What does Google say about SEO?

Can indexing errors really make you lose all your Google traffic?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★★

Errors in the Index Coverage report prevent pages from being indexed. Pages with errors will not appear in Google, which can lead to a loss of traffic. For example, a page returning a 404 or 500 error, or a page submitted via sitemap containing a noi...

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

Is it true that robots.txt doesn't really protect your pages from Google indexing?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★★

Robots.txt is not the best method to prevent indexing. Google can index pages blocked by robots.txt. Instead, use a noindex directive or request authentication to view the page.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

What technical errors can actually prevent Googlebot from indexing entire sites?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★★

Small mistakes can have a massive effect on Googlebot's ability to read sites. For example, some companies accidentally add noindex tags to entire sites, or block content due to an error in their robots.txt file.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files

Should you always request reindexing through the URL Inspection Tool?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★★

If you have modified a page and want to ask Google to reindex it, use the Request Indexing feature in the URL Inspection Tool. You can also click on View Crawled Page to check the HTML version indexed by Google.

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

Can we really rely on the live version tested in the Search Console to anticipate indexing?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★

If you have recently made changes to a page, you can check if they are functioning as expected by clicking on Test Live URL and comparing the live version to the indexed version.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Domain Name Search Console

How can you find out which URL Google has really indexed on your site?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★

In the Coverage section of the URL Inspection tool, you will learn where the page was discovered, when the last crawl occurred, which user agent was used, and whether the page is included in Google's index or if another version was chosen as canonica...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Domain Name Search Console

Is Google really effective at handling structured data errors in URL Inspection?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★

If your page is not properly marked up with structured data, the inspection will return an error detailing the missing or incorrect values. This information appears in the Enhancements section of the URL Inspection tool.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Domain Name Search Console

Why does Google emphasize real user data for measuring Core Web Vitals?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★★

The Core Web Vitals report displays the performance of your pages based on real usage data (field data). It relies on three metrics: LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), FID (First Input Delay), and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift).

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console

Why don't all your pages show up in the Core Web Vitals report?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★

If a page does not have a minimum amount of reporting data for one of the Core Web Vitals metrics, it will be omitted from the report. Therefore, you probably won't see all your pages in this report.

Domain Age & History Web Performance Search Console

How can SEO hacking generate automatic pages stuffed with keywords on your website?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★

A hacker can inject malicious code into your pages to redirect users to another site, or automatically create pages on your site filled with absurd phrases stuffed with keywords. These are examples of website hacking.

Domain Age & History

Why do so many websites sabotage themselves with poorly configured noindex tags and robots.txt?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★★

Google frequently finds that companies inadvertently add noindex tags across their entire website or block content through errors in their robots.txt file. These issues can be easily detected with the index coverage report.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Is the URL Inspection Tool truly enough to diagnose your indexing problems?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★★

To debug an issue with a specific page, for instance a page showing an error in the coverage report, you need to use the URL Inspection Tool. It allows you to know the current indexing status, test the URL live, and request Google to crawl a specific...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Domain Name Search Console

How does Google's security issues report shield your SEO from malicious attacks?

Daniel Waisberg Oct 06, 2020 ★★

The security issues report displays warnings when Google detects that your site may have been hacked or potentially used in a way that could harm a visitor. For instance, a hacker could inject malicious code to redirect your users to another site.

AI & SEO Local Search Search Console

Do Cookie Banners Really Hurt Your CLS Score and Core Web Vitals?

Martin Splitt Oct 05, 2020 ★★★

We know that the CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) metric, which measures how a page's display changes as it is rendered in the browser window, is one of the criteria considered by the "Core Web Vitals" that could have some importance in 2021 in terms of...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Web Performance Local Search

Do You Really Need to Resubmit Your XML Sitemap After Every Indexing Request in Search Console?

John Mueller Oct 05, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller explained that if you request indexing in Search Console via the URL inspection tool, this has no impact on your site's XML Sitemap file and this file will not be reconsidered / read as a result of your isolated crawl/indexing request.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Should you really implement all the new types of structured data supported by Google?

John Mueller Sep 29, 2020 ★★

Google has added support for new types of structured data in the rich results test, including Article, Review, and EmployerAggregateRating. Details for all types of structured data are available in the Search Developers documentation.

Discover & News AI & SEO PDF & Files Local Search

How is Google Images leveraging licensed image markup?

John Mueller Sep 29, 2020 ★★

Google has launched support for licensed images in Google Images. This allows image providers to provide more information about image licenses directly in search results. This can be done at the image level using IPTC metadata or at the page level wi...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos

Do you really need to master Python to be a successful SEO?

John Mueller Sep 29, 2020 ★★

While it's not necessary to know Python to be a good SEO, this programming language can be useful for various SEO and web tasks. Generally, understanding any programming language helps in comprehending how search engines, web servers, and the interne...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO International SEO

Do the default sitemaps in WordPress Core really change the game for SEO?

John Mueller Sep 29, 2020 ★★

Sitemaps are now part of the WordPress core. This means that any site using WordPress can submit a default sitemap file. Sitemaps are widely supported by search engines and help in crawling and indexing new and updated content.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Search Console Insights: Has Google finally unified Analytics and Search Console for SEOs?

John Mueller Sep 29, 2020 ★★

Search Console Insights is a new beta tool that combines data from Google Analytics and Search Console in an easy-to-understand format for content creators. Its goal is to assist website owners in enhancing their search presence and tracking their pr...

Content AI & SEO Search Console