What does Google say about SEO?

Search through official Google statements about search engine optimization

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9293 statement(s) found
How Does Overall Website Quality Actually Impact Individual Page Rankings?
John Mueller Jun 21, 2021 ★★★
John Mueller explained during a webmaster hangout that when Google's algorithms analyze a page, its context (meaning the site it belongs to and the quality of that site) also comes into play: "there are certain signals that we cannot reliably collect...
Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO
Should You Always Place Unique Content Above the Fold for SEO?
John Mueller Jun 21, 2021 ★★★
John Mueller also explained during a hangout that it was important in terms of SEO for unique, descriptive and original content to be displayed in the "above the fold" content (above the fold line, therefore readable without scrolling in a browser) w...
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos
Why Should Structured Data Focus on the Main Element of a Page?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
Structured data should apply to the main element of each page and should not be copied and pasted throughout the site. Using the same structured data on all pages would be incorrect.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO
Why does Google insist that reviews be published directly on your site?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
Reviews displayed in structured data must be based on feedback that is actually posted on your site. Using selected reviews from third-party sites is against the guidelines and can result in manual action.
AI & SEO Penalties & Spam Local Search
Do incorrect structured data really have no impact on SEO rankings?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
Non-compliant structured data does not affect a site's ranking. It only influences how the information is displayed in search results.
How can you effectively manage out-of-stock products with SEO?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
For temporarily out-of-stock products, several approaches work: marking as out-of-stock, using a 404 code, adding a noindex tag, or keeping the page at 200. All these strategies are acceptable for SEO.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Pagination & Structure
Why don’t individual product fluctuations affect your SEO?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★
Inventory fluctuations of individual products are normal and do not affect the site's overall ranking. If the entire site suddenly becomes unavailable, that's different, but variations of individual products are expected.
E-commerce AI & SEO
How can you enhance keyword visibility to capture attention?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
Important keywords should be made as visible as possible: in titles, headings, subtitles, and image captions. Don't worry about whether Google can reach the 20000th word, but instead, make the subject of the page obvious.
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos
What makes Google favor a copy over the original content?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
Google can generally determine which content is original, but it may be valid to rank a copy higher if it provides additional value such as relevant comments, analyses, or further discussions.
Content AI & SEO
How does your site's quality impact the indexing of duplicated content?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
If a site is considered to be of low overall quality, Google might choose to display a copy of the content published on a higher-quality site rather than the original. Investing in the overall quality of your site is important.
Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Local Search
How Does Hreflang Really Impact Your SEO?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
Hreflang does not change page rankings. It only allows for the exchange of the displayed URL in search results based on the user's language and region. Geotargeting can influence rankings, but not Hreflang.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO Domain Name International SEO
Is it true that the disavow file poses no risks for your SEO?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
The disavow file is purely technical. It simply instructs Google to disregard certain links. It is not a signal that you are a spammer. You can modify the file as many times as necessary without negative consequences.
Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks PDF & Files Penalties & Spam
Why does Google prioritize user data for Core Web Vitals?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
For SEO, Google utilizes field data derived from real users, visible in Search Console. Testing tools provide lab data that is useful for diagnosing issues, but it does not reflect what Google uses for ranking.
AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console
Why does Google overlook direct traffic as a ranking factor for SEO?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
Google does not use direct traffic as a ranking signal. Google anyway lacks a reliable measure of direct traffic.
AI & SEO
Should breadcrumbs really reflect the URL structure?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★
Structured breadcrumbs do not need to match URL structure. You can have a flat URL structure with hierarchically organized breadcrumbs. If you use structured markup, Google will utilize it instead of guessing from the URL.
Domain Age & History Structured Data Domain Name Pagination & Structure
Is linking to the same page twice from the menu an SEO blunder?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★
Linking to the same page twice from the menu with different anchor texts has no negative impact. It does not provide any SEO advantage but is not problematic if justified by user experience.
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Pagination & Structure
Does the length of a URL really have no impact on your SEO?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
Short URLs do not rank a site better. The observed correlation comes from the fact that important pages are often closer to the root. URL length is just a minor factor during canonicalization, with Google preferring shorter URLs for display.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name
Why doesn’t Google index all of your content?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
Google has no guarantee of indexing all the content of a site. The number of indexed pages fluctuates naturally over time, even without changes to the site. It is technically impossible to index all the content from all websites.
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing
Does the overall quality of your site really affect crawl demand?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★★
To achieve more consistently indexed content, improving the overall quality of the site is the most effective approach. This increases crawl demand, signaling to Google that the content is important to crawl and index quickly.
Content Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO
Does the content of 404 pages have any SEO impact at all?
John Mueller Jun 19, 2021 ★★
On a page returning a 404 or 410 status code, Google ignores all the content of the page, including robots meta tags and rel canonical links. What you put on a 404 page is completely irrelevant to Google.
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing
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