What does Google say about SEO?

Does Google really index your multilingual pages separately with hreflang, or does it only store one version?

Gary Illyes Jul 25, 2024 ★★★

Pages marked as hreflang alternatives are not indexed separately but grouped into a duplication cluster. Google stores only the canonical version and can swap the displayed URL based on the user's language and location.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name Local Search International SEO

Why are your hreflang pages disappearing from Search Console without being deindexed?

Gary Illyes Jul 25, 2024 ★★★

Google Search Console only reports data for canonical URLs in hreflang clusters. Alternative language versions are not tracked individually, which can create the impression that pages are dropping out of the index when they simply change canonical st...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Images & Videos Domain Name Search Console International SEO

Can your x-default hreflang tag really point to any page on your site?

Gary Illyes Jul 25, 2024 ★★

The x-default hreflang tag can point to any page, not necessarily one of the existing language variants. It can direct to a country selector, a fallback page, or any page chosen for users without a language match.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO International SEO

Is hreflang really enough to handle nearly identical pages that only differ by currency or VAT?

Martin Splitt Jul 25, 2024 ★★

Very similar pages differing only by VAT, currency, or price can be properly managed with hreflang without duplication issues. Google recognizes these variations as legitimate regional versions of the same content.

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO International SEO

Should You Worry About Being Unable to Block Your Content from Google Discover?

John Mueller Jul 23, 2024 ★★★

Danny Sullivan confirmed that there is currently no way to specifically block content from Google Discover, unlike Google News, where this is possible. Google's SearchLiaison representative and John Mueller have, however, acknowledged the potential u...

Domain Age & History Content Discover & News AI & SEO

Do You Really Need a Country-Specific Domain (.fr, .de) to Rank Locally on Google?

Gary Illyes Jul 23, 2024 ★★★

Gary Illyes indicated that country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) benefit from a local ranking advantage. When a user searches in their local language, domains like .de, .in, .fr, or .kr do tend to be favored by Google. However, a generic top-level ...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Local Search International SEO

How Can You Maximize Your Chances of Earning Rich Results in Google?

John Mueller Jul 23, 2024 ★★★

John Mueller has provided some tips for getting more rich results for products. He identified four essential elements. First, the page must be indexed and contain valid structured data. Moreover, Google must consider that the information is worth dis...

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

Why is the HTML <a> element with an href attribute absolutely essential for Google's crawling?

Martin Splitt Jul 23, 2024 ★★★

HTML has a dedicated element for links: the A element. For an A element to be a proper link, it must have a URL in its href attribute. This can be either a relative or absolute URL — both are acceptable.

Links & Backlinks Domain Name Pagination & Structure

Why does Google insist that links should remain real HTML links?

Martin Splitt Jul 23, 2024 ★★★

Some developers try to do clever things with other elements like spans, divs, or buttons. But fundamentally, if something behaves like a link, it should be a proper HTML link.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks

Is meaningful anchor text still a decisive SEO lever in 2024?

Martin Splitt Jul 23, 2024 ★★★

Users and bots prefer meaningful anchor text. Each link should have meaningful words as anchor text, making it easy to spot where the link will lead. This improves user experience and helps with SEO.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Is your internal linking strategy hurting your SEO more than it helps?

Martin Splitt Jul 23, 2024 ★★

Don't create links to everything and everywhere on a page. Doing too much doesn't improve things. You need to apply critical judgment and ask yourself what the next logical steps are and how the content relates to other content.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

How do you strike the right balance with internal linking without overdoing it?

Martin Splitt Jul 23, 2024 ★★

Links help users and bots understand your content structure, so they must be used thoughtfully: neither too sparingly nor excessively. The goal is finding the right equilibrium.

Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure

Does Google really treat internal links as a UX signal for Googlebot?

Martin Splitt Jul 23, 2024 ★★★

Internal links are important because they help users identify the next steps to follow and connect individual pages of a website together. Googlebot also uses these internal links in the same way users do.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Does Googlebot really discover your pages through internal links?

Martin Splitt Jul 23, 2024 ★★★

Googlebot uses internal links primarily for two things: discovering pages on your site and understanding the relationship between your site's pages. When Googlebot finds a URL in your pages, it may try to crawl it as well.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Domain Name

Why does Google keep emphasizing internal links as the backbone of site crawlability and content discovery?

Martin Splitt Jul 23, 2024 ★★

Links are important for users and bots to find related content on a page. They help identify next steps and enable navigation between different sections of a website.

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

Should you really fix every single indexation error Google reports in Search Console?

Google Jul 18, 2024 ★★★

You don't need to fix every error reported in the page indexation report. Many errors are expected, for example when part of your site is removed. Other issues can be normal: search engines simply don't index everything on a website.

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

How can you leverage the Google Search Status Dashboard API to supercharge your SEO tools?

Gary Illyes Jul 18, 2024 ★

It's now possible to access Google Search Status Dashboard data through an RSS feed and JSON history, both linked from each dashboard page. These data sources can be used to build custom monitoring tools.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure

Why does Google refuse to grant unlimited indexation request quotas in Search Console?

Gary Illyes Jul 18, 2024 ★★

It is not possible to have an unlimited number of indexation requests in Google Search Console, even for managers handling multiple sites.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Search Console

Is Schema Recipe really restricted to food recipes only, or can you use it creatively?

Google Jul 18, 2024 ★★

The structured data schema for recipes cannot be used for non-edible recipes such as deodorant or laundry detergent. Google's guidelines on structured data are very clear on this point. It is not recommended to repurpose this markup for other purpose...

Domain Age & History Structured Data AI & SEO

Does the noindex tag really only affect individual pages, or can it impact your entire site?

Gary Illyes Jul 18, 2024 ★★★

The noindex rule applies to individual pages or other resources on a site. To add a noindex rule to HTML pages, you must add a meta robots tag with the noindex value in the HTML head element of the page. Extensive documentation is available on this t...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files