What does Google say about SEO?

Page Experience: Why does Google refer to a collection of metrics instead of a single score?

Patrick Kettner May 10, 2021 ★★

Page Experience is not a single metric but a collection of different measurements and aspects that allow us to assess the overall experience offered to users on a website.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Should you really make all your affiliate links nofollow?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

For affiliate links, the key is that they either have a nofollow attribute or that the redirect URL is blocked by robots.txt to avoid transferring PageRank. A configuration with an intermediate URL and a 302 redirect is acceptable.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Pagination & Structure Redirects

Do Core Web Vitals truly reflect your users' experience?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

For Core Web Vitals, Google considers what users actually see. If AMP pages are valid and served via the AMP cache, this is what will be taken into account for evaluation.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Mobile SEO Web Performance

Is it true that JavaScript is compatible with SEO?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Using JavaScript and loading content with JavaScript is not automatically bad for SEO. It is essential to check the details with the URL inspection tool to see if Google can view the navigation and content.

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Search Console

Should you really avoid multiple progressive redirects to protect your SEO?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Restructuring a site with multiple successive redirects (one per month over a year) is poor SEO practice. Each redirect step takes time to process and causes fluctuations. You should redirect directly to the final destination all at once.

AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Redirects

Can you really deploy thousands of 301 redirects without risking your SEO?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Adding more than 1000 301 redirects at once is totally acceptable and does not affect SEO. It is normal during a rebranding or redesign. The number of redirects is completely irrelevant.

Pagination & Structure Redirects

Is it true that Googlebot ignores your 'Load more' buttons and how can you fix that?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

For lazy loading content, Google recommends using the Intersection Observer API. Googlebot renders pages with an extremely long viewport and can load content detected as visible. Scroll events or 'Load more' buttons are generally not executed by Goog...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Images & Videos JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO Web Performance

Why do orphan pages hurt your SEO even when indexed?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Creating pages that are only accessible via the XML sitemap (not linked within the site) is a bad practice. Google can find and index them, but can't give them any weight because there is no context or internal linking. Google essentially ignores the...

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

Should you stop using nofollow on About and Contact pages?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

Having an 'About' or 'Contact' page linked throughout the site is standard structure. Google knows this is a normal part of a site and does not consider it the most important page just because it is linked everywhere. Using nofollow on these links is...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure

Can intrusive pop-ups really jeopardize your Google indexing?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Pop-ups that cover the screen or block interaction with content (even partially) are considered intrusive interstitials, unless they are legally required (cookies, age verification). They can cause SEO issues, and Google may index the pop-up content ...

Content Crawl & Indexing

Why might your geo-targeted content disappear from Google's index?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Google crawls sites from a primary location, usually in the United States. If the content varies based on IP and is not accessible from the U.S., Google will not be able to index it. To index local versions, distinct URLs must be used.

Content Crawl & Indexing Domain Name Local Search

Should you abandon dynamic rendering for Googlebot?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Dynamic rendering (different versions for Googlebot and users) is no longer recommended by Google. It’s easy to misconfigure, and Googlebot can see errors that are invisible to users. Do not route Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights to the server versi...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Web Performance

Does Google really have a limit to its index — and what should you do when your pages disappear?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

Google's index is limited. Google cannot permanently index everything on the Internet and must choose the content to index. Indexing fluctuations are normal, even for large sites. Seeing pages gradually de-indexed is common and does not necessarily i...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you really verify all your redirected domains in Search Console?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

If you're using multiple domains in your website's setup, even if they redirect elsewhere, you should verify them in Search Console to gain access to error information for those URLs.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Search Console

How does Google weigh its ranking signals through machine learning?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

For certain ranking signals, Google utilizes a lot of machine learning to determine how to integrate them, while for others, it uses less. This largely depends on whether Google has a clear metric to base its machine learning system on.

AI & SEO

What caused your site to suddenly vanish from Google’s index?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

When Google reduces a site’s indexing, it usually keeps the most relevant URLs over an extended period. If the entire site disappears suddenly from the index, it’s likely a technical issue rather than a content quality problem.

Content Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Do security warnings in Search Console really impact your SEO rankings?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Security warnings in Search Console (such as harmful downloads) do not affect rankings or visibility in search. They only impact the display of warnings in the browser during downloads.

Domain Age & History Search Console

Do affiliate links with 302 redirects really pose a cloaking problem for Google?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

For affiliate links, it's crucial to either use a nofollow attribute or block the redirect URL via robots.txt. There is no cloaking issue if the link appears as an internal link to the user but redirects to an affiliate site upon clicking.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Pagination & Structure Penalties & Spam Redirects

Does AMP's Core Web Vitals rely on Google's cache or your origin server?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

For Core Web Vitals, Google considers what users actually see. If your AMP pages are valid and displayed via the AMP cache, this will be factored in for Core Web Vitals assessment.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Mobile SEO Web Performance

Why isn't Search Console showing any Core Web Vitals data for your site?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

If Search Console is not showing a Page Experience report, it is likely because Google does not have enough site data, based on the Chrome User Experience Report. You would then need to manually test using Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights.

Domain Age & History Web Performance Local Search Search Console