What does Google say about SEO?

Search through official Google statements about search engine optimization

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9617 statement(s) found
Should you really use rel='ugc' on all links generated by your users?
John Mueller May 19, 2020 ★★★
By default, a website publisher cannot guarantee the quality of links added by users in user-generated content (UGC). Google provides the rel='ugc' link attribute to indicate that these links originate from user-generated content, effectively signali...
Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks
Should You Noindex Your XML Sitemap to Optimize Crawl Budget?
John Mueller May 18, 2020 ★★★
Frédéric Dubut (Bing), followed by John Mueller (Google), explained on Twitter that there is absolutely no problem with setting an XML Sitemap file to "noindex" (via the HTTP header) and that the URLs this file contains would still be properly taken ...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name PDF & Files Local Search Social Media Search Console
Should You Really Protect Yourself from Negative SEO with the Disavow File?
John Mueller May 18, 2020 ★★★
John Mueller explained, again on Twitter, that the disavow file system was not originally created to combat the phenomenon of Negative SEO: "Not to pour oil on the fire, but Negative SEO is not one of the reasons we created this tool - and I don't re...
Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks PDF & Files Penalties & Spam Social Media
Do Google Core Updates Really Impact Your Google Business Profile?
John Mueller May 18, 2020 ★★★
John Mueller explained, once again on Twitter, that Google's "core updates" have no impact on the display of "My Business" data in the SERPs. The two systems are uncorrelated. That said, there can be simultaneous updates from both information sources...
Algorithms Domain Age & History Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Social Media
Why is Googlebot missing your content loaded by Web Workers?
Martin Splitt May 18, 2020 ★★★
Googlebot does not handle Web Workers perfectly, particularly asynchronous streams. If a worker loads data asynchronously, it does not work reliably. Google is working to improve this support but recommends careful testing before use.
Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO
Is dynamic rendering really risk-free for SEO?
Martin Splitt May 18, 2020 ★★★
Serving identical or similar content to bots without JavaScript is not seen as cloaking. If the content varies slightly, it is dynamic rendering, which is perfectly acceptable according to Google.
Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure Penalties & Spam
Does dynamic rendering really slow down your server or enhance your crawl budget?
Martin Splitt May 18, 2020 ★★
Dynamic rendering generally takes more time on the server side because an additional rendering step is added. However, it can save client-side API requests and potentially increase the crawl budget for very large sites (over a million pages).
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks
Why does Google treat JavaScript redirects as 302s instead of 301s?
Martin Splitt May 18, 2020 ★★★
Google treats client-side JavaScript redirects as temporary redirects similar to 302s, not as permanent 301s. It's preferable to avoid them, but not critical if necessary.
AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Redirects
Can Googlebot really crawl hidden links in a hamburger menu?
Martin Splitt May 18, 2020 ★★★
If a mobile navigation only appears in the DOM after user interaction (clicking on the hamburger), Googlebot will not see these links. The links must be present in the DOM, even if they are visually hidden (off-screen or CSS invisible).
Crawl & Indexing Images & Videos JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Mobile SEO Pagination & Structure
Does Google really treat 301 and 302 redirects differently for SEO?
Martin Splitt May 18, 2020 ★★
Google does not make a significant distinction between 301 and 302 redirect codes in terms of SEO handling, although their behavior differs for browsers (cached vs non-cached).
AI & SEO Web Performance Redirects
Should You Serve Lightweight Pages to Bots to Enhance Performance?
Martin Splitt May 18, 2020 ★★
It is not recommended to serve bots pages without webfonts to gain performance. The added complexity (bot detection, extra code, potential bugs) far exceeds the minimal benefit. It is better to block webfonts via robots.txt or use font-display:swap.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console
How can you effectively manage 404 errors in a SPA without risking deindexation?
Martin Splitt May 18, 2020 ★★★
For SPAs with client-side routing, Google recommends three solutions to signal a 404 error: redirect to a server URL with a 404 code, add a noindex tag, or use a soft 404 (automatically detected but less reliable). The first two methods avoid any ris...
Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name
Is it true that hidden content in accordions is actually indexed by Google?
Martin Splitt May 18, 2020 ★★★
Content hidden behind accordions or tabs is indexable by Google as long as it is present in the DOM, even if it is invisible. However, the main content should not be hidden behind user interaction, and the hidden content is unlikely to be used for sn...
Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure
Is it really time to ditch manual structured data implementation?
Martin Splitt May 18, 2020 ★★
To implement structured data markup at scale, the best approach is to do it programmatically via the CMS or developers, rather than manually on a page-by-page basis. Google Tag Manager is an alternative but is more fragile.
Domain Age & History Structured Data AI & SEO Images & Videos Pagination & Structure
Are Reddit's nofollow links really useless for SEO?
John Mueller May 15, 2020 ★★
Nofollow links from sites like Reddit have no effect on SEO because Google does not transmit any ranking signal through these links. They are neither beneficial nor harmful.
AI & SEO Links & Backlinks
Should you really reduce the number of language versions for hreflang?
John Mueller May 15, 2020 ★★
For hreflang implementation, it is strongly recommended to have fewer pages (fewer language/regional variations) instead of creating landing pages for each country/language combination. Simplifying language versions makes management easier.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO International SEO
Should you really worry about 301 redirects and multiple 404 pages?
John Mueller May 15, 2020 ★★
Having a lot of 301 redirects and 404 pages on a site is perfectly acceptable. There's nothing special you need to do with these pages, and there's no need to block them. It's a normal situation with no negative consequences.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Redirects
Should you encode non-ASCII characters in XML sitemap URLs?
John Mueller May 15, 2020 ★
URLs in an XML sitemap can contain non-ASCII characters. You just need to respect the encoding specified in the sitemap specification.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name PDF & Files Search Console
Do temporary 404 errors during a migration really kill your SEO?
John Mueller May 15, 2020 ★★
If pages return temporary 404s during a migration (for a few days) before redirects are set up, Google will recrawl the URLs, see the redirects, and treat them normally. The impact on ranking will be limited and temporary if the correction occurs qui...
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Redirects
Is it true that Googlebot crawls from the USA: how can you avoid the geo-IP cloaking trap?
John Mueller May 15, 2020 ★★★
Googlebot primarily crawls from the USA. If you must block content for US IPs for legal reasons, you must also block Googlebot; otherwise, it's cloaking. The rule: users located at the same location as Googlebot must have the same experience as Googl...
Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Penalties & Spam
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