What does Google say about SEO?

Is it true that Google is holding back on new meta tags in SEO?

Gary Illyes Nov 11, 2021 ★★

Google resists the introduction of new meta tags. When an internal team proposes a new tag, there is a strict verification process to prioritize existing tags instead. For example, to control translations, it is preferable to use the robots meta tag ...

International SEO

Why is the rel=canonical tag still crucial for SEO today?

Gary Illyes Nov 11, 2021 ★★★

Although Google could technically identify similar content without the rel=canonical tag, this tag remains important because it gives website owners control over the canonical URL displayed in search results. Google uses rel=canonical aggressively in...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name

Why does Google include URIs in robots.txt?

Gary Illyes Nov 11, 2021 ★★

When standardizing robots.txt, Google expanded the language to accept URIs (not just URLs) to avoid creating new crawling control mechanisms for every new type of URI that might emerge on the internet. This includes, for example, deep links from app ...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name International SEO

How are structured data essential for SEO control?

Martin Splitt Nov 11, 2021 ★★

Structured data operates as a control mechanism, allowing websites to explicitly indicate their consent for Google to understand certain information (product, price, etc.) and use it in specific features. It’s an implicit agreement to provide this in...

E-commerce AI & SEO

Will Structured Data Become Obsolete for SEO?

Gary Illyes Nov 11, 2021 ★★

In 10 to 15 years, with advancements in machine learning, Google may be able to automatically identify page attributes without structured data. At that point, structured data could primarily serve as an override mechanism, allowing for corrections to...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Why is Google focusing on intelligent crawling instead of pushing?

Gary Illyes Nov 11, 2021 ★★★

Google is skeptical about generalized push submission interfaces due to massive spam. The priority is to be smarter in crawling to avoid wasting resources. If everyone pushes all their pages via API, it would create the same prioritization problems w...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Penalties & Spam

Should you be wary of machine-generated content to avoid SEO penalties?

Gary Illyes Nov 11, 2021 ★★★

Google's current position is that machine-generated content without human supervision is unwelcome in Search. If someone reviews it before publication, then it's acceptable. This topic warrants in-depth discussion as there is highly articulate and un...

Content AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Are Links Really Still Essential for SEO?

Gary Illyes Nov 11, 2021 ★★★

Links aren't going anywhere because they are fundamental building blocks of the web (they are part of HTML). Google has improved its handling of links and may not need as many as people believe to rank well, but they remain essential.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks

Why are alt attributes crucial for image SEO?

Gary Illyes Nov 11, 2021 ★★★

While Google can detect the general subjects of images, it still cannot precisely distinguish between similar objects (grapefruit vs orange) or identify all details. Google will continue to rely on alt attributes and surrounding text. Over time, dete...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos Mobile SEO

Is it true that voice search is really going to transform SEO as we know it?

Martin Splitt Nov 11, 2021 ★★

Voice search will not become the number one concern for SEOs. It changes the input modality and potentially the phrasing of queries, but not the fundamental use of natural language to retrieve information on the internet. There’s no need to overly wo...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO International SEO

Are Key Moments Exclusive to Main Video Results?

Danielle Marshak Nov 09, 2021 ★★★

Key Moments can appear for results where a video is the main content of the page, but they do not currently appear for pages that mix videos with other content, such as a news article or an e-commerce product detail page.

Domain Age & History Content Discover & News E-commerce AI & SEO International SEO

How does Google leverage voice recognition to enhance the SEO of videos?

Danielle Marshak Nov 09, 2021 ★★

Google employs voice recognition technology to analyze the spoken words in a video in order to identify the key topics being discussed and pinpoint the significant moments.

AI & SEO

How could OCR change the way we approach SEO for videos?

Danielle Marshak Nov 09, 2021 ★★

Google uses optical character recognition (OCR) to search for text displayed in videos, which can indicate important sections of the video.

Content AI & SEO

How does Google leverage visual signals to make sense of video content?

Danielle Marshak Nov 09, 2021 ★★

In certain limited cases, Google can use visual signals to understand what is happening in a video, such as when a goal is scored in a soccer match. Google plans to add more use cases for visual signals in the future.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos

How does Google really analyze your videos?

Danielle Marshak Nov 09, 2021 ★★★

To analyze your videos, Google must be able to retrieve your video content files. Use the contentUrl property in the schema.org VideoObject markup to identify the URL of the video file, ensure that Googlebot can access this file, and that it is in a ...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Structured Data Images & Videos Domain Name PDF & Files

How do expired URLs sabotage your Key Moments in SEO?

Danielle Marshak Nov 09, 2021 ★★★

A common pitfall is that websites sometimes use frequently changing expired URLs as a method of access control. Unfortunately, this also prevents Googlebot from retrieving your video file, meaning Google cannot analyze the video to identify Key Momen...

Crawl & Indexing Domain Name PDF & Files

How can you secure your video files by restricting access to trusted crawlers?

Danielle Marshak Nov 09, 2021 ★★★

If you're concerned about unwanted access to your video files, you can display a stable version of your content URL only to trusted crawlers like Googlebot. Follow the guide in the developer documentation to verify if a requester is Google.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure PDF & Files Local Search

Why is it essential to set up video URLs for Key Moments?

Danielle Marshak Nov 09, 2021 ★★★

To support Key Moments, video page URLs must accommodate a parameter that starts playback from a specific number of seconds into the video. For example, t=30 indicates that the video should start playing from the 30-second mark.

Domain Age & History Mobile SEO Domain Name

Is it true that Google hides video content URLs from users?

Danielle Marshak Nov 09, 2021 ★★

Google does not publicly expose video content URLs. They are used solely for internal processing. The links that Google shows in the search results are the URLs of your web pages where the videos are integrated.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Local Search

How can you leverage SeekToAction markup to enhance your video SEO?

Danielle Marshak Nov 09, 2021 ★★★

In your VideoObject markup, include a potentialAction property of type SeekToAction with a target property containing the URL of your video page, with a placeholder (seek_to_second_number) where Google can insert the number of seconds to skip to in t...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name