What does Google say about SEO?

Should you still optimize your AMP pages with mobile-first indexing?

John Mueller Mar 17, 2020 ★★★

With the transition to mobile-first indexing, you don’t need to put additional effort into your AMP pages. They should already align with what users see on your regular pages.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO Domain Name

Can you really migrate a multilingual site without implementing hreflang right away?

John Mueller Mar 17, 2020 ★★★

During a migration where you have legacy and new sites running in parallel, using geographical signals and subdirectory structures may be temporarily sufficient without hreflang until all new sites are launched.

AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Redirects International SEO

Should you really set all category pages to noindex except for one?

John Mueller Mar 17, 2020 ★★★

For the category pages on your site, allow one version to be indexed with the default sorting order and set the other variations to noindex. This improves the discovery of your products during our crawling.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO

Is page load speed really a crucial ranking factor?

John Mueller Mar 17, 2020 ★★★

Historically, only very slow sites were affected by page load speed in terms of SEO ranking. Google may consider a more nuanced approach, but for moderately fast sites, there is no significant difference.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Web Performance

Does Googlebot really not keep cookies between crawl sessions?

John Mueller Mar 17, 2020 ★★★

Googlebot does not retain cookies between sessions. If your pages heavily depend on cookies to display content, make sure they are rendered correctly on the first visit, as no session state is maintained.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Local Search

Should you really create a page for each product variant or focus on consolidated pages?

John Mueller Mar 17, 2020 ★★★

For similar but distinct products, assess whether each deserves its own page. If not, focus your efforts on fewer but stronger pages. Balance between search specificity and resource conservation on the site.

Domain Age & History E-commerce AI & SEO

Why does your content disappear from search results despite impeccable technique?

John Mueller Mar 17, 2020 ★★★

When a site or content is less visible in search results, it may be due to algorithms being uncertain about the quality of the content. Review not only the technical aspects but also the critical quality of the content.

Algorithms Content AI & SEO

How can you regain control of your Search Console after parting ways with your SEO agency?

John Mueller Mar 17, 2020 ★★★

To remove delegated access in the Search Console, check if the user is verified by a token on your site. If they are verified through a delegation method, you can revoke that access directly in the Search Console.

Search Console

Should you really multiply or reduce your product pages for SEO?

John Mueller Mar 17, 2020 ★★★

Keep distinct product pages if they are unique and sought after. Reduce the number of pages to concentrate strength on those aligned with specific queries. There are no strict rules; test different strategies to see their impact on your visibility.

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO

How Should You Handle Pagination to Optimize Your Website's SEO Performance?

John Mueller Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller explained during a hangout that, to recognize that content is paginated on a website, there are several things to do. For example, it's possible to indicate this pagination in the H1 and Title tags (example: Page 2/12). But most of the t...

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

Should You Really Block Internal Search Results Pages from Indexing?

John Mueller Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller explained on Twitter that it was important not to index internal search engine results pages. Not for spam reasons, but because it can generate an infinite number of pages and drown quality content "in useless pages that compete with eac...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Penalties & Spam Social Media

Should You Launch All Pages of a New Website at Once or Gradually?

John Mueller Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that it was preferable, when launching a site, not to put everything online at once but to gradually grow the number of pages. This helps Google progressively understand the importance of each one. Otherwise, it is p...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Social Media

Can Google Really Index Only Part of a Web Page?

John Mueller Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller (him again) reiterated on Twitter that there is no system to block the analysis and/or indexing of a portion of a web page. Either the bot reads everything, or it reads nothing...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Social Media

Should you really keep your old CSS and JS assets to prevent crawl errors?

Martin Splitt Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

When Googlebot crawls outdated assets, it is better to keep them temporarily instead of responding with a 404 error. This avoids broken renderings while Googlebot updates its indexes.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you really prerender 100% of your content for Googlebot to index it properly?

John Mueller Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

When prerendering your pages, include as much content as possible, even if Googlebot doesn't generate elements via JavaScript; this ensures it accesses a complete version during crawling.

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

Should you block title modifications via JavaScript to prevent unwanted indexing?

Martin Splitt Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

If a chat modifies the page title via JavaScript, it is advised to position the chat behind a user interaction to prevent Google from indexing the modified version of the title.

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

Should you really be cautious about JavaScript in prerendered content?

John Mueller Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

It is perfectly acceptable to use JavaScript to add interactive elements to prerendered content. This can improve the user experience without harming SEO.

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure

Should you really keep old CSS/JS assets for Googlebot?

Martin Splitt Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

For obsolete assets when using techniques like Rails Asset Pipeline, it's best to keep them temporarily until Googlebot recrawls the new HTML content to avoid broken rendering.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Does JavaScript prerendering still pose indexing risks for SEO?

John Mueller Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

During prerendering, it is crucial to include as much content as possible to ensure Googlebot has access to all information. This typically means not ignoring elements generated by JavaScript.

Content Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO

What happens when JavaScript rewrites your title tags and jeopardizes your Google indexing?

Martin Splitt Mar 16, 2020 ★★★

If a site has titles altered by a JavaScript chat feature, Google could index these rewritten versions. One possible solution is to delay the appearance of the chat until user interaction, as Googlebot does not simulate these interactions.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO