What does Google say about SEO?

Do Core Web Vitals Really Impact Your SEO Ranking?

Google Apr 25, 2024 ★★★

The exact impact of Core Web Vitals on ranking cannot be precisely quantified as Google's algorithm uses over 200 ranking signals. No one can determine the specific impact of a single signal.

Algorithms Web Performance

Can a Server Outage Really Destroy Your Google Rankings?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

During the SEO Office Hours in April 2024, Gary Illyes explained that brief service interruptions, indicated by a 503 code, had no significant impact on the crawl rate. However, if these interruptions extend beyond 10/15 minutes, they can hinder the ...

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

Will Changing Your Web Host Hurt Your Google Rankings?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

In the latest SEO Office Hours, Gary Illyes indicated that changing hosting providers has no negative impact on page rankings in Google search results, provided that downtime is minimal.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Should You Really Avoid Hyphens in Your Domain Name for SEO?

John Mueller Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

On Reddit, John Mueller clarified Google's position on domains using hyphens. Excessive use of hyphens, combined with other questionable SEO practices, has long been considered a spam indicator. Today, given the scarcity of available domains, their u...

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Penalties & Spam

Will Google Penalize You for Owning Multiple Websites?

John Mueller Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

John Mueller stated that owning multiple websites has no direct connection to a drop in rankings: "Many people own multiple websites. Separate sites are not a problem. The problem is often more indirect. If you work on a large number of websites, you...

Algorithms Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam

Should You Use Google's Indexing API to Speed Up Your Pages' Rankings?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

Gary Illyes reminded us that the Indexing API is limited to job postings and event livestreaming: "It might still work, but since it's intended for these two things, I wouldn't be surprised if it suddenly stopped working overnight for unsupported sec...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Penalties & Spam

Is Google really rewriting your title tags as often as people think?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

The title link displayed in search results comes from the HTML title tag of the website, at least most of the time. It's one of the elements that website owners can control.

Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Can you really control what appears in your SERP snippet, or does Google have the final say?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

The snippet (description excerpt) displayed in search results comes directly from the web page's content. It's an element that can be controlled by the site owner.

Domain Age & History Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO

Why does Google display your URLs as breadcrumb trails in search results?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★

The visual URL displayed in search results generally takes the form of a breadcrumb trail, allowing the site structure to be shown in a hierarchical manner.

Structured Data AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name Pagination & Structure Local Search

Does Google really rewrite your title tags whenever it wants?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

Title links in search results are generated based on page content. In many cases, the title link is identical to the title element in the page's HTML, which site owners can control directly.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Can heading tags really replace your title tag in the SERPs?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

Title links can also be generated from the heading tags (titles) present on the page, which means that site owners can control them directly.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Can external anchor texts really take over your title tags in Google search results?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★

In certain cases, particularly when page content is unavailable, the title link can be generated from external sources such as anchor texts, which are the visible part of links.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Does Google really pull snippets only from what users see when they land on your page?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

Generally, the snippet is chosen from what users would see when arriving on the page. Site owners have direct control over the snippet text because it comes solely from their page content.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Can you really control how long your snippets appear in Google search results with max-snippet?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

You can control the maximum length of the snippet displayed in search results by using the meta robots max-snippet tag.

Does your URL structure really impact how Google displays breadcrumbs in search results?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★

Changing your URLs can alter how breadcrumbs are displayed in Google search results.

Domain Age & History Structured Data AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure

Can you actually control how your site name appears in search results using structured data?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

Modifying structured data can update your site name as it appears in search results.

Does your favicon really impact your site's SEO performance in Google search results?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★

Uploading a new favicon to your site will update the favicon displayed in Google search results.

Does Google really respect your publication dates… or does it just make them up as it goes?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★

In the snippet, you can sometimes see a byline date that is Google's own estimation of when the page was updated or published.

Domain Age & History

Why does the text result remain the most strategic element of Google SERPs?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★

The text result is the most common visual element on a Google search results page. It comprises few components, but most are controlled by the website owner.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos

Do webmasters really have complete control over Google search result attribution elements?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

The attribution elements of a search result include the favicon, the site name, and the visual URL (which typically resembles a breadcrumb trail). All of these elements can be controlled by website owners.

AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name