What does Google say about SEO?

Why do indexing incidents cripple news sites so severely?

Gary Illyes Jun 06, 2024 ★★★

During an indexing incident in February 2024, search results became outdated and Google struggled to index new content. This particularly affected news portals that couldn't reach their users, and users couldn't find the latest news on their favorite...

Content Crawl & Indexing Discover & News AI & SEO

Why does Google keep incidents 'open' on its status dashboard even after they're resolved?

Gary Illyes Jun 06, 2024 ★★

For certain critical incidents, Google maintains the open status even after visible problem mitigation, rather than closing it immediately. This prevents having to reopen the incident if the system regresses. Google now distinguishes between 'fixed' ...

AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Should you worry about Google's minor technical incidents?

Gary Illyes Jun 06, 2024 ★★

Historically, incidents classified as 'minor' internally at Google have never warranted external communication. These incidents involve isolated technical issues like a server running out of RAM or a datacenter undergoing scheduled maintenance, which...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Does Google Really Only Announce Technical Incidents When Enough Sites Are Impacted?

Gary Illyes Jun 06, 2024 ★★★

Google decides to publicly communicate about an incident when multiple sites (more than three, ideally more than seven) are affected by the same problem. External pressure and problem visibility also influence the decision to publish on the status da...

Pagination & Structure

Why isn't Google crawling your site as frequently as you'd like?

Gary Illyes Jun 06, 2024 ★★★

Some issues perceived by site owners as malfunctions are actually intentional. For example, if Google doesn't crawl a site as frequently as the owner wishes, it's not a bug but an algorithmic decision based on Google's evaluation of the content.

Algorithms Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Why does Google rely on pre-approved message templates during technical incidents?

Gary Illyes Jun 06, 2024 ★★

To communicate quickly during incidents, Google uses templated messages pre-approved by legal and public relations teams. This allows the company to publish updates to its status dashboard without having to seek approvals each time, thereby accelerat...

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

Why isn't your content appearing in search results even after you've fixed your indexing issue?

Gary Illyes Jun 06, 2024 ★★

After resolving an indexing or crawl problem, it takes time before changes become visible in search results. Google may close the incident while clarifying that complete reindexing is underway and users will progressively see content return.

Content Crawl & Indexing

Why Are Google's Search Experiments Causing Unexpected Incidents in Your Rankings?

Gary Illyes Jun 06, 2024 ★★

Frequently, incidents are caused by experiments (tests) that interact poorly with each other or have unintended side effects. When an alert triggers, the SRE team can identify a faulty experiment and disable it or reduce its scope to resolve the issu...

AI & SEO Mobile SEO

Will Google finally start sharing good news about its search engine?

Gary Illyes Jun 06, 2024 ★★

Google is considering expanding the use of its status dashboard to include positive informational updates, such as indexing improvements or processing speed increases. Currently, the majority of communications concern negative issues, but positive ch...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Web Performance

Why Doesn't Reporting Spam to Google Directly Penalize Targeted Sites?

Danny Sullivan Jun 04, 2024 ★★★

On X, Danny Sullivan clarified that spam reports received do not lead to direct action against the reported sites. Instead, these reports help improve Google's spam detection systems, which can then take action at the algorithm level. He also indicat...

Algorithms AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Penalties & Spam Search Console

Does Google Really Welcome Constructive Criticism from SEO Professionals?

Danny Sullivan Jun 04, 2024 ★★

No, Google is not upset by those who share constructive feedback about its search results. Danny Sullivan has indeed stated that complaints and feedback represent opportunities for improvement. He even encouraged users to continue providing construct...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Social Media

Did you know that Google's URL removal tool can impact 4 versions at once?

Google May 30, 2024 ★★★

When a URL is removed using the tool, 4 versions are automatically deleted: with and without www, in HTTP and HTTPS. This removal affects all these variants even if only one URL is entered.

HTTPS & Security AI & SEO Domain Name

Why is the removal tool not suitable for normalizing URLs?

Google May 30, 2024 ★★★

Using the removal tool to normalize URLs (for example, removing the HTTP version during an HTTPS migration) is a bad practice. The correct method is to use the canonical tag and 301 redirects.

Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO Domain Name Redirects

Is the removal tool really a magic fix for your URLs?

Google May 30, 2024 ★★★

The removal tool does not permanently delete pages or images. It temporarily hides the URL from search results for a maximum of 6 months. After this period, the URL reappears in the results unless further action is taken.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name

Why should you avoid the removal tool during site migrations?

Google May 30, 2024 ★★★

Do not use the removal tool to take down the old site during a migration. The proper approach is to implement 301 redirects from the old site to the new one.

Domain Age & History Redirects

What’s the best way to permanently delete content without leaving any SEO traces?

Google May 30, 2024 ★★★

To permanently remove content: delete the file from the server (for all users), add password protection (for certain users), or use noindex for bots (to exclude from search results).

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files

How can you effectively leverage Google's removal tool?

Google May 30, 2024 ★★

The URL must match exactly: uppercase/lowercase, with or without a trailing slash. Use the exact URL as it appears in search results. Tracking parameters should be removed, as well as anchors (#).

AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name

Is it true that deleting URLs won't fix your manual penalties?

Google May 30, 2024 ★★★

Using the removal tool to erase penalized or problematic pages from an expired domain does not work. The correct method is to submit a reconsideration request explaining the situation to Google.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Why are ranking fluctuations a normal part of SEO?

Google May 30, 2024 ★★

Rankings are never completely stable. Positions can rise and fall regularly even in the absence of bugs or technical issues. This is a normal behavior of the algorithm.

Algorithms Content AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Could Mobile-First Indexing be harming your SEO traffic?

Google May 30, 2024 ★★★

If the mobile version intentionally contains less content than the desktop version, enabling Mobile-First Indexing is likely to lead to a decrease in traffic because Google accesses less information from the page.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Mobile SEO