What does Google say about SEO?

Search through official Google statements about search engine optimization

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9617 statement(s) found
Can temporary technical bugs really sink your Google ranking for good?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★
Temporary technical problems (redirects that come and go, URLs that change and then revert) do not cause any lasting negative sentiment from Google's systems. Once the issue is resolved and the pages are re-indexed, the site can rank normally without...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Redirects
Do penalties on outbound links really impact your site's ranking?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★
When a manual action concerns unnatural outbound links, Google simply devalues those outbound links. This does not affect the ranking of the site itself in search results. If a significant drop in traffic is observed, it stems from another cause, not...
Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam
Should you really set all your outbound links to nofollow to protect your SEO?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★
Setting all outbound links of a site to nofollow is not recommended and will not diminish the site's relevance. Google encourages creating links naturally on the web. Applying nofollow systematically is an unnecessary measure that complicates managem...
E-commerce Links & Backlinks
Does Google always show your images in search results?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★
Google tries to display an image for certain pages in search results while maintaining a reasonable balance in the number of images shown. The same page may have an image for certain queries but not for others. Structured data (main image via article...
Domain Age & History Discover & News Structured Data AI & SEO Images & Videos Pagination & Structure Local Search
Are H1 and H2 tags really important for Google ranking?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★
Headings (H1, H2, etc.) help Google understand the content of a page better, but they are not the only ranking factor. A page can rank for keywords present only in H2 and not in H1. The level of the tag (H1 vs H2 vs H5) is of little importance; what ...
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos
Is it true that structured data makes a difference based on whether it's implemented with a plugin or manually?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★
Google accepts structured data implemented via a WordPress plugin, theme, manual code, or JavaScript after the page loads, with no preference. Only the validity of the final structured data counts. For CMS users like WordPress, a plugin is recommende...
Domain Age & History Content Structured Data AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure
Should you really be worried about a 503 error on your site for a few hours?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★
A 503 error (service temporarily unavailable) for a short period (20 minutes to a few hours) does not lead to any penalties or downgrading. Google sees the 503 as a normal and temporary signal, keeps the pages indexed, and does not remove them. This ...
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO
Why are your FAQ rich snippets disappearing despite technically valid markup?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★
If FAQ rich snippets suddenly disappear while the structured data is technically valid, it generally indicates a reassessment of the overall quality of the site by Google's algorithms, not a technical issue. Google adjusts the display of rich results...
Algorithms Domain Age & History Content Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure
Why are your rich results disappearing from regular SERPs while they technically work?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★
To determine if the absence of rich results is due to a technical issue or quality assessment, perform a 'site:' query for your domain. Google typically shows rich results in these queries even if they are not displayed for normal searches. If presen...
Content Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Local Search
Should you really modify the lastmod of the sitemap to speed up recrawling after fixing missing tags?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★
After correcting pages missing title and meta description tags, the recommended method to speed up recrawling is to update the 'lastmod' date in the XML sitemap. This is not gaming: these pages have genuinely been modified. For the most important pag...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Search Console
Is it normal for the Rich Results report in Search Console to remain empty despite valid markup?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★
The 'Rich Results' report in Search Console can remain empty for about a week after adding a site or implementing structured data, even if the markup is detected as valid by the live test. Some Search Console reports populate immediately, while other...
Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Search Console
Why is Google showing fewer of your FAQs as rich results?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★
Google is less frequently displaying FAQ rich results than before because many sites have added this markup. Google must balance the results and cannot show FAQs for every search result. The system selects the pages and queries where the FAQ rich res...
Algorithms Domain Age & History Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Local Search
Why does Google choose a canonical URL in the wrong language for your multilingual content?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★
If Google selects a canonical page in a different language (e.g., Portuguese chosen instead of Japanese), when the pages are indeed in distinct languages, the issue likely stems from poor server configuration (accept-language based content negotiatio...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO International SEO
Does Googlebot really ignore your multilingual site's accept-language header?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★
Googlebot almost never crawls with a defined accept-language header, or sometimes uses 'en' (English). If a site serves different content based on the user's accept-language header, Google will only see the English version (or the default version wit...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Local Search International SEO
Can a bug restoring your old URLs kill your SEO?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★
When a site changes its URL structure with 301 redirects and then temporarily reverts to the old structure due to a bug, Google can handle this situation. If the redirects disappear and the site returns to the old URL before switching back again, Goo...
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Redirects
Do manual actions for unnatural outbound links really affect a site's ranking?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★
A manual action for unnatural outbound links only devalues the outbound links of the site, not the site's ranking itself. If Google cannot identify which links are legitimate, it may go into safe mode and devalue all outbound links, but this does not...
AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam
Should you really set all your outbound links to nofollow to protect your PageRank?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★
Setting all outbound links on a site to nofollow does not lower the site's relevance. It is recommended to create links naturally on the web. Systematic nofollow is unnecessary and counterproductive compared to a strategy of natural links.
E-commerce AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Search Console
Does submitting multiple Google reconsideration requests really speed up the review of your site?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★
Submitting multiple reconsideration requests for the same site does not speed up the processing. When Google receives a new request while an earlier one is pending, the team first processes the oldest one. Multiplying requests does not advance the ca...
Domain Age & History AI & SEO
Should you manually code your structured data or opt for a WordPress plugin?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★
Both approaches work perfectly. Google accepts structured data whether it comes from a plugin, a theme, a manual addition, or JavaScript after page load. From a practical standpoint, using a plugin allows you to focus on content rather than technical...
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO
Why do your rich snippets vanish even when your markup is technically correct?
John Mueller Aug 11, 2020 ★★★
When rich snippets suddenly disappear without any changes to Google's technical requirements, it is generally due to an algorithmic reevaluation of the overall quality of the site. If the markup is technically correct and validated, the issue stems f...
Algorithms Domain Age & History Content Structured Data AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Local Search
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