What does Google say about SEO?

How can you feature in Top Stories without being a news site?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

Top Stories and the News tab in Google Search are specific variations of search. Any site can appear there, with no need to be a news site or listed in Google News. These surfaces utilize slightly different ranking algorithms because the search inten...

Algorithms Discover & News AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

How does Google really determine the publication date of an article?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★

To ensure that Google correctly recognizes the date of an article, make sure that the date displayed on the page matches the date in the structured data. Google can display a snippet with a date if it is correctly identified. Use the date restriction...

Domain Age & History Discover & News Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Local Search

Are orphan pages really invisible to Google?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

Pages without internal links are considered non-critical by Google because you are hiding them from users navigating your site. Therefore, Google will assign them less weight in search results. If the content is duplicated or of low quality on these ...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Web Performance

Are Core Web Vitals really going to change your SEO ranking?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

Core Web Vitals do not currently affect SEO (as of November 2020), but they will become a ranking factor as part of page experience in May 2021. A CLS greater than 0.25 could have a negative effect on ranking starting from that date.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Web Performance

Should you really use rel="sponsored" instead of nofollow for your affiliate links?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

For affiliate links, use rel nofollow or rel sponsored, or both combined. Google prefers rel sponsored for better site understanding, but there's no significant SEO difference between the two. For most common affiliate links, Google can handle them a...

AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Can one website really dominate the entire first page of Google?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

Google does not have a strict restriction on how many times a site can appear in search results. The same site can appear 5, 6, 7 times or more if it makes sense for users. The June 2019 update aimed to reduce this frequency, but not eliminate it com...

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Should you really optimize your pages for the terms 'best' and 'top'?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★

Google recognizes queries with terms like 'best' or 'top' and understands that they are adjectives rather than keywords that must appear on the page. The algorithms focus on external factors to determine the best result, rather than exact word matchi...

Algorithms Domain Age & History

Why does Google take 3 to 6 months to crawl your complete redesign?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

For a large site updating all its content in one day, Google cannot crawl everything immediately. Crawling is typically spread over 3 to 6 months. During a major update, Google prioritizes important and visible pages (recrawled within a few days), th...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Search Console

Does article length really impact Google rankings?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

There is no direct relationship between an article's length and its ranking. Some topics require long articles according to user expectations, while others do not. The important thing is to meet user needs, not to reach a specific length.

Discover & News AI & SEO

Do you really need to match keywords word for word in your SEO content?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

It is not necessary to use exact match keywords in your content. Google recognizes synonyms, misspellings, singulars, and plurals. Machine learning systems understand the subject matter and its relevance to the search. However, be specific: mention n...

Content AI & SEO

Is Google indexing really instantaneous, or are there hidden delays?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

Google imposes no delay between indexing and displaying a page based on quality or mobile usability issues. If the content is in HTML, it is indexed immediately after crawling. JavaScript rendering may cause a delay of a few minutes. Ranking may take...

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

Do you really need to choose between a 301 redirect and a canonical tag to merge two sites?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

To merge two sites, a 301 redirect is recommended if the goal is purely SEO-focused and about cleaning everything up. The canonical tag allows for keeping the old site active while concentrating SEO energy on the new site.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Redirects

Why doesn't the Google News tab always display your articles in chronological order?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★

Articles are not necessarily displayed in chronological order in the News tab. Google must be able to correctly recognize the date of the pages via structured data and visible display for appropriate ranking.

Domain Age & History Discover & News AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Can orphan pages really harm your site's SEO performance?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

Pages without internal links are viewed as non-critical by Google. If they contain duplicated or low-quality content, it doesn't really impact the site because Google doesn't assign much weight to them.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Will Core Web Vitals Really Transform Ranking in the SERPs?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

Core Web Vitals, including CLS, are not yet a ranking factor but will become one in May 2021 as part of the page experience. A CLS greater than 0.25 could negatively affect your SEO.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Web Performance

Does Google really restrict how many times a domain can appear in search results?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★

Google has no strict restriction on how many times a site can appear in search results. The June 2019 update aimed to reduce, not eliminate, multiple appearances of the same domain.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Should you really stop using exact match keywords in your content?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

There is no need to use exact match keywords in content. Google recognizes synonyms, spelling mistakes, singulars, and plurals. Machine learning systems understand the topic beyond exact keywords.

Content AI & SEO

Why is content specificity more important than keyword stuffing?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

While exact keywords are not mandated, you need to be specific about what you want to rank for. Mention names, locations, and precise details. If users can't understand what you're doing, Google will struggle too.

Content AI & SEO

Why does it take Google 3 to 6 months to refresh an entire large site?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★★

For large sites, Google cannot crawl everything in one day. The crawl budget balances the discovery of new content and refreshment. A complete site can take 3 to 6 months to be fully refreshed, prioritizing important pages.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing

Should you stop manually submitting URLs to Google?

John Mueller Nov 13, 2020 ★★

Google should trust sitemap files instead of requiring webmasters to manually submit URLs through forms and captchas. Regular updates should be automatically managed through sitemaps.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name PDF & Files Search Console