What does Google say about SEO?

How can you leverage the new Page Experience report in Search Console to boost your SEO?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2021 ★★★

A special report for the Page Experience update has been added to Search Console, covering all the involved elements. It allows you to see at a glance how many pages are achieving the high 'good' threshold on metrics, mobile compatibility, and all ot...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Mobile SEO Search Console

Why did Google postpone the Page Experience and what does it mean for your SEO?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2021 ★★★

The rollout of the Page Experience ranking factor has been postponed to mid-June 2021. The change will happen gradually over two months, page by page. This gives sites more time to improve before the deployment starts.

Domain Age & History

How can you leverage regex in Search Console to analyze your performance data?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2021 ★★

Google has added regex support to the Performance report of Search Console. You can now use patterns instead of keywords for search queries as well as for pages displayed in the report.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console

Why is Google finally launching a dedicated report for ranking changes?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2021 ★★

This is the first time Google is implementing such a comprehensive report for a specific ranking change, hoping to facilitate site improvements for users.

Search Console

Does the HTML <abbr> Tag Really Improve Your SEO?

John Mueller Apr 26, 2021 ★★★

John Mueller was asked whether Google takes into account the HTML tag, which is used to indicate an abbreviation or acronym. His answer was clear: it's No.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Does Googlebot Actually Collect Core Web Vitals Data During Crawling?

John Mueller Apr 26, 2021 ★★★

This week's update on Core Web Vitals... 🙂 John Mueller reminded us on Twitter that while the Googlebot returns a majority of useful information to the algorithm during its crawl, this won't be the case for CWV, since the data used in this instance c...

Algorithms Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Web Performance Social Media

Does a raw HTML noindex really prevent JavaScript rendering by Google?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★★

If the raw HTML contains a noindex meta robots tag, Google will not render the page. Therefore, if JavaScript later removes this noindex in the rendered HTML, Google will never see it. The reverse works: adding noindex via JavaScript is detected afte...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Raw HTML vs Rendered: Does Google really not care?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★

The data from the Web Almanac showing differences between raw HTML and rendered HTML are factual observations, not value judgments. These differences do not pose an issue in and of themselves for Google Search, which functions well with JavaScript.

JavaScript & Technical SEO

Should you prioritize user agent or viewport detection for your separate mobile versions?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★

To serve separate mobile and desktop versions, the user agent is sufficient for Google. However, generally, it is preferable to use viewport detection rather than user agent for a better user experience in all use cases.

Domain Age & History Mobile SEO

Does Google really use different crawlers for its SEO testing tools?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★

The Mobile-Friendly Test systematically uses the mobile crawler by definition. The URL Inspection Tool uses the corresponding crawler (mobile or desktop) based on the site's mobile-first status. The Rich Results Test allows you to choose between the ...

Crawl & Indexing Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP Mobile SEO Domain Name Search Console

Should you really stop fearing JavaScript for SEO?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★★

There is no strong reason to avoid creating, adding, inserting, removing, or changing content with JavaScript in the rendered HTML. It is perfectly acceptable, and this is precisely why Google renders pages.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure

Do JavaScript links really slow down Google's discovery process?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★★

Links present only after JavaScript rendering can cause a delay of a few hours in their discovery by Google. Google first examines the raw HTML to discover links, then does so again after rendering. For sites with fewer than 1 to 10 million pages, th...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks

Do Google products really get a hidden SEO advantage in search results?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★

Google products like AdSense do not receive any preferential treatment in SEO. If a third-party product does not adhere to best practices, Google applies the same criteria to its own products.

E-commerce AI & SEO

Should you be concerned about 'other' errors in the URL Inspection Tool?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★

The 'other' errors in the URL Inspection Tool are generally temporary and unimportant, particularly for images and non-essential resources such as tracking pixels or advertisements. Google does not necessarily fetch all these resources during renderi...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name Search Console

Does Google really overlook your images during web search rendering?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★

Google does not necessarily fetch images during the rendering for main web search. Images are retrieved by Google Images, which has its own system. Google recognizes the existence of the image, its alt text, and its position on the page.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos

User agent or viewport: Does Google really differentiate for mobile indexing?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★

Serving different mobile/desktop versions based on the user agent rather than the viewport should not cause major problems for Google, as long as the content is present and equivalent. The user agent should be sufficient for Google, although the view...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Mobile SEO

Can an empty HTML canonical tag mistakenly force Google to auto-canonicalize your page?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★

An empty canonical tag in the initial HTML that is later filled by JavaScript can potentially cause unwanted auto-canonicalization. It's preferable to have no canonical tag at all than an empty one, or to create and inject the full tag via JavaScript...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Can the Mobile-Friendly Test really substitute the URL Inspection Tool for auditing mobile crawling?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★

The Mobile-Friendly Test always uses the mobile crawler and can serve as an alternative to test what the mobile Googlebot sees, especially for sites not yet migrated to mobile-first indexing where the URL Inspection Tool still shows the desktop versi...

Crawl & Indexing Images & Videos Mobile SEO Domain Name Search Console

Why does Google ignore your desktop structured data after switching to mobile-first indexing?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★

Once a site is migrated to mobile-first indexing, Google uses the structured data from the mobile version, even for the rich snippets displayed on desktop. During the transition period, both crawlers may be active.

Crawl & Indexing Structured Data Mobile SEO Pagination & Structure

Does Google really experience delays in discovering JavaScript links?

Martin Splitt Apr 26, 2021 ★★★

Links added via JavaScript after the HTML rendering are discovered a few hours later than those present in the raw HTML. Google first examines the raw HTML to discover links, and then after rendering. This delay only affects discovery, not indexing o...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks