What does Google say about SEO?

Does the Google feedback form really help correct search results?

Martin Splitt Dec 09, 2020 ★★

To report obviously problematic or broken search results, use the feedback form directly within the results. Human analysts review this feedback and may escalate it internally if necessary.

AI & SEO

Should you really choose an SEO provider in your time zone?

John Mueller Dec 09, 2020 ★★

To choose an SEO provider, it is recommended to find someone local or at least in the same time zone, with whom one can have phone calls or video conferences to discuss specific needs and issues of the site.

AI & SEO Local Search

Are third-party crawlers really more reliable than Search Console for testing your SEO changes?

John Mueller Dec 09, 2020 ★★

Third-party crawling tools provide immediate feedback on a site's status (in about an hour), unlike Search Console which relies on Google indexing and can take a month. These tools are useful for testing significant changes before seeing how Google t...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Search Console

Why is the SEO workload surging during economic crises?

Gary Illyes Dec 08, 2020 ★★

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the workload for SEOs increased instead of decreasing, likely because more businesses moved their activities online and needed additional SEO support.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Is it true that remote work hasn't simplified the collaboration between SEO and developers?

Gary Illyes Dec 08, 2020 ★★

Contrary to expectations, it did not become easier for SEOs to work with developers during the pandemic. Many reported that things remained similar, if not more difficult, despite the online environment.

AI & SEO

Has Twitter become Google's internal monitoring tool for detecting search outages?

Gary Illyes Dec 08, 2020 ★★★

Google utilizes Twitter reports to detect search outages. If many tweets per hour indicate a problem, the team escalates internally to check with monitoring teams. Twitter is surprisingly accurate in detecting outages.

Social Media

What caused your pages to be unindexed despite Googlebot crawling them?

Gary Illyes Dec 08, 2020 ★★★

A recent outage that seemed to be an indexing issue was actually a crawling problem. Googlebot was overwhelming the indexing system with too many new documents, preventing the export of new content to the search servers.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files

What exactly is a 'document' to Google and why does it change everything for your indexing?

Gary Illyes Dec 08, 2020 ★★★

In the context of Google Search, a 'document' is any content retrieved by Googlebot and processed by the Caffeine indexing system. This can be HTML pages, DOC files, spreadsheets, or any other indexable content.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files

Is JavaScript truly neutral for SEO?

Martin Splitt Dec 08, 2020 ★★★

The use of JavaScript or how it is structured (bundling, splitting) is not a ranking factor. It can enhance user experience and facilitate crawling, but does not directly impact positioning in search results.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

How can bundling your JavaScript speed up your site’s crawl?

Martin Splitt Dec 08, 2020 ★★

JavaScript bundling (file grouping) reduces the number of HTTP requests and facilitates the work of crawl bots. Code splitting then allows for intelligent separation of code according to site sections to optimize caching and reduce unnecessary downlo...

Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Web Performance Search Console

Is Google ranking really an exact science or a subjective art?

John Mueller Dec 08, 2020 ★★★

There is no absolute truth about which page should rank for which query. Rankings are constantly evolving, can be debated among experts, and depend on many changing factors such as user expectations and content currency.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Why do Google algorithms keep evolving, and how can you adapt?

John Mueller Dec 08, 2020 ★★

Google's algorithms are in constant evolution to improve query understanding and result relevance. What works today may need adjustments tomorrow. There is no fixed or absolute answer to the best way to rank pages.

Algorithms Domain Age & History AI & SEO

How does Google truly validate its algorithm changes before deployment?

Gary Illyes Dec 08, 2020 ★★

Before deploying algorithmic modifications, Google conducts tests with real users (live experiments) and human raters who provide feedback on results side-by-side to validate that changes genuinely improve quality.

Algorithms AI & SEO Local Search

Is third-party client-side JavaScript sabotaging your Google indexing?

Martin Splitt Dec 08, 2020 ★★★

When a site uses client-side JavaScript to load critical content from third-party sources (like comments), Google may face indexing issues if the third-party service is overloaded or blocks bots. It is preferable to make these API calls server-side t...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks

Is it true that JavaScript can impact your SEO, and how should you approach it?

Martin Splitt Dec 08, 2020 ★★

Using JavaScript is not prohibited for SEO, but it’s important to understand that relying on the browser and Googlebot to handle third-party content means you have less control than when the server does this work. JavaScript can also run on the serve...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Do user comments really influence organic SEO?

Gary Illyes Dec 08, 2020 ★★★

Comments can help with SEO if they are useful and relevant. However, low-quality or inappropriate comments can negatively affect rankings. The usefulness of comments for SEO depends on their content and relevance to the main topic.

Content AI & SEO Local Search Search Console

Is footer content really useless for Google SEO?

Gary Illyes Dec 08, 2020 ★★

Google detects that footer content, which typically contains a lot of links, is not very useful for users. As a result, this content does not significantly help in ranking in search results.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Should you really worry if Google suddenly starts indexing your comments?

John Mueller Dec 08, 2020 ★★

If comments on a site suddenly start being indexed, it deserves scrutiny, but it’s probably not the highest priority. It is not critical to immediately clean up all comments from old articles.

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

Can toxic comments on your website harm your SEO visibility?

Gary Illyes Dec 08, 2020 ★★★

If a family-oriented site like cookie recipes receives thousands of inappropriate or vulgar comments, it can confuse Google’s Safe Search algorithms and penalize the content when Safe Search is enabled in search results.

Algorithms Content AI & SEO Local Search

Can Google really notify you in time when its search engine goes down?

Gary Illyes Dec 08, 2020 ★★★

Google has developed a protocol to better communicate about search outages after incidents in 2019. This protocol defines what to communicate, when, to whom and where, to inform SEOs more quickly about issues.

JavaScript & Technical SEO