What does Google say about SEO?

Will Server-Side Rendering Become Essential for the SEO of JavaScript Applications?

Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020 ★★

The future focus for JavaScript web applications will be on enhancing performance and facilitating server-side rendering to ensure faster user experiences.

Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Web Performance Search Console

How do internal links really shape the topical relevance of your pages?

Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020 ★★★

Links allow crawlers to explore the pages of your website and understand the structure and architecture of information. They are essential for search engines to determine which pages are relevant to a given topic.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure

Is it true that URL fragments (#) are killing your crawl budget and how can you fix it?

Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020 ★★★

Avoid using URL fragments if you want crawlers to discover and follow your links. Fragment identifiers are not designed to point to different content and are ignored by crawlers.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name

Can Googlebot really execute your AJAX requests and index the JavaScript-loaded content?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★★

Googlebot can execute AJAX requests when rendering a page, particularly to load additional content displayed with JavaScript. Therefore, it is crucial not to block these requests in the robots.txt file to ensure all content is rendered and indexed co...

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

Should you really block tracking parameters for Googlebot through cloaking?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★★

Adding tracking parameters for users while blocking them for bots via cloaking is allowed, but it's not a good SEO practice as it complicates the analysis of your traffic and site navigation. It is preferable to use canonical URLs or redirects to the...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name Pagination & Structure Penalties & Spam Redirects

Are your internal links sabotaging Google’s canonical choice?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★★

Google selects a canonical URL by using various factors, such as rel=canonical, internal and external links, as well as redirects. If the internal links point to non-canonical URLs, it can complicate Google's choice of the canonical URL.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Redirects

Should you block URL parameters in robots.txt to save your crawl budget?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★★

For managing large structures with parameters in URLs, do not block in robots.txt but rather use techniques like canonicalization or noindex removal, as this can initially influence crawl priorities.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure

Does Googlebot really submit your forms and is it something to worry about?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★

It is extremely rare for Googlebot to submit forms unless it is the only way to access content (such as on some government websites). Googlebot avoids this to prevent generating unwanted actions like accidental purchases.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you really redirect all your ccTLDs to a single domain?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★★

If all versions of ccTLDs contain the same content in English and are maintained solely for historical reasons, it may be wise to redirect them to a single site to avoid duplication and simplify management.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Domain Name International SEO

Does FAQ markup really guarantee visibility in Google search results?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★★

Including FAQ markup does not guarantee display in search results. The validation of the markup, compliance with policies, and overall site quality are determining factors.

Domain Age & History Structured Data

Do non-canonical URLs in internal links really kill PageRank?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★★

Using non-canonical URLs in internal links does not directly affect PageRank flow, but it can complicate analysis in Search Console and lead Google to choose the wrong canonical URL.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Search Console

Should you really switch from a .com to a .ca to exclusively target Canada?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★

Redirecting a site from a dot-com to a dot-ca is feasible even if you are targeting only Canada. It will not have a major negative impact if managed correctly.

AI & SEO Redirects

Do AJAX calls really consume crawl budget or not?

Martin Splitt Apr 28, 2020 ★★★

When a site uses AJAX calls to load content, these resources can be indexed but do not affect the crawl budget. Use the HTTP X-Robots-Tag headers to prevent their indexing without impacting the rendering of the main page.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Are Sitelinks Search Boxes Really Under SEO Control?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★

Adding tags for search sitelinks does not guarantee their appearance; they are only used if Google decides to display a search box for your site.

Links & Backlinks Local Search

Should you really be wary of the noreferrer attribute on your links?

John Mueller Apr 28, 2020 ★★

The noreferrer attribute on a link prevents the transmission of referrer information to the target site. This is separate from nofollow, which limits the transfer of signals between pages for search engines.

Domain Age & History Links & Backlinks

Is Infinite Scroll Secretly Killing Your Organic Rankings?

Martin Splitt Apr 27, 2020 ★★★

Martin Splitt explained during a hangout that certain infinite scroll systems on websites could cause SEO damage. For example, when part of the content isn't loaded until the user scrolls down their screen. However, Googlebot doesn't scroll by defaul...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure

Do Google's Internal SEO Teams Really Have Access to Privileged Algorithm Information?

John Mueller Apr 27, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller explained in one of his "Ask Google Webmasters" video series that Google's SEO spokespeople and, more generally, the team managing the search engine don't provide any information to Googlers who handle SEO for the company's websites inte...

Content AI & SEO Redirects

Do 301 redirects really ensure your canonical is recognized by Google?

John Mueller Apr 22, 2020 ★★★

301 redirects are regarded by Google as a canonicalization signal indicating that you prefer the destination page to be indexed instead of the original page. However, Google employs many other factors to determine the canonical page.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Redirects

Should you really clean up all internal links after a 301 redirect?

John Mueller Apr 22, 2020 ★★★

To help Google focus on the new URL after a 301 redirect, it is advisable to update internal links, sitemap files, and any other references pointing to the original page so that they point to the new destination page.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name PDF & Files Redirects Search Console

Does the URL inspection tool really solve your canonicalization issues?

John Mueller Apr 22, 2020 ★★★

With the URL inspection tool in Search Console, you can check which URL Google has selected as canonical. If it’s not the desired page, search for and correct the signals pointing to the old URL.

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