What does Google say about SEO?

How does Googlebot really interpret pages during an A/B test?

John Mueller May 31, 2018 ★★★

Googlebot does not support cookies and will generally always see the same version of a page during an A/B test unless a site enforces cookies for page rendering.

Domain Age & History Content

Can Google Tag Manager really index URLs blocked by robots.txt?

John Mueller May 31, 2018 ★★★

Google Bot can continue to index URLs generated by scripts, even if they are blocked by robots.txt. Using parameters after a question mark can help manage their indexing.

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

Do translated ads on your multilingual pages really harm your SEO?

John Mueller May 31, 2018 ★★

Each language version of a page should ideally display only relevant ads in the same language. This helps Google better understand the main language of each section.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO International SEO

Could A/B Testing Hurt Your Website's SEO?

John Mueller May 31, 2018 ★★★

A/B tests that show different versions of the same content are generally acceptable as long as they maintain semantic consistency. This should not lead to radically different results for the user.

Content AI & SEO

Is it true that your iFrames and external resources aren't displaying correctly in the SERPs?

John Mueller May 31, 2018 ★★

Google Bot prioritizes crawling HTML pages over resources like JavaScript or iFrames. The slow update rate for these external resources can create delays in their updated rendering in indexing.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Search Console

Is loading speed really a Google ranking factor or just an SEO myth?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★★

Google differentiates reasonably fast sites from truly slow ones. For ranking purposes, Google uses speed as a factor to some extent, especially when pages take several minutes to load.

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

Why does Googlebot slow down its crawl on your site and how can you prevent it?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★★

If a server responds too slowly to Google's requests, the bot will decrease the frequency of its crawl to prevent overwhelming the server.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing

Is server-side rendering for JavaScript really an underrated SEO lever?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★

If JavaScript content is prerendered on the server side, it reduces the processing time needed for Googlebot and improves the perceived loading speed.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Should you really treat Googlebot like an average visitor in your A/B tests?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★★

Google recommends treating Googlebot like an average user during A/B testing (including in the test variants), while noting that Googlebot does not return cookies between visits.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you really block country interstitials for Googlebot?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★★

It's acceptable to display interstitial banners to users outside the target area, but you must allow users, including Googlebot which crawls internationally, to access the site's content.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Local Search International SEO

Does lazy loading really delay the indexing of your content?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★★

Googlebot must be able to render all content. Loading text content via lazy loading can delay its indexing from a few days to a week.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos Web Performance

Does the URL format truly affect Google rankings?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★

Google does not favor one URL format over another; it does not influence SEO ranking. The choice of URL format is often related to analytical tracking.

AI & SEO Domain Name Search Console

How does Google dynamically choose result formats for each query?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★

Google's algorithms dynamically determine which content or formats (video, news) are most relevant for a given query.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content

Do canonical and noindex tags in HTTP headers really work the same way as those in HTML?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★★

The rel=canonical and noindex tags in the HTTP header are treated as if they were tags in the HTML header and must be in the static HTML to be effective.

Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO

Does Google's URL Parameters tool really replace robots.txt for controlling crawling?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★

The URL parameters management tool can indicate to Google to reduce the crawling of specific URLs but does not equate to a prohibition by robots.txt.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name

Hreflang: Is it essential to translate all your pages to avoid losing international traffic?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★

Using hreflang for translated pages is beneficial. If certain pages are not translated, it is acceptable but may create a confusing experience for users.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Pagination & Structure International SEO

Are PWAs really causing crawl and indexing issues for Google?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★

PWAs offer application-like features but require a technical understanding of JavaScript rendering for SEO optimization.

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Do GDPR pop-ups really hurt your Google indexing?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★

Pop-ups that do not block access to the main HTML content generally do not affect indexing. Avoid redirecting to interstitial pages that require interaction to display the content.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Local Search

Should you really clean up old redirect chains for SEO?

John Mueller May 29, 2018 ★★

Google processes information from old redirects and does not require specific actions like forcing a 410: showing old URLs in the info query is normal.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Domain Name Redirects

Should You Duplicate Your Page Title in the Main Image's Alt Attribute?

John Mueller May 28, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that duplicating a page's title (Title tag) in the Alt attribute of that page's main image was not a problem in itself...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos Pagination & Structure Social Media