What does Google say about SEO?

Can You Still Trust the Site: Operator to Audit Your Page Indexation?

Gary Illyes Feb 06, 2017 ★★

Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that Google is not at all considering removing the "site:" query syntax, which allows you to obtain a sample of the pages that the search engine indexes for a given website. He even added that some Googlers would figh...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Penalties & Spam Social Media

Does URL Structure Really Matter for Google Rankings?

John Mueller Feb 06, 2017 ★★

John Mueller also indicated on Twitter that the hierarchy within the different elements of a URL was not important to Google. In other words, an address can contain many directories (example: http://www.yoursite.com/dir1/dir2/dir3/dir4/page.html), th...

Domain Age & History Content HTTPS & Security AI & SEO Domain Name Social Media

Should You Still Track Penguin Version Numbers to Adjust Your SEO Strategy?

Gary Illyes Jan 30, 2017 ★

On the other hand, still on the subject of Penguin, the same Gary Illyes, also on Twitter, indicated that there would no longer be numbered versions (the last one was 4.0 in August 2016). Moreover, many numbered versions of Penguin had been labeled a...

Algorithms AI & SEO Social Media

How Quickly Can You Remove a Google Penalty for Intrusive Interstitials?

John Mueller Jan 30, 2017 ★★★

Regarding the mobile interstitial penalty launched in mid-January, John Mueller indicated that if a site was penalized in this way and corrected the issue, the penalty would be lifted at the next crawl of the offending page by Googlebot. This seems e...

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

Is AMP Really a Google Ranking Factor for SEO?

John Mueller Jan 30, 2017 ★★★

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that AMP was not a relevance criterion for Google and that the fact that a page is available in this format does not factor into the search engine's algorithm calculation. He also indicated that if AMP pages were you...

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO Social Media

How Does Google Really Rank Results in a Site: Query?

John Mueller Jan 30, 2017 ★

A frequently asked question: how does Google rank results for a "site:" query? John Mueller indicated that the homepage is displayed first but that afterwards, there is no specific ranking or order taken into consideration. For our part, we strongly ...

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How Is Google Now Rolling Out Its Algorithms Internationally?

Gary Illyes Jan 30, 2017 ★★

Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that, increasingly, Google is trying to perform algorithm launches at a global level from the start and not in one country (often the United States) or one language (English) first, then with an extension to other cou...

Algorithms AI & SEO Domain Name Social Media International SEO

Will Google Really Warn Us Before Major Penguin Updates Hit?

Gary Illyes Jan 30, 2017 ★

Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that Google would make sure to be "transparent" regarding Penguin if major changes were to take place in the future on this algorithmic filter. It's difficult to know more but, roughly speaking, the search engine coul...

Algorithms AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Social Media

Can Google's Quality Raters Actually Penalize Your Website?

Gary Illyes Jan 23, 2017 ★★★

Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that Google had Quality Raters not only in the United States, but "in tons of countries" around the world, in order to rate search results like a user located in the country where they live. It's important to remember...

AI & SEO Social Media

Should You Enable International Targeting in Search Console Without Fearing SEO Penalties?

Gary Illyes Jan 23, 2017 ★

The same Gary Illyes, again on Twitter, indicated that specifying a target country in the "International Targeting" section of Search Console does not diminish the site's relevance score and visibility in other countries. This is a strange statement ...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Social Media Search Console International SEO

Should You Modify Your Canonical Tags When Switching to Mobile First Index?

John Mueller Jan 16, 2017 ★★★

As long as Mobile First indexing is being tested by Google, there is no reason to change the "canonical" tags if you have a dedicated mobile site whose pages point to their desktop equivalents. John Mueller and Gary Illyes have confirmed this again o...

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How Does Google Warn Webmasters About Mobile First Index Risks?

John Mueller Jan 16, 2017 ★★★

John Mueller indicated in a hangout that Google will send messages via Search Console to webmasters who own sites that could be impacted in one way or another (and especially negatively, for example for sites that don't have the same content on deskt...

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Do errors in my XML Sitemap actually penalize the indexing of my other pages?

John Mueller Jan 16, 2017 ★★★

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that the fact that certain URLs are erroneous or return errors when reading an XML Sitemap file does not affect the reading and processing of other URLs (as on Bing for example). If a URL poses a problem, the system ...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name PDF & Files Social Media Search Console

Should You Really Resubmit Already Indexed URLs in Search Console Regularly?

John Mueller Jan 16, 2017 ★★★

John Mueller indicated in a hangout that it's not necessary to resubmit via Search Console a URL that is already indexed by Google. Well, obviously... :). This was in response to a question from a webmaster whose agency had told them that this action...

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Will Mobile PageSpeed Really Be Ignored as a Ranking Factor with Mobile First Indexing?

John Mueller Jan 09, 2017 ★★

John Mueller indicated that when Mobile First indexing launches in a few months, a page's mobile PageSpeed score will not be considered as a relevance criterion, at least initially (currently it's the desktop PageSpeed score that is taken into accoun...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Mobile SEO Web Performance

Can Wix Websites Actually Rank Well on Google?

John Mueller Jan 09, 2017 ★★

John Mueller also indicated on a webmaster forum that websites built with the Wix platform do not pose major SEO problems, contrary to their long-standing negative reputation: "a website is a website for Google," he added.

Content AI & SEO

Does Google Only Penalize Mobile Interstitials Coming From Search Results?

John Mueller Jan 09, 2017 ★★★

Regarding the interstitial penalty that will be applied starting tomorrow, John Mueller indicated on Twitter that this penalty would only apply to sites that display an interstitial when the mobile user arrives on the site from a Google SERP. Not in ...

Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Local Search Social Media

Why Doesn't Google Index Every Page on Your Website?

John Mueller Jan 09, 2017 ★

John Mueller stated in a hangout that it's normal for Google not to index all pages of a website or XML Sitemap. However, he didn't explain why certain pages are left out :(...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Should You Already Be Optimizing Your Site for Google's Mobile First Index?

Gary Illyes Jan 02, 2017 ★★★

Gary Illyes reminded (with a Japanese Googler) on Twitter that the "Mobile First" index was not yet live. Let's remember that nothing will really happen before - at least - the second quarter of 2017 and that Google will communicate on this subject w...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO Social Media

How Can You Ask Google to Speed Up Your Site's Crawl in an Emergency?

John Mueller Jan 02, 2017 ★★★

John Mueller indicated in a forum that there is a procedure, through an appropriate form, that allows you to ask Google's "crawl" team to perform a specific crawl of your site or ask a question about how Googlebot crawls your pages. To be used, of co...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Web Performance