What does Google say about SEO?

Does Google really keep cookies between each page render?

Zoe Clifford Jul 11, 2024 ★★

Cookies are enabled at the browser level during rendering. If a page sets a cookie, Google will see it during that session. However, each render is a completely new browser session, and cookies are not preserved between renders.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Does Google really ignore cookie consent banners when crawling your site?

Zoe Clifford Jul 11, 2024 ★★

Google does not interact with cookie consent dialogs. When a page displays a banner asking to accept or refuse cookies, Google does not click any button and continues rendering without making any choice.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Local Search

Should you stop using dynamic rendering based on Googlebot's user-agent?

Zoe Clifford Jul 11, 2024 ★★★

Serving different content specifically to Googlebot based on user-agent is discouraged and can cause problems. These implementations often become obsolete during bot updates and can result in broken or incomplete content being displayed only to Googl...

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

Is the URL inspection tool really reliable for testing how Googlebot renders your pages?

Zoe Clifford Jul 11, 2024 ★★★

The URL inspection tool in Search Console is the best way to test whether Google can properly render a page. If this tool works correctly, it's generally possible that Googlebot can also render the page correctly.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Domain Name Search Console

Does Google Really Treat JavaScript Redirects the Same as Server-Side Redirects?

Zoe Clifford Jul 11, 2024 ★★★

Google follows JavaScript redirects in the same way as server-side redirects. The only difference is that they must be processed at the rendering stage rather than at the crawling stage. There is no different specific SEO treatment.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Redirects

Why will Google's rendering never truly match a standard browser's behavior?

Zoe Clifford Jul 11, 2024 ★★

Google's rendering is as close as possible to a normal browser, but with efficiency optimizations. For example, the requestIdleCallback event is simulated because Google's browser is never truly idle, which could affect some sites that depend on it.

AI & SEO

Should you really unblock all your resources in robots.txt to avoid indexing problems?

Zoe Clifford Jul 11, 2024 ★★★

If an API or resource is blocked by robots.txt, Google cannot retrieve it during rendering. If this resource contains essential content such as the main page content, it will create an indexing problem because the page will appear incomplete.

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

Is JavaScript error handling now the hidden factor that determines whether Google can index your site?

Zoe Clifford Jul 11, 2024 ★★

Pages must handle JavaScript errors gracefully. If an API call fails with a 429 error or other issue, the page should not completely fail but instead display a clear error message or partial content rather than a blank page or redirect.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Local Search Redirects

Does Google really render every HTML page even if most don't need JavaScript?

Zoe Clifford Jul 11, 2024 ★★

Although rendering consumes server resources, pages that don't require JavaScript for indexing remain cost-effective to render. Google renders all HTML pages even if many don't need JavaScript, because the cost remains low for these pages.

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

How could AI Overviews shape your current SEO strategy?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★★★

AI Overviews (formerly known as SGE) are now available in select countries and incorporate generative AI into Google search when appropriate. Google monitors feedback and continuously improves when and how these AI previews are displayed.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Is it true that no steps are needed to optimize your presence in AI Overviews?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★★★

No action is required on the part of publishers to be eligible for AI Overviews. Site owners can utilize traditional snippet controls at the page or section level if they wish to limit the information displayed.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Are the new e-commerce metrics in Search Console a game changer for your SEO strategy?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★★

Google has recently added shopping ads that appear in Google Images to the search performance reports in Search Console, simplifying the verification of product visibility in search.

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

How do structured data enhance the clarity of return policies?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★★

Google has added support for structured data for return policy information at the organization level. This markup allows for easy specification of policies on an organizational scale, helping buyers decide where to shop.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

How does product variant markup impact your SEO strategy?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★★

Google has launched a special markup for product variants (like a blue or red T-shirt). This markup streamlines the connection between these variants in structured data.

Domain Age & History E-commerce AI & SEO

Why should SEO experts pay attention to Google's newly shortened SEO Starter Guide?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★★

The updated SEO Starter Guide was launched earlier this year and is now even shorter. Four out of five site owners surveyed found it more useful in this new version.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Is mobile indexing now essential for all SEO sites?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★★★

Google has announced the final stage of mobile indexing. The last exceptions have been removed, and Google now crawls all sites with a smartphone crawler for search. However, we should not overlook laptops and desktop computers.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO Pagination & Structure

How does Google's restructuring of product structured data documentation impact your SEO strategy?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★

The documentation on structured product data has been reorganized. Since e-commerce is an important topic, the information has been divided into separate pages to make it more digestible.

Domain Age & History E-commerce PDF & Files

Is Google really simplifying search results for better clarity?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★★

Google has recently launched the Web filter for simplified results. While search results provide a wealth of information in various formats, this filter delivers something straightforward when that's what you're looking for.

How will core and spam updates shake up your SEO strategies?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★★★

Google has launched core and spam updates to search ranking. These major updates to the core of Google Search are announced in the Search Status Dashboard. Google gathers feedback from site owners for evaluations and discussions with quality and rank...

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Penalties & Spam

How will the EPUB format revolutionize SEO for digital content?

John Mueller Jul 10, 2024 ★★

The EPUB e-book format is now a supported format in Google Search. Googlebot can now discover and index files in EPUB format.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files