What does Google say about SEO?

Should you really use hreflang when targeting multiple countries with the same language?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★

For equivalent content in the same language but targeting different countries, the use of hreflang is recommended alongside geographic targeting in Search Console.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Search Console International SEO

Is it really necessary to duplicate all country codes in hreflang for targeting multiple regions?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★★

To target multiple Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, all relevant country codes must be added in hreflang, even if they all point to the same page. Without these links, Google does not realize that it’s a cluster of regional pages.

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

Can you really force Google to recrawl immediately after a price change?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★★

It is not possible to force Google to immediately recrawl pages when prices change. To facilitate quick detection of modifications, use the sitemap with the last updated date and ensure that important pages are linked from the homepage.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Search Console

Is it true that content hidden behind a 'Read More' button is actually indexed by Google?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★★

If all content is loaded initially in the DOM and only the display is controlled by Read More/Read Less, Google can index this content even if it’s not immediately visible. For structured FAQs, questions must be visible, and answers can be collapsed.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Structured Data AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Is Internal Linking Really More Crucial Than a Sitemap for Prioritizing Your Pages?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★★

To indicate to Google which pages are most important, use internal linking rather than relying solely on the sitemap. Pages linked from the homepage are considered more important than those located 5-6 clicks deep.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Search Console

Why Doesn't the Search Console API Show Referring URLs for 404 Errors?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★

Referring URLs that generate 404 errors are currently not accessible via the Search Console API. To identify these broken links, it is recommended to use a local crawler on your own site.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Local Search Search Console

Why does Google keep crawling 404 URLs that are years old?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★

Google may continue attempting to crawl URLs that existed 7-8 years ago, even if they have returned 404 or 410 for a long time. These URLs are kept in a low-priority queue and are occasionally retried.

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

Can you really target different countries on the same domain without using subdomains?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★★

For generic domains (gTLDs), you can apply different country targeting for the homepage and for subdirectories in Search Console. The most specific parameter will be used. This does not work with country code domains (ccTLDs).

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

Should you really combine hreflang and geographical targeting in Search Console?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★

For equivalent pages in the same language but targeting different countries, it is recommended to use hreflang in addition to geographical targeting in Search Console, as this provides an extra signal to Google.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Search Console International SEO

Why do your structured data breadcrumbs not show up in the SERPs?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★★

For structured data breadcrumbs to appear in search results, they must be visible on the page. Google checks three levels: technical validity of the markup, compliance with rules, and overall site quality before displaying the rich results.

Domain Age & History Content Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Local Search

Why do your rich results vanish from the standard SERPs while still appearing in site searches?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★★

To check if your rich results are being blocked by quality filters, perform a site search on your domain. If the rich results appear in the site: results but not in regular searches, it’s a sign that the quality algorithms are not satisfied.

Algorithms Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Is the number of words really a ranking factor for Google?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★★

The number of words on a page is neither a quality factor nor a ranking factor. Blindly adding text does not make a page better. Just like a customer brochure, sometimes a short text suffices, sometimes lengthy content is necessary depending on the c...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Why does hreflang in Latin America require each country code individually?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★★

For targeting Latin America in Spanish with hreflang, you must add tags for all targeted countries individually (es-MX, es-AR, etc.), even if they all point to the same page. Without these specific country codes, Google sees the page as separate from...

Domain Age & History JavaScript & Technical SEO International SEO

Is it true that Google can't always show the right local version of your site?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★

It is impossible to guarantee that Google will always display the correct language/geographic version of a site in search results. It is recommended to implement a detection banner to redirect users arriving on the wrong version of the site.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Local Search

Should you really report SERP bugs with generic queries to expect a response from Google?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★

When reporting display issues in the SERPs on the help forum, use examples of queries as generic as possible. Google engineers will prioritize problems affecting thousands of daily users rather than very specific queries used once a month.

Domain Age & History Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO

Should you really be optimizing JavaScript hydration for Googlebot in SSR?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★

For server-side rendering (SSR), including JavaScript hydration code is of little importance to Google. The key is that the server-rendered content matches what the user sees. JavaScript frameworks are more beneficial for users than for Googlebot.

Content Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO

Is it true that the length of title tags really impacts Google's rankings?

John Mueller Feb 26, 2021 ★★★

There is no fixed ideal length for title tags (like 72 characters). Google uses the title for ranking even if it's truncated with ellipses in the display. The important thing is to provide the necessary information for ranking while staying appealing...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Is mobile-first indexing truly the top priority for your SEO?

Kristina Azarenko Feb 25, 2021 ★★★

Google primarily uses mobile-first indexing, which means that Google mainly looks at the mobile version of your website rather than the desktop version. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that everything functions correctly on mobile.

Crawl & Indexing Mobile SEO

Why does Google ignore your images if they're in data-src instead of src?

Kristina Azarenko Feb 25, 2021 ★★★

Image URLs must be in the 'src' attribute for Google to track them. If the URL is in a 'data-src' attribute, Google will not track it. The 'data-src' attribute only provides additional information, but Google fetches the image from the 'src' attribut...

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

Does the Mobile-Friendly Test truly reflect what Google sees of your page?

Kristina Azarenko Feb 25, 2021 ★★

The Mobile-Friendly Test or the Rich Results Test allow you to check how Google actually sees your page. It is sometimes necessary to test several times because the tool may expire and fail to load images.

Domain Age & History Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Images & Videos Mobile SEO