What does Google say about SEO?

Why does HTTP authentication provide better protection for your staging site than robots.txt or noindex?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2021 ★★

To prevent Google from crawling and indexing a staging site, use authentication instead of robots.txt or noindex. The advantage: if you accidentally push staging to production with authentication active, it is immediately noticeable. With robots.txt ...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO

Can you really use review structured data for reviews copied from a third-party site?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2021 ★★★

If you copy reviews from a third-party site and display them on your own site (with permission), you can treat them as testimonials but cannot use 'review' structured data. Review structured data can only be used if you collect the reviews yourself, ...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Local Search

Do Core Web Vitals on desktop really have no impact on Google rankings?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2021 ★★★

For now, only mobile user experience (mobile Core Web Vitals) will be used as a ranking factor, and only in mobile search results. Desktop results will not take Core Web Vitals into account. Other page experience factors (HTTPS, Safe Browsing) apply ...

Domain Age & History HTTPS & Security Mobile SEO Web Performance

Can we really control the appearance of sitelinks in Google?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2021 ★★

Sitelinks appear algorithmically based on user needs, not through specific markup. This is not something that can be directly optimized or forced to appear. If Google shows sitelinks, one can then consider whether the titles and selections are correc...

Algorithms Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Is it true that Google really indexes all JavaScript content, or do we still need traditional HTML?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★★

Google and other search engines are continuously improving their ability to render and index JavaScript content. However, some sites still miss opportunities to enhance their visibility by ensuring their content is always available and indexable with...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Why do JavaScript and meta robots tags create an indexing nightmare?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★★

If a page loads with a noindex directive in the meta robots tag before rendering, Google and other engines will not execute the JavaScript that could modify this tag or index the page. SEOs must be cautious when using JavaScript to add or modify meta...

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

What causes conflicts between your canonical tags in raw HTML and rendered output?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★★

Conflicts between canonical tags in raw HTML versus rendered HTML can create indexing problems because contradictory information is sent to search engines regarding the canonical URL for the same page.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Is it true that publishing more content leads to better rankings?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★★

It's important to note that more content is not necessarily better. What matters is to meet user search needs with complete and useful information.

Content AI & SEO

Should you really use rel='ugc' and rel='sponsored' if they don’t add any value to PageRank?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★

Although the rel='ugc' and rel='sponsored' attributes do not provide additional value to publishers compared to rel='nofollow', it is important to mention that these attributes add semantic information that Google can use. Therefore, it is advisable ...

Links & Backlinks

Why is JSON-LD dominating all other structured data formats?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★

JSON-LD has become the preferred format for structured data, appearing on 29.8% of mobile pages and 30.6% of desktop pages.

Domain Age & History Structured Data AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO

Is HTTPS really essential for leveraging HTTP/2 and boosting performance?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★

HTTPS is currently a requirement to capitalize on higher-performing protocols like HTTP/2, which has likely contributed to higher adoption rates year after year.

HTTPS & Security JavaScript & Technical SEO

Is it true that mobile-first indexing is really completed and what risks do you still face?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★★

Google completed its migration to a mobile-first index in March 2021. Disparities between mobile and desktop pages can negatively impact sites.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO Redirects

Does Google really index all client-side rendered content through JavaScript?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★★

Google Search and potentially other search engines can execute JavaScript and index content that appears after rendering. However, some sites miss opportunities to enhance their organic visibility by not ensuring that their content is always availabl...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Can JavaScript really change a noindex meta robots tag after the fact?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★★

If a page loads with a noindex directive in the meta robots tags before rendering, Google Search and potentially other search engines will not execute the JavaScript that modifies the value of the tag and will not index the page.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO

Is it really necessary to produce more content to rank higher?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★★

It is important to note that more content is not necessarily better. What truly matters is satisfying users' search needs with comprehensive and useful information. Google recommends watching the episode 'Is more content better?' of SEO Mythbusting w...

Content AI & SEO

Should you really remove aggregate ratings from your homepage?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★

Despite the fact that reviews are not supposed to be associated with homepage pages, data shows that aggregate ratings are used on 23.9% of mobile pages and 23.7% of desktop pages.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Mobile SEO Local Search

Why has HTTPS become essential for speeding up your web pages?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★

HTTPS is currently a requirement to take advantage of more performant protocols like HTTP/2, which has likely contributed to a year-over-year increase in adoption rates.

HTTPS & Security JavaScript & Technical SEO

Why has mobile-desktop parity become a critical issue for your organic visibility?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★★

Google completed its migration to mobile-first indexing in March 2021. Significant disparities found between mobile and desktop pages can negatively impact sites during this migration.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO Redirects

Are your internal links secretly sabotaging your crawl budget?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★

Sites may not be maximizing their ability to enhance crawlability and link equity flow through their pages. The decline in internal links suggests a missed optimization opportunity.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks

Do rich snippets really enhance the adoption of structured data?

Google Apr 15, 2021 ★★

What Google showcases in search features increases the usage rates of lesser-used structured data objects. FAQPage, HowTo, and QAPage objects experienced significant growth after Google gave them visibility in 2019.

Domain Age & History Structured Data AI & SEO