What does Google say about SEO?

Does traffic really have no impact on Google rankings?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Google does not use traffic as a ranking factor for search. For Core Web Vitals, Google does not differentiate where traffic comes from (social, paid, organic, bookmarks).

AI & SEO Web Performance Social Media

Does JavaScript for Navigation and Content Really Hurt SEO?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

Using JavaScript for navigation and content is not automatically bad for SEO. You need to test with the URL Inspection Tool to verify if Google can see the links and content in the rendered HTML.

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

Should you really worry about the number of 301 redirects when redesigning your website?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Adding a large number of 301 redirects at once (over 1000) is completely normal and does not have a negative impact, especially during a rebranding or website redesign. The number of redirects is entirely irrelevant.

Redirects

Why do chain redirects sabotage your site restructuring efforts?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

During restructurings, redirects should lead to the final destination as quickly as possible, not through multiple progressive steps. Each redirect step takes time to be processed and causes fluctuations in search every time.

AI & SEO Redirects

Is lazy loading really compatible with Google indexing?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

For lazy loading, Google recommends using the Intersection Observer API. Googlebot uses a very long viewport during rendering and will be able to index content visible within this viewport. Scroll events or Load More buttons are typically not process...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO Web Performance

Is it true that Google crawls your site only from the United States?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Google crawls sites from a single location, typically somewhere in the United States. Google does not crawl from different locations to see if there is different content. If the content is not accessible from this crawl location, it will not be index...

Content Crawl & Indexing Local Search International SEO

Should you ditch dynamic rendering for Google indexing?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

Dynamic rendering (client-side version for users, server-side version for Googlebot) is no longer recommended. It’s easy to misconfigure, and Googlebot can index errors that are invisible to users. Do not route Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights to th...

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

Can partial pop-ups ruin your SEO as much as full-screen interstitials?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Full-screen pop-ups that are not legal interstitials (cookies, age confirmation) are considered intrusive interstitials, even if they only cover part of the screen but block functionality. This can cause SEO issues, and Google may index the pop-up co...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Does URL length really affect your Google ranking?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

URL length plays no significant role in search engine optimization. Google accepts URLs as they are, whether long or short. Length does not affect rankings in search results.

Domain Name

Are dots in URLs really safe for SEO?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

Dots in URLs generally do not pose an issue for SEO. Special characters to avoid are more those that might break the URL when copying and pasting, like spaces. Commas can sometimes be problematic, but dots are usually without concern.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Are short URLs really favored by Google for canonicalization?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

The length of URLs plays a role in canonicalization: if multiple URLs show exactly the same content, Google will prefer the shortest and cleanest URL as the canonical version within a given site.

Content Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Do iframes really kill your content's indexing?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

You cannot rely on iframe content being found and indexed by Google. Google tries to determine whether the iframe content is truly part of the surrounding page or an independent page. To ensure indexing, it is better to implement the content directly...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Can a website redesign really break your Google ranking?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

Design changes can influence ranking if Google determines which elements are now prioritized on the page. If an element becomes invisible or if texts are significantly shifted (a title turning into a subtitle), this can play a role. Small modificatio...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Should you add hreflang to noindex pages?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Hreflang annotations are only relevant between canonical and indexable pages. If pages are noindex, they are not canonical, so hreflang links are not needed on those pages. Hreflang should only be used on URLs that are indeed canonical or at least cr...

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

Does internal linking really speed up the indexing of your new pages?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Indexing speed heavily relies on the internal linking structure. To accelerate the indexing of new pages, they need to be linked directly from the homepage or important pages. Pages buried deep in subcategories will take much longer to be discovered ...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure Web Performance

Are content clusters really recognized by Google?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

Google does not have a specific concept of 'content cluster'. It does not identify through markup or tags that this is a content cluster. Google simply analyzes the internal linking to understand which pages are linked to each other and how they are ...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Is it true that breadcrumbs are really sufficient as the only form of internal linking?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

Breadcrumbs are sufficient as internal linking if they are normal links. Google can use these links to understand the structure and relationships between the pages of the site.

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

Does duplicate content really harm your SEO rankings?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Duplicate content does not penalize a website. Google indexes pages separately even if large portions of text are identical. Google simply tries to show the most relevant version in the results. If someone searches for the duplicated text, only one v...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Why doesn’t Google treat all 404 errors the same way in Search Console?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★

Google differentiates between the pages we are trying to index and others. If a page is in the sitemap and returns a 404, it is considered an error. If it’s just a random URL returning a 404, it’s marked as not indexed but not as an error. Google ass...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Search Console

Is it true that traffic doesn’t impact Google rankings?

John Mueller May 07, 2021 ★★★

Google does not use traffic as a ranking factor in search. For Core Web Vitals, Google makes no distinction based on the source of traffic (social, paid, organic, bookmarks).

AI & SEO Web Performance Social Media