What does Google say about SEO?

Why do indexed pages persist in site: search after a service has ended?

金谷武明 Jul 02, 2020 ★★

After a service closure, many pages may still be displayed indexed in site: search, but site: search does not necessarily show only canonicals. In reality, the new URL is likely chosen as the canonical URL, so there is no need to worry too much.

Domain Name

Why are new sites automatically transitioning to mobile-first indexing?

金谷武明 Jul 02, 2020 ★★

Since July 2019, new sites automatically transition to mobile-first indexing. Even if the Search Console displays a desktop crawler, checking with the URL Inspection Tool shows that the smartphone crawler is doing the crawling.

Domain Name Search Console

Should you be worried about the difference between / and /index.html?

金谷武明 Jul 02, 2020 ★★

If both a URL ending with '/' and '/index.html' exist on the domain's homepage and there are no redirects or canonical settings, Google recognizes them as separate URLs. One will be chosen as canonical.

Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Does the link disavow tool really help in combating negative SEO?

金谷武明 Jul 02, 2020 ★★★

The disavow tool is a means to inform Google of spammy links that could not be removed despite all efforts during a manual reconsideration request. It is not merely a tool to disavow negative links. Essentially, removing links is a necessary task.

Is Google really neutralizing most spam links automatically?

金谷武明 Jul 02, 2020 ★★★

Google is detecting and automatically invalidating a significant proportion of spam links. Placing a large number of spam links has little effect on search rankings and only wastes money.

Could the canonical URL change based on a visitor's geolocation?

小川安奈 Jul 02, 2020 ★★

It is fundamentally difficult to imagine that the canonical URL could be representative of different conditions such as location. The canonical does not fluctuate based on any conditions.

Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Why is max-image-preview:large essential for Google Discover?

小川安奈 Jul 02, 2020 ★★

To ensure large images are displayed in Google Discover, you need to specify the max-image-preview meta tag as large. This approach exists in addition to participation in the opt-in program.

Domain Age & History Discover & News Images & Videos

Can a poorly configured redirect that is later corrected still transfer PageRank?

金谷武明 Jul 02, 2020 ★★

Even if you mistakenly set the redirect destination during a site renewal and correct it to the right destination a few days later, it's still possible to retain the ranking for the correct redirect destination. Once the wrong redirect is recognized,...

Should you canonicalize pages that share the same content but look visually different?

金谷武明 Jul 02, 2020 ★★

When displaying pages with the same text that appears different depending on the user, if the basic content is the same but the layout and appearance differ, canonicalizing is optional. However, it is crucial to show the same information to both user...

Crawl & Indexing

Why will your hash (#) URLs never be indexed by Google?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★★

URLs containing a hash (#) cannot be crawled or indexed by Google. For temporary content (e.g., sports match) to be findable in search before or during the event, clean routes without a hash must be used. It is normal for these URLs to return a 404 a...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name

Does JSON-LD Really Slow Down Your Loading Time?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★

Adding structured JSON-LD markup (such as FAQ Schema) has a negligible impact on page speed. It only accounts for a small percentage of the total weight compared to JavaScript and images, and the browser quickly parses it without noticeable slowdown.

Domain Age & History Structured Data Images & Videos JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure Web Performance

Does switching JavaScript frameworks really ruin your SEO?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★★

A simple change of technology (e.g., from Angular to Vue/Nuxt) should not affect SEO as long as the content, site structure, and URLs remain identical. Any drop in traffic observed during a migration generally comes from changes in content presentati...

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Redirects

Is the content behind a login really invisible to Google?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★

Google cannot index content located behind a login. What happens once the user is logged in has no impact on SEO, and search engines do not care about it.

Content Crawl & Indexing

Does Googlebot crawl with cookies enabled or does it ignore your personalized content?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★★

Googlebot does not operate with cookies enabled, so it will only see the content presented to new users. To expose different content (e.g., promotions for existing users), it is advisable to create separate landing pages accessible via links rather t...

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

Can logged-in users be redirected to different URLs without facing SEO penalties?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★

It is acceptable to redirect users to different URLs based on the presence of cookies as long as Googlebot can access all content versions via links. This approach does not negatively impact SEO.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Pagination & Structure Redirects

Does changing your JavaScript framework lead to a drop in Google rankings?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★★

Changing a JavaScript framework (e.g., moving from Angular to Vue/Nuxt) should not in itself lead to a drop in ranking, as Google focuses on the content, not on the technology being used. The drops observed typically result from changes in the site s...

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure

Does rendered HTML really ensure JavaScript indexing?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★★

To determine if content loaded by JavaScript is indexable, Google’s testing tools (URL Inspection Tool, Mobile-Friendly Test, Rich Results Test) should be used to examine the rendered HTML. If the content appears in the rendered HTML, there is no ind...

Content Crawl & Indexing Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Mobile SEO Domain Name Search Console

Is content behind login really invisible to Google?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★★

Any content located behind a login system is invisible to search engines and has no SEO impact. Webmasters can therefore freely implement JavaScript interfaces for logged-in users without SEO considerations.

Content JavaScript & Technical SEO

Should you treat Googlebot differently from users to manage redirects?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★

While it is technically possible to redirect only regular users to the www domain and not Googlebot, this approach makes testing and debugging more difficult. It is better to address the root cause of the technical problem instead of creating a speci...

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

Should you really hide consent banners from Googlebot to enhance its crawling?

Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020 ★★★

It is technically acceptable not to show user consent pages to Googlebot and to load the main content directly, but this approach carries the risk of being detected as cloaking by Google's heuristics. This solution should be tested cautiously with a ...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Penalties & Spam