What does Google say about SEO?

Search through official Google statements about search engine optimization

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9617 statement(s) found
Does Hreflang really only affect displayed URLs while Google insists on indexing just one version?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★★
Hreflang does not influence indexing: Google may index a single version of similar content (canonical), but displays the appropriate URL based on the search country. In Search Console, only the canonical version appears indexed, even if different URL...
Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Local Search Search Console International SEO
Why does your site completely disappear from Google's index, and how can you recover it?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★★
If a site no longer appears at all in the results (even for the brand name), there are three possible causes: a severe technical problem on the site, a manual action by the Web Spam team, or the accidental use of the URL removal tool in Search Consol...
Content Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Penalties & Spam Search Console
The 50,000 URLs in a sitemap: why does this limit not mean what you think it does?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★
The limit of 50,000 URLs in a sitemap applies only to the main URL tags (loc tag), not to additional attributes like hreflang, images, or videos. There is also a file size limit. You can create multiple sitemaps and group them via a sitemap index.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name PDF & Files Search Console International SEO
Does the URL Parameter Tool really consolidate all signals as Google claims?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★
By configuring a parameter as 'Representative URL' in the Search Console parameter tool, Google consolidates all signals from URLs with that parameter to a unique representative version. This can reduce crawling of parameterized variations, but Googl...
Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Search Console
Do core updates really not penalize any technical errors?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★★
Core updates (such as the June 2019 update) improve the relevance of search results. A drop in ranking after a core update does not necessarily indicate a technical error or a penalty, but suggests that algorithms find other content more relevant for...
Algorithms Content AI & SEO
Does the outdated content tool really just hide the snippet instead of affecting indexing?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★
If critical information (like an old phone number) persists in the results, the outdated content tool allows for temporary removal of the snippet or waiting for the result to be updated, without deindexing the page.
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO
Is the site: command really useless for diagnosing indexing?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★★
The number of results displayed by the site: command is optimized for speed, not accuracy. To diagnose indexing, one must rely on the Index Coverage report from Search Console, which accurately reflects what is actually indexed.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Search Console
Does the URL removal tool truly deindex your pages?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★★
The URL removal tool in Search Console hides URLs from search results but does not immediately remove them from the index. They continue to be counted in the Index Coverage report until Google fully removes them. For true deindexing, use noindex or r...
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Web Performance Search Console
Is it true that BERT penalizes websites that lose traffic after its rollout?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★★
BERT is not a ranking algorithm update but a system to better understand the text of long queries and pages. If a site loses traffic after BERT, it's because Google has a better understanding of what the pages are about, not because it penalizes them...
Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO
Does Google Images really select the right image for your pages?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★
To ensure Google Images associates the right image with a page, integrate main images visibly and use structured data (e.g., article markup) to explicitly specify which images represent the page. This prevents Google from using thumbnails or secondar...
Domain Age & History Discover & News Structured Data AI & SEO Images & Videos Pagination & Structure
Should you really include details like price, reviews, and ratings in your anchor texts?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★
Having a long anchor text including price, reviews, ratings, etc., is acceptable for SEO. Google does not break down anchor text to evaluate each word as a fraction. More context in the anchor text is beneficial, not harmful.
Content E-commerce AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure Local Search
What happens when your internal linking isn't bidirectional?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★★
For Google to crawl the entire site, it requires links that allow for descending through the hierarchy (to subcategories), ascending back up, and navigating horizontally between items in the same category. Test with a third-party crawler to confirm t...
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure
Why does Google refuse to index all your pages, and how can you fix it?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★★
Google does not promise to index all pages on the web. On a new site with a sudden influx of content, systems may be cautious and limit crawling and indexing. Submitting via Inspect URL does not guarantee immediate indexing. It is better to prioritiz...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Search Console
Is repetitive internal anchor text really a concern for Google?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★
It is normal for a product to be internally linked with the same product name as anchor text (98% identical). Depending on the CMS, this occurs naturally. Google does not automatically penalize this repetition of internal anchor text if it is natural...
E-commerce Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure
Do UTM parameters really cause Google to index duplicate content?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★
URLs with UTM parameters (Facebook, Twitter) can be indexed as duplicates even if the canonical is correct. Google will eventually consolidate these versions to the canonical version. To accelerate or simplify tracking, use the URL parameters managem...
Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Social Media Search Console
Does mixed content HTTPS/HTTP really impact Google rankings?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★
Mixed content (HTTP within a HTTPS page) does not impact ranking, but Chrome displays a security warning because it may expose session information. It is recommended to clean up these HTTP URLs, for example via search/replace in the database.
Domain Age & History Content HTTPS & Security AI & SEO Domain Name Local Search
Does hreflang in HTML really weigh down your pages, or is that just a myth?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★
Hreflang markup in the HTML head is static text that compresses very well. For an e-commerce site with a lot of content, adding hreflang annotations to the HTML does not significantly affect the page weight or speed, unless you have a very large numb...
Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO Web Performance International SEO
Why do old URLs stay indexed after a 301 redirect?
John Mueller May 13, 2020 ★★★
When changing a URL with 301 redirects, Google does not remove the pages from the index: it simply switches from the old URL to the new one as canonical. If traffic massively drops after a migration, it is not due to the redirects but probably a qual...
Algorithms Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Redirects
Should you overlook the Lighthouse score to optimize your SEO?
Martin Splitt May 12, 2020 ★★★
Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights are tools for developers and SEOs designed to measure the speed perceived by users. They are not specific to search. Lighthouse metrics and scores are constantly evolving to better model user experience, but Lighthou...
Domain Age & History AI & SEO Web Performance
Is page speed really a Google ranking factor?
Martin Splitt May 12, 2020 ★★★
Page speed is already a ranking factor, and that won't change. Google uses metrics that model user experience to determine what constitutes a good response to a query. The Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, FID) are the best current approximations of user experie...
Domain Age & History Web Performance
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