What does Google say about SEO?

Should you really reserve the canonical tag solely for strict content duplication?

Martin Splitt Aug 13, 2020 ★★★

Canonicalization should be used exclusively for pages with identical or nearly identical content, not to group pages by theme. Its purpose is to reduce duplication to avoid Google crawling, rendering, and indexing the same content multiple times acro...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Why does Google sometimes change its mind about your canonical URL?

Martin Splitt Aug 13, 2020 ★★

Google does not determine the canonical once and for all. Its algorithms continually evaluate the crawled content to detect changes. If two versions have very close duplication scores (e.g., 0.49 vs 0.51), the canonical may switch between the URLs ov...

Algorithms Content Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Why does your Search Console data disappear without any apparent reason?

Martin Splitt Aug 13, 2020 ★★

Search Console data is collected and displayed based on the canonical URL chosen by Google. If the canonical switches between two URLs (flapping), reports will appear inconsistent or fragmented, making analysis difficult.

Crawl & Indexing Domain Name Search Console

Why does Google sometimes ignore your canonical tag to serve a different URL?

Martin Splitt Aug 13, 2020 ★★

Even if a URL is set as canonical, Google may display a different regional variant based on the user's location. For example, between a German version (.de) and an Austrian version (.at) with the same content, Google will favor the Austrian version f...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Local Search International SEO

Should you give up unique content on a canonicalized page?

Martin Splitt Aug 13, 2020 ★★

If Google considers two pages to be nearly identical and canonicalizes one to the other, the unique content present solely on the non-canonical page may be ignored. However, if the content differs sufficiently for algorithms to judge the pages as non...

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you index a new URL before redirecting an old one in a 301?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★

There is no need to pre-index a new URL before redirecting the old one via 301. Google will recognize the new URL at the time of the redirection and will focus on it. You can redirect to a completely new URL without an intermediate step.

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

Can a 503 error truly harm your site's SEO?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★

A short-term 503 error (20 minutes or even a few hours) does not result in any penalties or ranking drops. Google views the 503 as a correct signal indicating temporary unavailability and does not modify indexing during this time. It is only after se...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you really prefer a soft 404 over a 405 error for removed Flash content?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★

To massively replace Flash content with an identical HTML page explaining the removal, Google will treat these pages as soft 404s, which functionally equates to 404 errors. The pages will gradually be removed from the index. The difference with a 405...

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

How does Google decide which images to display in search results?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★

Google attempts to display an image for certain pages but must maintain balance in the results. For some queries, images are shown for certain pages and not for others. To facilitate the selection of images, use structured data markup (article markup...

Domain Age & History Discover & News AI & SEO Images & Videos Local Search

Does Google really ignore non-essential URL parameters on your site?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★

Google's systems can automatically recognize sites generating many parameterized URLs pointing to very similar content (filters, categories). Google identifies non-essential parameters and focuses on canonical URLs. The URL parameter management tool ...

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

Are H1 titles really essential for ranking your pages?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★

A page without an H1 title can indeed rank for keywords present in an H2 title. Headings assist Google in better understanding the content but are not the only ranking factor. Google also analyzes the content itself. What's important is to clearly in...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos

Why does Google aggressively recrawl your site after a migration?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★

When Google detects significant changes on a site (URL structure change, domain migration), it may trigger an accelerated recrawl to quickly obtain an updated image. The site is neither paused nor removed from the results during this time. Google sim...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Redirects

Why is Google showing fewer FAQs in rich results now?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★

Google is showing fewer rich FAQ results than before because nearly all websites have added this markup. Google cannot display FAQs for every result and must balance which queries and pages justify this display. This reduction is not related to the q...

Domain Age & History Structured Data AI & SEO Local Search

Does Googlebot really send an accept-language header during crawling?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★

Googlebot almost never crawls with an accept-language header, or uses English, or sends no language at all. If a site serves content based on this header, Google will only see the English version (or default). Instead of automatically switching conte...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Local Search International SEO

Are errors 405 and soft 404 truly handled the same way by Google?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★

HTTP 405 errors (access denied) and soft 404 errors (HTML pages that look like normal pages instead of actual errors) are treated equivalently in the long run by Google. Both lead to the removal of pages from the index. The difference: Google will co...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO

Do soft 404s really trigger deindexing without a penalty?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★

A soft 404 is not considered a bad practice or a penalty. It is simply the signal that Google interprets to understand that these pages should be removed from the index. The objective is achieved: Google understands that the page has disappeared.

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

Does Google really automatically ignore irrelevant URL parameters?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★

Google's systems automatically detect URL structures with parameters generating many similar URLs (filters, colors, sizes). They identify unimportant parameters and ignore them to concentrate on canonical URLs. The 'URL Parameter Management' tool in ...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Search Console

Why does Google ignore certain URL parameters and how does it choose its canonical version?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★

If a URL contains interchangeable textual parameters (e.g., product name) while maintaining a fixed ID, and the page displays normally as long as the ID is present, Google considers the textual parameter irrelevant and can arbitrarily choose a canoni...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Domain Name Local Search

Is it really necessary to wait for indexing before redirecting a URL in 301?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★

There is no need to get a new URL indexed by Google before implementing a 301 redirect to it. Google will recognize the new URL and automatically focus on it after the redirect is set up. Prior indexing is not required, but it does not pose any issue...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Redirects

How long does it take to recover traffic after a 301 redirect bug?

John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★

After a URL change with 301 redirects, if the new URLs have been crawled and then disappeared due to a bug (redirecting to 404), Google sees them as deleted and removes them from the index. Reindexing will take longer because Google must relearn to t...

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