What does Google say about SEO?

Is ranking now just a matter of bidding?

Gary Illyes Jul 29, 2021 ★★★

The results page operates like an auction house where different types of results (featured snippets, web results, images, videos) bid for specific positions based on their scores. Certain elements, such as featured snippets, can only bid for the top ...

Domain Age & History Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Images & Videos

How does Google adapt to user preferences for universal results?

Gary Illyes Jul 29, 2021 ★★★

Google learns to display images, videos, or other types of results based on user behavior. If enough users click on the Images tab for a given query, it teaches Google that this query deserves images.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos Pagination & Structure Local Search

How does Google's 'Universal Mixer' influence your SEO strategy?

Gary Illyes Jul 29, 2021 ★★

Google uses a system called 'Universal Mixer' that receives results from all the different indexes (web, images, videos, news) and combines them together. Each index assigns a score to its results that are then mixed according to a bidding system.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Images & Videos International SEO

Why does Google share its systems between ads and SEO crawling?

Gary Illyes Jul 29, 2021 ★★

Googlebot is not only used for web crawling but also to retrieve landing pages for ads with a different user agent. The retrieval systems are modular and shared among different teams and features.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should You Rethink How You Track Clicks with Search Console?

Gary Illyes Jul 29, 2021 ★★

Search Console logs impressions at a certain position without necessarily specifying the type of result (featured snippet, regular result). When a user clicks, it records the click for that page, that query, and that position, and then aggregates thi...

Domain Age & History Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Search Console

How does Google truly rank images based on their destination pages?

Gary Illyes Jul 29, 2021 ★★

For image results, Google ranks destination pages differently as the emphasis is placed on the image itself, not necessarily on the destination page. The ranking systems are modular, allowing for the integration of various methodologies.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos

Does Dedicated Hosting Really Improve Your SEO?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★★

John Mueller indicated in a video that having your site hosted on a dedicated server (non-shared) had no impact in terms of SEO. And he added that, conversely, "using shared hosting is perfectly acceptable and has no negative impact on your site in G...

Content AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Can Core Updates Make Your PAA and Featured Snippet Rankings Disappear?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★★

John Mueller explained during a webmaster hangout that Google's "core updates" could impact the frequency of PAA (People Also Ask) appearances in the SERPs. Sometimes they may appear more often following an algorithm update, and sometimes the opposit...

Algorithms Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO

Should You Block Your Empty Results Pages to Avoid Soft 404 Errors?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★★

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that "no results" pages on a website can be flagged as Soft 404...

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

How Can Listening to Users Transform Your SEO Strategy?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★

Any website that cares about its users in the long run should monitor feedback and work on improvements over time. Users can help identify problems early on and guide towards new opportunities.

AI & SEO

How does Google prioritize user feedback for SEO?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★

Google Search receives an enormous amount of user feedback. It can sometimes be challenging to prioritize them. It's more about identifying critical areas for improvement and concentrating on those.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

How can the Google Feedback link change the way you approach SEO?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★★

The most straightforward way to give feedback on search is to use the Feedback link at the bottom of search result pages. This feedback goes directly to a Google team for review, organization, and prioritization.

Domain Age & History Links & Backlinks

How can the Google Search Help Forum enhance your SEO audits?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★

There is a community help forum for Google Search where you can submit issues for experts to verify. Experts can escalate discussions to Google if necessary.

AI & SEO

Could reporting problematic content on Twitter actually enhance your SEO?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★

If something is highly problematic (objectively incorrect, misleading, offensive, or inappropriate), it might be helpful to report it to the public Google accounts on social media like Twitter for a swift improvement.

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Local Search Social Media

How Can You Effectively Report an SEO Issue to Google?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★★

When reporting an issue, it is crucial to facilitate the recognition of the scale and scope of the problem. Provide at least one common query that many users might use, highlighting the issue as clearly as possible.

AI & SEO

Does Google really adjust individual search results by hand?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★★

In practice, it doesn't make sense to manually adjust search results. The web is enormous and constantly evolving, and users are asking new questions every day.

How does Google prioritize SEO issues based on urgency?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★

Google prioritizes reported issues in various ways. Some things need to be addressed as soon as possible, while others can wait until Google works on a specific part of its systems again.

AI & SEO

How do global algorithm adjustments affect your SEO?

John Mueller Jul 27, 2021 ★★★

Google's objective is generally to improve the algorithms that assemble search results as a whole, rather than adjusting things for individual queries. This process can take time but ultimately enhances the search experience for all.

Algorithms AI & SEO

How should you configure canonical tags for multilingual websites?

John Mueller Jul 23, 2021 ★★★

For international sites with different language versions, each version constitutes unique content. Each page should have its own canonical tag pointing to itself, even if the content is translated. The canonical is defined by language, while hreflang...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO International SEO

Does translated content really count as unique by Google?

John Mueller Jul 23, 2021 ★★★

Even if the source content is identical, once translated into another language, Google considers it as unique content. Therefore, each language version must have its own canonical.

Content Crawl & Indexing International SEO