What does Google say about SEO?

Do you really need a robots.txt file to get indexed by Google?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

Having a robots.txt file is totally optional. If no robots.txt file exists, there are no restrictions for robots, and that is a perfectly acceptable setup. The absence of a robots.txt does not affect ranking, indexing, or crawling.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Pagination & Structure PDF & Files

Why does Google only index a tiny fraction of your pages?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

Google does not guarantee the indexing of all pages on every website. For most sites, only a small portion of the total content is indexed. It is normal for a site with 600 articles to have only 100 to 500 indexed pages based on perceived quality.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Discover & News AI & SEO

Should you really implement hreflang between distant languages?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

For content in significantly different languages (e.g., Swedish, Japanese, Korean), hreflang is generally not necessary. Google will not show the Swedish version to someone searching in Japanese. Hreflang is useful for similar language versions or gl...

Content AI & SEO International SEO

Should you really rename all your images for SEO?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★

Google advises in its image search guidelines to use helpful and descriptive file names for images rather than simple numbers. This specifically aids image search.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos PDF & Files

Is content freshness really a key ranking factor?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

Google tries to take content freshness into account for certain queries, but it's not systematic. An older, higher-quality page can outclass more recent content. The relevance of freshness varies based on topics and current events.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Are tags and categories really useless for SEO?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★

Blog tags and categories have no magical impact on rankings. They're just links that create additional pages (category or tag pages) that can be indexed and allow for discovering other articles through internal links.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Discover & News AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Is removing URL parameters for Googlebot actually cloaking without a penalty?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

Serving pages with URL parameters removed only for Googlebot is technically considered cloaking. However, from a practical perspective, this will not cause manual action by the webspam team, but complicates site maintenance.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Penalties & Spam

Merging and splitting sites: Why does Google never guarantee a stable ranking post-migration?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

During migrations involving site mergers or splits (as opposed to a simple domain move), temporary and long-term ranking fluctuations are expected. The outcome may be stronger or mixed. Google needs to reprocess and establish a new overall view of th...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Redirects

Do audio files on your pages really boost your SEO?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

Adding an audio version of the content on a page does not help with rankings, except for the obvious improvement in accessibility. Google does not treat audio files as distinct content and does not rank pages differently based on multiple content typ...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos PDF & Files

Can you extend a page's expiration date using unavailable_after?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

If Google recrawls a page and detects an updated unavailable_after meta tag with a new date, it will consider this new date. It's not fixed after the first specification. Google treats the page as noindex after the specified date, even without a recr...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Is it true that the History API is really seen as a redirect by Google?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

If Google detects that a page is using the History API to change the URL during loading, it classifies this as a redirect and will try to crawl and index the destination URL (the new URL) during the next crawl. The updated URL must be directly access...

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

Why do your Core Web Vitals fixes take 30 days to impact your rankings?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

Core Web Vitals field data takes approximately 30 days to be updated. A fix applied 10 days before an update is unlikely to be detected immediately. The measurement is not unique to a specific date but continues over time.

AI & SEO Web Performance

Do social signals really influence Google rankings?

John Mueller Feb 12, 2021 ★★★

Google does not consider social share buttons, like counts, or social media activity as a ranking factor in search results.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Social Media

Are structured data really essential for image SEO?

John Mueller Feb 10, 2021 ★★★

If a result is considered a product, recipe, or video, Google can present this information to users thanks to the structured data you specify on your pages.

Domain Age & History E-commerce Images & Videos Local Search

Can your images really drive traffic through Google Discover?

John Mueller Feb 10, 2021 ★★

Image previews can be displayed in Google Discover, allowing users to explore content on topics of interest. A relevant preview image may be shown for your pages.

Domain Age & History Content Discover & News AI & SEO Images & Videos

Does visual context really matter for ranking your images on Google?

John Mueller Feb 10, 2021 ★★★

Make sure that the visual content is relevant to the subject of the page. Google recommends using images where they add value to the page. Use appropriate titles and headers to provide context.

Domain Age & History Content Images & Videos Search Console

How can you position your images to maximize their SEO impact?

John Mueller Feb 10, 2021 ★★★

Place images near relevant text and ideally provide a caption close to the image. Position the most important image near the top of the page when possible.

Domain Age & History Content Images & Videos

Is it really necessary to banish important text from images for SEO?

John Mueller Feb 10, 2021 ★★★

Avoid embedding important text in images, especially for page titles and menu items. Not all users and search engines can access text within images, and translation tools do not work on images.

Domain Age & History Content Images & Videos Pagination & Structure International SEO

Do high-resolution images really boost SEO traffic?

John Mueller Feb 10, 2021 ★★★

High-quality images attract users more than blurry, unclear, or low-resolution images. Sharp images are more appealing in result thumbnails and increase the likelihood of gaining traffic.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos

Should you really optimize Google Images differently for mobile and desktop?

John Mueller Feb 10, 2021 ★★★

Users are searching on Google Images more from mobile than from desktop. It is important to design your site for all types and sizes of devices. Use the mobile-friendly test tool to test your pages.

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