What does Google say about SEO?

Do Core Updates really alter the quality of your content, or just its relevance?

John Mueller Dec 10, 2018 ★★★

Google's Core Updates can change the perception of content relevance without implying that the content is of lower quality. Google encourages sites to consult its quality guidelines to evaluate and adjust the relevance of their content.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content Images & Videos

How Does Google Actually Measure Trust When Ranking Your Website?

John Mueller Dec 03, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller confirmed in a hangout that Google uses a certain number of criteria (without specifying which ones) to evaluate the quality of a site as a whole, and therefore the quality of the content provided by the information source. The same cont...

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Should You Create New Pages Every Year or Reuse the Same URL for Seasonal Content?

John Mueller Dec 03, 2018 ★★

In a hangout with John Mueller, a question was raised regarding seasonal content that returns every year, such as Christmas offers, for example. Should you create new pages each time or update those from the previous year? John Mueller explained that...

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

Is the Speakable Tag Now Essential for Optimizing Your Voice Content on Google?

Google Dec 03, 2018 ★★★★

Last month, we reported that the Speakable structured data markup was not functional for the Google Home Hub connected speaker. The issue has now been resolved and all Google connected speakers now support this tag, at least in the United States.

AI & SEO

Do unique images really impact your visibility in Google Images?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

Using unique photos on your site is beneficial because if you use the same photo as other sites, Google will choose one of those articles as the destination page for image search. With unique images, your content can be displayed separately in image ...

Domain Age & History Content Discover & News Images & Videos

Do images really affect your ranking in web search results?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

While good images can appear in image search results and sometimes in standard web search results, they do not directly improve your site's ranking in web search.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos

Are image alt attributes truly critical for your Google SEO?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

To ensure Google correctly understands the content of your images, benefit from adding alternative text and captions to clearly describe what your images contain.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos

Why does Google crawl pages but not index them?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

It's normal for Google to crawl certain URLs without indexing them. If a URL does not bring added value in terms of search, such as index or archive pages, it may be crawled but not indexed.

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

Can you really use French text in image geotags for local SEO?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★

You can use a non-English language in image geotags. If Google Maps recognizes the location using the text, Google can infer the location from the image tags.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos Local Search International SEO

Should you really submit for indexing after fixing your structured data?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

After correcting errors in structured data such as an incorrect phone number, use the indexing submission tool in Google Search Console to have it re-indexed faster. However, updates can still take time.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Search Console

Can you really aggregate third-party reviews on your site without risking a penalty?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

It is acceptable to pull reviews from third parties, such as those from product pages, to summarize and display elsewhere as long as you adhere to Google's policies on structured data for rich review publication.

Domain Age & History E-commerce AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Local Search

Why is your Knowledge Panel showing incorrect data?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★

Inaccuracies in Google's Knowledge Panel may stem from inconsistencies between sources. Ensure that all information visible to Google, including that on Wikipedia, is correct and consistent with each other.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Is voice search really a standalone ranking factor?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★

Voice search is currently not a distinct ranking factor. Well-structured websites understood by Google will appear in both voice search and traditional search.

How can you manage age interstitials without blocking Google’s indexing?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

For age interstitials that cannot be bypassed by Googlebot, use an HTML div or JavaScript overlay so that the underlying content is always visible for indexing.

Content Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO

Do Google Ads Quality Scores Really Affect Your Organic Ranking?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

Google Ads quality scores are not related to SEO. They may provide insights on certain points to improve for landing pages, but do not influence their ranking in organic search.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Do outbound links really improve your page rankings?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

Adding links to external sites within content helps Google better understand the context, but it does not directly improve the page's ranking.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Should customer reviews in JavaScript be marked up with structured data?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

Reviews embedded from third parties via JavaScript should not be marked with structured data as it would contradict Google's structured data guidelines.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Local Search

Why do your JavaScript pages take weeks to get indexed?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

Pages built exclusively with JavaScript can take longer to be rendered and indexed by Google. Pre-rendering or dynamic rendering can speed up this process by providing a static HTML version directly to Googlebot.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO

Does Googlebot's crawling from the United States really hurt your loading speed?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★

Googlebot mainly crawls from IP addresses based in the United States, but the difference in loading speed due to this location is insignificant. Page speed is evaluated with both lab data and real user data.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Web Performance Local Search International SEO

Should you use removal tools during a site migration?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

When moving a site, use 301 redirects instead of removal tools, as the latter do not affect indexing and could remove pages before the new content is indexed.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Redirects