What does Google say about SEO?

Is it true that Google rejects overly granular robots.txt directives?

David Price Dec 21, 2021 ★★

Adding overly specific directives in robots.txt to control specific features creates interpretation problems when those features evolve. This is why robots.txt remains intentionally simple and high-level.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Is robots.txt really enough to control your site's crawl?

David Price Dec 21, 2021 ★★

Robots.txt provides webmasters with a simple and autonomous way to control which crawlers can access their site, without requiring complex processes. It is a lightweight but effective control mechanism.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Who really created Google's robots.txt parser?

Gary Illyes Dec 21, 2021 ★

Google's original robots.txt parser was written by Jeff Dean in 1998-1999, after Matt Cutts proposed the idea of supporting the protocol. It was very basic at first, with only a few lines of code.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Is it true that Google completely refuses to modernize the robots.txt format?

Gary Illyes Dec 21, 2021 ★★

Google refuses proposals to move robots.txt to the .well-known directory or to convert it to JSON. The simple text format at the root of the site has worked for 25 years, and adding complexity brings no benefits.

Content Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO

Why don't valid rich results guarantee visibility in Job Search?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★★

For Google’s Job Search, even if the rich results test detects no issues, it doesn't guarantee that job listings will consistently appear in search results. Technical validation does not ensure visibility.

Domain Age & History Content Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO

Is it true that you can't aggregate reviews from other websites in your structured data?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★★

For Aggregate Rating structured data, it is strongly advised not to include reviews from other sites. This practice likely violates the guidelines and can lead to penalties.

Local Search

Does hiding mobile content with CSS really sabotage your Mobile-First indexing?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★★

Hiding content with CSS on mobile while keeping it in the source code goes against the purpose of Mobile-First Indexing. Google will index this hidden content, but the mobile user will not see it, creating a problematic inconsistency.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO

Is it true that hidden content in accordions and tabs is indexed by Google?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★★

It is acceptable to hide content by default on mobile (accordions, tabs) as long as the user can access it by clicking or interacting. Content that is completely inaccessible to the user poses a problem.

Content Mobile SEO Pagination & Structure

Why is Google so silent about massive indexing problems?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★

Regarding indexing issues and 'Discovered - not indexed' pages, Google continues to receive reports and forward them to technical teams, but has no new information to communicate at this time.

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

Google Office Hours: Why might your SEO question never get answered?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★

Google Policy Office Hours is designed to provide precise technical advice based on Google's guidelines and products, not to debate the ideal state of SEO. The team focuses on concrete, actionable issues.

Content E-commerce

Why does the number of URLs in Search Console's Web Vitals vary each month?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★

The number of URLs detected in the Search Console Web Vitals report can vary monthly because the data is based on a sample of Chrome traffic. These variations are normal, and it is essential to observe trends rather than absolute numbers.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Domain Name Search Console

Should you really ditch geolocation redirects in favor of hreflang?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★★

For multilingual and multi-regional sites, Google strongly recommends using hreflang rather than automated redirects based on geolocation to ensure proper indexing of all language versions.

Crawl & Indexing Local Search Redirects International SEO

Does the employmentType field in JobPosting structured data really impact query matching?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★★

The 'employmentType' field in Job Posting structured data is primarily used for internal job search filters (like 'full-time'). It does not match search terms with the text of the description.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Mobile SEO

Is it really necessary to have strictly identical content between mobile and desktop for Mobile-First Indexing?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★★

With Mobile-First Indexing, Google uses the mobile version for indexing and ranking. If mobile content is reduced compared to the desktop version, mobile users may not find the expected information. It is strongly recommended to have the same content...

Content Crawl & Indexing Mobile SEO Search Console

Are geo-targeted redirects using cookies considered cloaking by Google?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★★

Redirecting users based on their geolocation (via cookies) is not considered cloaking as long as Googlebot sees the same content as users. However, this can limit the discoverability of alternative language versions.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos Penalties & Spam Local Search Redirects International SEO

Why are your Page Experience metrics fluctuating when you haven't changed anything?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★

Variations in the Page Experience report from Search Console, even without changes to the site, may result from changes in the size or composition of the sample of analyzed URLs.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Domain Name Search Console

Do IP redirections really block the indexing of your multilingual content?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★★

If automatic IP-based redirections prevent Googlebot from accessing certain language versions of a site, those pages might not be indexed or displayed in the appropriate search results.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Redirects

Could A/B testing actually risk cloaking in Google's eyes?

Google Dec 21, 2021 ★★★

For A/B tests following the official recommendations (using canonical tags, 302 redirects), there is no risk of cloaking, even if tests last several weeks or months, as long as the guidelines are followed.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Penalties & Spam Redirects

Do you really need to nofollow your affiliate links to avoid a Google penalty?

John Mueller Dec 20, 2021 ★★★

John Mueller indicated during a hangout with webmasters that Google does not penalize (in fact, does not trigger a manual action against) a site that has not marked its affiliate links as "nofollow" or "sponsored". Even though this type of attribute ...

Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam

Do Special Characters in Title Tags and Meta Descriptions Really Improve SEO?

John Mueller Dec 20, 2021 ★★★

John Mueller reminded on Twitter that special characters (such as ✓, ▷, ➡ or others) play no role whatsoever in the search engine algorithm.

Algorithms Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Social Media