What does Google say about SEO?

Should you really implement hreflang across an entire multilingual site?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★

Hreflang can be used selectively: only on certain pages (homepage, key pages) without needing to implement it site-wide. It’s a page-level annotation, not a global requirement.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO International SEO

Do Core Web Vitals really measure what your users actually see?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★★

For Core Web Vitals (a future ranking factor), Google measures the performance of the version of the page that users actually see: the AMP version if that’s what displays, the classic HTML version otherwise. The measurement follows the real user expe...

Domain Age & History JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO Web Performance Local Search Search Console

Should you manually deindex old pagination URLs after changing your site's architecture?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★

If you disable pagination on a blog, there's no need to manually deindex old paginated URLs. Google will re-crawl them, see that they return the homepage (200) or a 404, and will naturally process them without any required action from the webmaster.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure

Does having ads on your site really hurt your Google rankings?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★★

Adding advertising to a site does not negatively affect rankings, as long as certain rules are followed: visible content above the fold (not just ads), compliance with the Better Ads Standards. Monetization should remain sustainable and not degrade t...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Is rel=canonical in syndication really reliable for controlling indexing?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★★

If you publish your content on other sites with a canonical link pointing to your page, Google can either index both pages separately (if they are sufficiently different) or choose a canonical URL by combining several signals (canonical, internal/ext...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Domain Name Search Console

Do security alerts in Search Console really block Google's crawling?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★

Security alerts in Search Console (malware, phishing, hacked site) do not affect how Google crawls the site, but they can impact the display of pages in search results. Google remains cautious about what it shows to users if the site poses risks.

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

Why does Google ignore identical modification dates in your sitemaps?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★★

If all URLs in a sitemap have the same modification date (for example, today's date), Google completely ignores this lastmod field and uses the sitemap only to discover new URLs, not to prioritize re-crawling. A poorly configured sitemap doesn't pena...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO Domain Name Search Console

Should you really update the lastmod date of the sitemap for every minor change?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★

Google recommends using the lastmod date in sitemaps only for significant content changes, not for minor changes like an update of a counter or metric. Priority and changefreq are generally ignored by Google.

Content Crawl & Indexing Search Console

Should you really have to choose between reducing duplicate content and using canonical tags?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★

Reducing duplicate content makes crawling and indexing easier, but it is unrealistic to completely eliminate duplication on all sites. The rel=canonical helps Google identify preferred versions. Both practices (reducing duplication + canonicalization...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you really set a crawl limit in Search Console?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★

The crawl limit setting in Search Console defines a maximum that Google will not exceed, not a volume that Google will always achieve. Google recommends keeping this setting on 'automatic' unless crawling causes server or bandwidth issues.

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

Do internal 301 redirects really dilute PageRank?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★★

If your internal links point to URLs that redirect via 301, Google follows the redirect, identifies the final URL as canonical, and treats the link as if it points directly to the destination. No loss of link value. Users coming from search results d...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Redirects

Can the JavaScript History API really force Google to change your canonical URL?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★

When JavaScript uses the History API to change the URL after the page has loaded, Google may interpret this change as a redirect and choose the modified URL as canonical. This behavior depends on the context and timing of the URL change and can be ve...

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

Can JavaScript really hide your links from Google without destroying them?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★★

If an HTML link remains present in the rendered code even when a JavaScript event captures the click (e.g., mobile dropdown menu), Google processes it normally. The only problematic case is if the HTML link is entirely removed from the DOM by JavaScr...

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Mobile SEO Pagination & Structure

Does Google really combine signals from multiple links pointing to the same page?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★★

Contrary to popular belief, Google does not limit itself to the first link found on a page. There is no single defined behavior: Google can combine signals from multiple links pointing to the same destination, and the order of anchors is not decisive...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Is it really necessary to nofollow site-wide links to your legal pages to optimize PageRank?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★

Having 10 links instead of just one to a legal page (privacy, contact) on every page of the site probably wouldn't change anything. Google understands that these pages are linked everywhere without being the most important. There's no need to nofollo...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Does nofollow really block indexing, or can Google still crawl those URLs?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★★

Google can now follow nofollow links to discover new URLs and potentially index them. However, the passing of PageRank and ranking signals through nofollow remains independent and is not guaranteed: just because a nofollowed page is crawled does not ...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name

Why is Google so tight-lipped about its indexing incidents?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★

The indexing incident on August 10 was resolved quite quickly, and Google has very little additional information to share publicly. The incident on August 15 appears to have been very brief. Google does not systematically communicate about every shor...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Social Media

Is it really necessary to index all pagination pages to optimize your SEO?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★★

Google must index paginated pages to recover all content and internal links (e.g., products from an e-commerce category). Each paginated page needs to be linked with standard HTML links (next/previous). Infinite scroll must include distinct and crawl...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing E-commerce Links & Backlinks Domain Name Pagination & Structure

Are URL parameters really a non-issue for SEO anymore?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★★

URL parameters have not been an SEO problem for a long time. Google automatically handles the canonicalization of URLs with parameters. The parameter management tool is only useful for sites with tens of millions of pages generating 10× more URLs thr...

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

Is it true that Google is blocking the indexing of new sites?

John Mueller Aug 21, 2020 ★★

There has been no general blocking of new sites or publishers since December 2019. Many new sites normally appear in search results. Reported cases concerning Google News have been forwarded to the News team for verification, but no systemic bug has ...

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