SEO impact, though it would be difficult for developers to maintain.

AI & SEO

Why does Google require your CSS files to be crawlable?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2025 ★★

Google's guidelines indicate that CSS files must be crawlable, which suggests they have a certain importance for the page indexation and rendering process.

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

Is CSS ::before and ::after content really invisible to Google?

Martin Splitt Jul 24, 2025 ★★★

Content added via CSS pseudo-elements ::before and ::after does not appear in the DOM and will therefore not be taken into account by crawlers and accessibility tools. This content should only be used for decorative elements.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Why does Google fail to recognize hashtags generated through CSS ::before?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2025 ★★★

The indexation team reported a case where a site used CSS ::before to add the # symbol in front of keywords. The indexation system did not recognize these hashtags because the # symbol was not in the HTML but added via CSS.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Why aren't your CSS background images ever showing up in Google Images?

Martin Splitt Jul 24, 2025 ★★★

Images loaded via CSS background-image are considered decorative. If an image is integral to your content (product photo, infographic referenced in text), it must use an or tag to be properly indexed by Image Search.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Images & Videos

Could strict HTML and CSS separation be the missing piece in your indexation strategy?

Martin Splitt Jul 24, 2025 ★★★

There exists a fundamental principle of the web: content must be in HTML and presentation in CSS. Crawlers and accessibility tools parse HTML for content, not CSS. Violating this principle can prevent proper indexation.

Content Crawl & Indexing

Does 100vh really cause indexation problems for your hero images?

Martin Splitt Jul 24, 2025 ★★

Using 100vh (100% of the viewport height) for hero images can cause problems with the Inspect URL tool due to viewport expansion used during rendering. However, the content remains accessible in the DOM and should be indexed normally.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO Domain Name Search Console

Why can Google Search Console screenshots mislead you about your site's indexation?

Martin Splitt Jul 24, 2025 ★★

To verify how Google sees a page, you must always look at the rendered HTML rather than the screenshot, because Google uses a technique called viewport expansion that can produce misleading screenshots.

Domain Age & History Content Mobile SEO

Why does Google require <img> tags for stock images instead of CSS?

Martin Splitt Jul 24, 2025 ★★

Even though stock images probably won't be indexed (Google acknowledges they already exist elsewhere), from a semantic standpoint, if they're part of the page's content, they should be in the HTML with tags, not in CSS.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos JavaScript & Technical SEO

Can CSS Harm Your SEO Just Like JavaScript Does?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2025 ★★

CSS is like JavaScript: it's perfectly acceptable to use it (everyone does), but it offers a lot of flexibility and power, which can sometimes lead to building things that don't work as intended for SEO.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure

Why Won't Google Index Your Content Despite Flawless Technical SEO?

John Mueller Jul 22, 2025 ★★★

On Bluesky, John Mueller indicated that if a technically sound site is poorly indexed by Google, it often means that Google considers its quality or relevance insufficient. Google does not index all content: only sites and pages deemed useful, releva...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure

Why Does Google Struggle to Properly Index Your Login Pages and Member Areas?

John Mueller Jul 22, 2025 ★★★

John Mueller explained on Bluesky that login pages for services (such as analytics or billing interfaces) are difficult to rank well in Google or Bing search results. These pages requiring authentication pose problems for search engines that struggle...

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

Should You Hide Information from Structured Data If It's Not Publicly Visible?

John Mueller Jul 22, 2025 ★★★

On Bluesky, John Mueller explained that information not visible to logged-out users should not appear in structured data. If content, such as a product's price, is only displayed to logged-in users, it should not be marked up or communicated to Googl...

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO

Is It Really Safe to Modify Your Website to Test and Improve Your SEO?

John Mueller Jul 22, 2025 ★★

In the Search Off The Record podcast, John Mueller and Martin Splitt stated that it is perfectly acceptable to modify your site in order to test or improve your search engine rankings. However, you need to consider the risk/benefit ratio: running a t...

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Search Console

Can you display different prices based on geographic location without triggering an SEO penalty?

John Mueller Jul 22, 2025 ★★

It is possible to display different prices for the same product across different US states on a website. Google can handle this price variation in search results, provided the implementation is correct and transparent to users.

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

Can you really control which sitelinks Google displays under your search results?

John Mueller Jul 17, 2025 ★★★

There is currently no direct way to prevent a specific subpage from appearing as a sitelink in Google search results. Google does not offer a granular control mechanism to manage sitelink display at the level of individual pages.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Should you block a page from being indexed just to prevent it from appearing as a sitelink?

John Mueller Jul 17, 2025 ★★★

The only workaround solution to prevent a subpage from appearing as a sitelink is to completely block its indexation. However, this approach will also prevent the page from appearing in all search results, not just as a sitelink.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks

Can you really control which sitelinks Google displays in search results?

John Mueller Jul 17, 2025 ★★

Webmasters do not have precise control over which pages appear as sitelinks in search results. Google automatically determines these links based on their relevance and usefulness to users.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Does hreflang really block geographic access to your website?

Martin Splitt Jul 16, 2025 ★★★

The hreflang attribute does not block or restrict access to a website from other countries. It is a signal for language and regional targeting by search engines, not a geographic access restriction.

Domain Age & History International SEO