What does Google say about SEO?

Should you deploy return policy markup at the organization level instead of the product level?

John Mueller Aug 07, 2024 ★★★

Google now allows you to add structured data to indicate return policy information at the entire organization level, rather than only at the product level.

E-commerce AI & SEO

How can you leverage merchant listing tracking in Google Images through Search Console to boost your e-commerce visibility?

John Mueller Aug 07, 2024 ★★★

Merchant listings appearing in Google Images are now tracked and reported in Google Search Console, providing greater visibility into the performance of these placements.

Domain Age & History E-commerce AI & SEO Images & Videos Web Performance Search Console

Will Google's new product documentation really streamline your e-commerce implementation process?

John Mueller Aug 07, 2024 ★★

Google has restructured and improved its documentation regarding structured data for products, making implementation easier for e-commerce websites.

E-commerce PDF & Files

Should You Switch Your Mobile URLs (m.url) to Canonical URLs with Mobile-First Indexing?

John Mueller Aug 06, 2024 ★★★

John Mueller from Google advises against changing mobile-specific URLs (m.url) to canonical URLs, even with mobile-first indexing. He explains that this change could cause major technical issues for large sites. He recommends maintaining existing con...

Content Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO Images & Videos Mobile SEO Domain Name

Can robots.txt really protect your site from unwanted crawlers?

Gary Illyes Aug 06, 2024 ★★★

Google has confirmed that the robots.txt file does not have the capability to prevent unauthorized access to a website. Gary Illyes from Google explained that this file merely requests that robots avoid certain parts of the site, without guaranteeing...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Pagination & Structure PDF & Files

Should You Use the X-RateLimit Header to Control Googlebot Crawling?

John Mueller Aug 06, 2024 ★★★

On Mastodon, a user asked John Mueller whether Google respects the X-RateLimit-Limit header when crawling websites. His response: "I've never heard of it," adding: "We document the use of http codes 429 and 503 to request slowdowns."

Content Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO PDF & Files

Why Can't Google Trends Ever Tell You the Real Number of Keyword Searches?

Daniel Waisberg Jul 31, 2024 ★★★

Google Trends normalizes data using a search interest metric on a 0-to-100 scale, where 100 represents the highest point. The data doesn't show absolute search volume, but allows you to compare the relative popularity of a term over time.

AI & SEO

How can you leverage 20 years of Google Trends history to supercharge your SEO strategy?

Daniel Waisberg Jul 31, 2024 ★

In Google Trends, it's possible to customize the date range and go back to 2004 to analyze the historical evolution of search terms across different Google properties.

Domain Age & History

Should you really prioritize topics over keywords when analyzing search trends?

Daniel Waisberg Jul 31, 2024 ★★

To correctly analyze trends, it is recommended to use topics rather than simple terms in order to exclude meanings unrelated to search intent. For example, choosing the topic Alphabet Inc. rather than the term 'alphabet' to avoid including other mean...

Search Console

Does Google Trends really show you all search data, or just a fraction of the real picture?

Daniel Waisberg Jul 31, 2024 ★★

Google Trends provides a random sample of Google searches that are aggregated, anonymized, and categorized. The tool examines a representative portion of billions of daily searches rather than the entire dataset, which allows it to process and make d...

AI & SEO

Why is Google filtering Google Trends data and how does it impact your SEO monitoring strategy?

Daniel Waisberg Jul 31, 2024 ★★

Google excludes from Google Trends terms searched by very few people as well as searches repeated by the same person over a short period. This data cleaning removes noise and ensures user privacy.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Web Performance

Does Google Trends really aggregate all keyword variants together, or does it treat them separately?

Daniel Waisberg Jul 31, 2024 ★★

Topics in Google Trends group together the exact term, misspellings, acronyms, and all languages related to an entity. This provides a complete view of interest in a concept without being restricted to a single spelling or language.

AI & SEO International SEO

Should You Avoid Noindex on Pages That Contain Important Links?

John Mueller Jul 30, 2024 ★★★

In the July 2024 SEO Office Hours episode, John Mueller explained that blocking a page from crawling suggests that internal or external links present on the page are not relevant. "You can block the indexing of pages you don't want to appear, that's ...

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

Can rapid content growth make Google treat your site as brand new?

John Mueller Jul 30, 2024 ★★★

John Mueller warned that exponential content growth can trigger a site reassessment by Google, treating it as a new site. A significant increase, such as going from 10,000 to 100,000 products, can prompt Google to reevaluate how it displays the site.

Content E-commerce AI & SEO Local Search

Why Is Reddit Blocking Bing and Other Search Engines Except Google?

Google Jul 30, 2024 ★★

Microsoft confirmed that Reddit blocked Bing and other search engines by updating its robots.txt file on July 1, 2024. Microsoft respects this directive and no longer crawls the site. Reddit specified that this blocking is not related to its partners...

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

Should You Really Trust AI for Your SEO Strategy?

John Mueller Jul 30, 2024 ★★★

Google's John Mueller advises against using language models (LLMs) for SEO advice, as they learn from potentially erroneous information. This remark was made in response to a contradictory suggestion from Google Gemini regarding the use of Google's d...

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

Should You Really Block the GoogleOther Crawler in Your Robots.txt?

Gary Illyes Jul 30, 2024 ★★★

Gary Illyes warned that blocking the GoogleOther bot could affect various Google products and services, although it does not directly impact search results indexed by Googlebot. GoogleOther is used for internal research and development, and includes ...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Images & Videos Web Performance

Does your URL structure really affect how hreflang works on Google?

Gary Illyes Jul 25, 2024 ★★★

From an SEO perspective, the URL structure you choose (subdirectories, subdomains, or separate domains) makes no difference to hreflang. All configurations work equivalently for Google Search.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure International SEO

Are ccTLDs really losing their SEO weight for geographic targeting?

Gary Illyes Jul 25, 2024 ★★★

Country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) like .de and .ai are losing their reliability as geographic targeting signals. Google previously applied a slight boost for ccTLDs matching the user's country, but this signal is becoming obsolete because these...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name International SEO

Can Google really target geography at the individual page level?

Gary Illyes Jul 25, 2024 ★★

Google can determine geographic targeting at the level of each individual page, not just at the entire site level. A specific section or page can be identified as targeting a particular country even if the rest of the site is global.

Domain Age & History