What does Google say about SEO?

Is Google really adjusting rankings against domain authority abuse without a manual penalty?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★★

Regarding sites that exploit their domain authority by publishing irrelevant content, Google is already taking numerous automated and manual actions. The visible cases are just a small part of what is being handled. Ranking adjustments are made even ...

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Does the type of Googlebot used really influence the indexing of your pages?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★

Whether a site is crawled by the desktop or mobile Googlebot does not affect its ability to be indexed and displayed in search results. The type of crawler used is not a determining factor for indexing.

Crawl & Indexing Mobile SEO

Why does Google choose not to index certain pages on your site?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★★

Google does not guarantee the indexing of all URLs on a site. The quality and relevance of the content are important factors in determining which pages are indexed and displayed in the results.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Is the hidden content behind a click really indexed by Google?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★

The content present in the source code but displayed only after a user action (click) is indexed by Google. You can verify it by searching for the hidden text: if it appears in the results, it is indeed indexed.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Can a desktop-only site thrive under Mobile-First Indexing without a mobile version?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★★

After the transition to Mobile-First Indexing, sites with only a desktop version continue to be indexed normally if the mobile crawler can explore them. They do not disappear from search results.

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

Does mobile-first indexing really mean your site has to be mobile-friendly?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★★

Mobile-First Indexing means that Google uses the mobile crawler to index and rank sites, but this does not mean that a site must be mobile-friendly. These are two different aspects of SEO.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO

Should you still report spam to Google if individual reports are not acted upon?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★

Spam reports are not processed individually. Google uses them to identify spam trends and improve algorithms on a large scale, allowing for more spam to be detected automatically.

Algorithms AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Penalties & Spam

Could your hacked website be silently indexing spam without your knowledge?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★

When a site is hacked with cloaking, regular visitors see the original site, but Googlebot sees the modified content. It’s necessary to check the server configuration files, not just the HTML, to detect these hacks.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Penalties & Spam Local Search

Is it really necessary to display the breadcrumb on mobile to avoid a Google penalty?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★

If a responsive site displays the breadcrumb on desktop but not on mobile, it is not the ideal state according to the guidelines, but no manual or automatic action has been observed for this specific situation.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Mobile SEO Penalties & Spam Local Search

Can the regionsAllowed attribute limit the visibility of your videos in certain countries?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★

The regionsAllowed attribute in video structured data specifies the countries where the video can be displayed. Videos will not be shown in search results from unauthorized countries.

Domain Age & History

Why isn't your valid Schema.org markup displaying rich results?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★★

Having valid structured data markup according to the Rich Results Test does not guarantee the display of rich results. Google considers other factors in deciding whether or not to display them.

Domain Age & History Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP Local Search

Why does your site temporarily disappear from the SERPs without any apparent reason?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★

Temporary disappearances of a site from results can be explained by the fact that different Google servers are not always perfectly synchronized. Data may vary slightly between servers due to update timing.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Should you really redirect mobile URLs to desktop based on the user-agent?

Google Nov 05, 2020 ★★★

For sites with separate mobile and desktop URLs, if the mobile version appears in desktop results, you need to configure automatic redirection to the desktop version when a desktop user visits the mobile URL.

Domain Age & History Mobile SEO Domain Name Redirects

Can Uppercase Letters in HTML Code Really Hurt Your Site's SEO?

John Mueller Nov 02, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller explained on Twitter that whether tags in HTML code are written in lowercase or uppercase does not cause any problems for search engine analysis.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Social Media

Is it true that passages serve as a separate index in Google?

John Mueller Oct 30, 2020 ★★★

Passages are not a core update. Instead, they are about better ranking extracts from existing pages, recognizing that a large page can contain a particularly relevant part for a query. There is no separate index for passages.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you really optimize your pages for featured snippets passages?

John Mueller Oct 30, 2020 ★★★

You should not attempt to specifically optimize for passages. These changes occur because web pages are often messy. Making a clean page disorderly to make it work with this system would offer no advantage compared to a page that is already clear and...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Search Console

Are 301 redirects really enough during a site migration?

John Mueller Oct 30, 2020 ★★★

301 redirects are just a part of a site change. There are many more elements involved, such as internal structure, internal linking, and layouts. All these elements can affect how Google understands a site and its ranking.

Domain Age & History Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure Redirects

Does restructuring your site really hurt SEO?

John Mueller Oct 30, 2020 ★★★

Changing the structure of a site with new URLs and a new internal linking can affect rankings. If an important page loses its internal links, it may impact its ranking. The new structure may rank better or worse depending on its SEO quality.

Domain Age & History Links & Backlinks Domain Name Pagination & Structure

Is it really necessary to merge your pages to climb in the SERPs?

John Mueller Oct 30, 2020 ★★★

Reducing the number of pages by consolidating content can enhance those pages in search and make them more visible. However, these pages will be less targeted on individual topics, which may reduce their relevance for certain specific queries.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Should you really block the indexing of all your e-commerce facets?

John Mueller Oct 30, 2020 ★★★

For e-commerce facets and filters, the general recommendation is not to allow them to be indexed at all, unless these facet pages can truly stand alone as important category pages for the brand. Paged facet pages should not be indexed.

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