What does Google say about SEO?

Should you really disavow all your incoming links?

John Mueller Jun 04, 2021 ★★★

The link disavowal tool is only useful if the site has a manual action or risks one. Disavowing links from low-authority sites or common spam links has no positive effect.

E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam

How do pagination and breadcrumbs shape Google's understanding of your site?

John Mueller Jun 04, 2021 ★★

Google employs pagination and breadcrumbs to gain a better understanding of a site's internal structure. Removing these elements changes how Google perceives the architecture of the site.

AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Are Late 301 Redirects Really Effective in Preserving SEO Authority?

John Mueller Jun 04, 2021 ★★★

If the old content still exists and a copy is created on a new URL, Google can automatically transfer the signals even without a redirect. If the content is deleted and then moved, Google loses the signals. Adding a redirect too late does not recover...

Domain Age & History Content Domain Name Redirects

Is it true that AMP is no longer needed for the Top Stories carousel?

John Mueller Jun 04, 2021 ★★★

AMP is no longer mandatory to appear in the Top Stories carousel. Google is now concentrating on Core Web Vitals and page experience factors. AMP continues to be an easy method for achieving good performance.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Mobile SEO Web Performance Search Console

How can deleting a sitemap in Search Console impact your SEO?

John Mueller Jun 01, 2021 ★★★

To remove a sitemap in Search Console, navigate to the Sitemaps menu, click on the relevant sitemap file, then click on the three-dot menu in the top left and select 'Remove sitemap'. Google will then stop tracking this sitemap file.

Crawl & Indexing Pagination & Structure PDF & Files Search Console

How can deleting a sitemap through HTTP codes transform your SEO strategy?

John Mueller Jun 01, 2021 ★★★

You can also remove the sitemap file from your site so that it returns a 404 or 410 HTTP code. Over time, Google's systems will stop trying to use this particular sitemap file.

Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Does removing a sitemap truly have no effect on the crawling of your URLs?

John Mueller Jun 01, 2021 ★★★

Removing a sitemap file does not prevent the crawling of the URLs that were specified in that sitemap. The sitemap just helps in crawling more efficiently.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name PDF & Files Search Console

Why is a sitemap essential for optimizing your SEO?

John Mueller Jun 01, 2021 ★★★

A sitemap file assists Google in discovering new and slightly updated pages more quickly. This is why Google generally recommends using a sitemap.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Search Console

How Does a Sitemap Really Enhance Your SEO Strategy?

John Mueller Jun 01, 2021 ★★

A sitemap file helps Google crawl your site more effectively, which is the main reason why its use is recommended.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Search Console

How Do Redirects Actually Impact Your Core Web Vitals Scores?

John Mueller May 31, 2021 ★★★

John Mueller indicated during a webmaster hangout that redirecting one URL to another will also transfer the Core Web Vitals scores (LCP, FID, CLS) before they are recalculated for the new URL...

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Web Performance Redirects

Should you choose a ccTLD or Search Console settings for effective SEO geotargeting?

John Mueller May 28, 2021 ★★★

For geotargeting, there are two possible methods: using a country code top-level domain (for example, .de for Germany) or using a generic domain (.com, .net, .info, .eu) with the geotargeting parameter in Search Console. Hosting in the targeted count...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Search Console International SEO

Is it true that translated content isn’t considered duplicate by Google?

John Mueller May 28, 2021 ★★★

Translated content is not considered duplicate content because it consists of different words and letters. However, a low-quality automated translation may be perceived as low-quality content or automatically generated by the webspam team.

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Penalties & Spam International SEO

Why does Google ignore the sitemap priority attribute?

John Mueller May 28, 2021 ★★★

Google does not use the priority attribute in sitemap files.

Crawl & Indexing PDF & Files Search Console

How Does the Sitemap Lastmod Attribute Really Influence Google's Crawling?

John Mueller May 28, 2021 ★★★

Google uses the lastmod attribute (last modified) in sitemap files to optimize crawling.

Crawl & Indexing PDF & Files Search Console

Should you really keep your sitemaps updated for Google?

John Mueller May 28, 2021 ★★★

The sitemap assists Google in crawling more efficiently but does not replace normal crawling. If the sitemap is outdated but the content is up to date, Google will continue to crawl the site normally.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Search Console

Do you really need to include every URL in your SEO sitemap?

John Mueller May 28, 2021 ★★

It's not necessary to list all URLs in a sitemap. Some sites list everything, while others only include important parts or a specific section. It's a free choice.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Search Console

Why does Google place such high importance on link context for SEO?

John Mueller May 28, 2021 ★★

Google derives a lot of value from the context of individual links, particularly the anchor text and the text before and after the link. Superscripts that remove the link from its context make it difficult to understand the connection between the con...

Domain Age & History Content Links & Backlinks

Why should hreflang be managed on a per-page basis for SEO?

John Mueller May 28, 2021 ★★

Hreflang annotations operate on a per-page basis. If certain pages lack translation, you can either omit hreflang on those pages or leave a single hreflang tag. Google will simply overlook the absence of a hreflang pair.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO International SEO

How do structured data impact social profiles in SEO?

John Mueller May 28, 2021 ★★

Structured data can be used to indicate that certain social profiles are linked to a company's homepage. This helps Google understand that these profiles belong together and can influence their combined ranking.

Domain Age & History Structured Data AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Do multiple titles in SVG files really influence SEO?

John Mueller May 28, 2021 ★★

Having multiple title tags on an HTML page, especially in SVG files, does not cause ranking problems. Google may have simply struggled in the past to display the correct title in search results, but this is no longer an issue.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO PDF & Files Local Search