What does Google say about SEO?

Can Index Requests Actually Force Google to Change Your Page's Canonical URL?

John Mueller Jul 09, 2024 ★★★

On LinkedIn, in response to a question about speeding up the removal of a 301 redirected URL, John Mueller clarified that using the "Request Indexing" feature in Google Search Console does not modify the canonicalization of a URL, adding: "If you wan...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Redirects Social Media Search Console

Is Negative SEO Really Ineffective Against Your Site?

Google Jul 09, 2024 ★★

During the latest SERP Conf, Gary Illyes explained that Negative SEO was an ineffective practice. He specifically stated that Google ignores links from thematically unrelated sites, such as spam or inappropriate links, which prevents them from influe...

Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam Local Search Search Console

Why Does Google Crawl Your Pages But Never Index Them?

Gary Illyes Jul 09, 2024 ★★★

During his presentation at SERP Conf 2024, Gary Illyes explained the reasons why a page could be crawled but not indexed. This can be due to content duplication, general quality issues, or technical errors, such as when multiple URLs point to the sam...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Domain Name

Should You Avoid Brand Keywords in Your SEO Content?

Danny Sullivan Jul 02, 2024 ★★

In an exchange on X, Danny Sullivan confirmed that using brand keywords in content does not negatively affect rankings, contrary to what some SEO experts claim. On the contrary, he indicates that mentioning brand names is both expected by readers and...

Algorithms Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO

Are Google's algorithms truly capable of rewarding the best content?

Danny Sullivan Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

Danny Sullivan acknowledged that Google's ranking systems are not perfect. Indeed, despite efforts to improve the algorithms, some inappropriate content continues to be rewarded. To address this issue, Google claims to examine user feedback in order ...

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Local Search

Are images really slowing down your site's SEO performance?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

Images often constitute a significant portion of the total downloaded weight of a website and are frequently the cause of slowdowns. When used incorrectly, they can not only cost time and money during download, but also cause layout shifts that frust...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos

Should you really automate image compression for SEO purposes?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

Images should be compressed as much as possible without losing more quality than what is acceptable. Once ideal compression parameters are found, conversion and compression can be automated, while verifying results since some images may require manua...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos Pagination & Structure

Should you really avoid lazy-loading for all your images?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

Lazy-loading should not be used for all images because this technique has drawbacks for images immediately visible on screen. It should be applied selectively only to images below the fold line.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos

How can you actually boost your website's performance by selecting the right image format?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

You need to think about the image format used based on the type of images. There are classic formats like JPEG, PNG or GIF, and more recent formats like WebP or AVIF. Choosing the appropriate format impacts your site's performance.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos Web Performance Search Console

Is your website really serving the right image size to each device?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

For users on small screens, images can have a smaller size and stronger compression. Better quality and larger images are reserved for users on larger screens. This optimizes weight and performance based on the device.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos Mobile SEO Web Performance Search Console

Does Google really index all your responsive image variations with picture and srcset?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

The picture element or srcset attribute on images allow the browser to choose the best image for the device. Google Search will use the fallback image. It is possible to add structured data to inform Google Search of other available versions.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos Mobile SEO

Should you systematically use lazy-loading for all images below the fold?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

For images unlikely to be immediately visible when the page loads (images below the fold), loading can be deferred until they become visible. This reduces data transfers for images the user might never see.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos

Should you really use the HTML loading attribute to optimize lazy-loading?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★

The HTML loading attribute can be used to implement lazy-loading. It works in all modern browsers and older browsers simply ignore it, making it safe to use without any risk of regression.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos

Do you really need to migrate your images to WebP and AVIF to boost your SEO?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

Google recommends using appropriate image formats based on content type. Traditional formats include JPEG, PNG and GIF, while more recent formats such as WebP or AVIF offer better performance.

Domain Age & History Content Images & Videos Web Performance Search Console

Should you really automate image compression for SEO success?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

It is recommended to compress images as much as possible without losing more quality than what is acceptable for your site. Once ideal parameters are found, automating the conversion and compression process is possible.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos Pagination & Structure

Should you really enable lazy-loading on every single below-the-fold image?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

For images that are unlikely to be immediately visible when the page loads (below-the-fold), use lazy-loading to delay their loading until they are likely to become visible. This reduces unnecessary data transfers.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos

Is lazy-loading all your images actually hurting your SEO performance?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

Don't use lazy-loading for all images because this technique has drawbacks for images that are immediately visible (above-the-fold). It should be reserved for images below the fold.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos

Are images really the main bottleneck killing your site's performance?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

Images often constitute a significant portion of a website's total download weight and are frequently the cause of major slowdowns. They can negatively impact loading speed and cost time and money during downloads.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos Web Performance

Are poorly configured images really harming your SEO through layout shifts?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★★

If images are used incorrectly, they can cause layout shifts when they appear on the site and move elements around, which degrades user experience.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos

Should you really manually verify automatic image compression results for your website?

Martin Splitt Jul 02, 2024 ★★

After automating image compression, you must always verify the results. Some images may appear lower quality than desired and require manual adjustment of compression parameters.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos