What does Google say about SEO?

How can you precisely control the appearance of your results in Google's SERP?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★

Google provides comprehensive documentation on Search Central explaining how to control the different elements that make up a search result, allowing webmasters to optimize their display.

Domain Age & History PDF & Files

Can Google really use your alt tags and meta descriptions to build your snippets?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

If the page does not contain enough text, the snippet can be extracted from otherwise invisible text such as image alt attributes and the meta description element.

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

How can you disable snippet display in Google search results using the nosnippet tag?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

You can control whether Google displays a snippet in search results for a particular page by using the meta robots nosnippet tag.

Domain Age & History Local Search

How can you prevent specific content from showing up in your Google snippets?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★★

If you don't want a particular passage to appear in the snippet, you can use the data-nosnippet HTML attribute on certain specific HTML elements.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Why does Google display multiple links from the same domain underneath a single search result?

Gary Illyes Apr 23, 2024 ★★

Below the snippet, you can sometimes see sitelinks: two or more links coming from the same domain or its alternative version, grouped together to help users access pages relevant to that particular result.

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Can you manage multiple websites without triggering SEO penalties?

John Mueller Apr 18, 2024 ★★★

Owning multiple websites is not inherently a problem for Google. The real challenge is that if you manage many sites, you'll have less time to create truly excellent ones, and Google's algorithms can detect lower quality.

Algorithms AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Does the dash vs underscore distinction in URLs really impact your SEO rankings?

Gary Illyes Apr 18, 2024 ★★

Keywords in URLs contribute very little to ranking in Google search results. However, dashes are preferable to underscores because they separate words more clearly.

AI & SEO Domain Name

Does noindex follow really guarantee that Google will explore your internal links?

John Mueller Apr 18, 2024 ★★

With noindex follow on pagination pages, two outcomes are possible: either Google sees the page and follows the links before removing it from the index, or the page is removed and nothing is used. The result is not guaranteed and will change over tim...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure

Does Google Really Ignore URL Fragments with # for SEO Rankings?

John Mueller Apr 18, 2024 ★★★

URL fragments (everything after the # symbol) are ignored by Google for SEO purposes. A link to a specific text fragment functions like a normal link with no particular SEO effect.

Content Links & Backlinks Domain Name

Do short 503 errors really impact your site's crawl rate?

Gary Illyes Apr 18, 2024 ★★★

Serving a 503 code during an extended period will result in a decrease in crawl rate. However, 10 to 15 minutes of unavailability several times per week is not considered prolonged and should not cause any issues.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Does switching web hosting really hurt your search engine rankings?

Gary Illyes Apr 18, 2024 ★★★

If the hosting change is done correctly, with a site that remains accessible and minimal downtime, it should not have negative effects on page rankings in Google search results.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Should you really ban text embedded directly in images?

John Mueller Apr 18, 2024 ★★

There are various ways to integrate text into HTML elements and images, and most work well. The only variation to avoid is putting text directly in the image file, as this makes it difficult for search engines and some users to recognize it.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos PDF & Files

Does having duplicate burger menus in your DOM hurt your SEO rankings?

Gary Illyes Apr 18, 2024 ★★

Having a hidden burger menu on mobile with the same links as the desktop menu, thus creating duplicate links in the DOM, results in no penalty from Google.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Mobile SEO Pagination & Structure

Do external 404 errors really hurt your Google rankings?

Gary Illyes Apr 18, 2024 ★★★

The false 404 errors that Googlebot could have explored cannot reasonably be attributed to a drop in rankings. It is normal to have a certain number of 404 errors on a site and you do not need to fix them.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Do you really need a sitemap.xml to rank well on Google?

Gary Illyes Apr 18, 2024 ★★

It is not mandatory to have a sitemap. If you choose to have one or more, you can give them any filename you want, not necessarily sitemap.xml.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Should you really abandon separate mobile URLs (m-dot) for better SEO results?

John Mueller Apr 18, 2024 ★★★

Using separate URLs for mobile and desktop versions is an option, but it makes things much more difficult than they should be, not only for SEO but also for analytics, maintenance, and testing. A responsive design is recommended.

AI & SEO Mobile SEO Domain Name

Why is noindex more effective than robots.txt for hiding a site from Google?

John Mueller Apr 18, 2024 ★★★

To prevent a site from appearing in search results while keeping it accessible, use the meta robots noindex tag rather than robots.txt. With robots.txt, the site could still be found if someone searches for it by its exact name.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Is the Indexing API really restricted to job postings and events only?

Gary Illyes Apr 18, 2024 ★★★

The Indexing API is limited to job postings and broadcast events. It might work for other content types, but since it's not designed for that, it could stop working overnight for unsupported verticals.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Can you really target multiple countries with a single page using hreflang?

John Mueller Apr 18, 2024 ★★

It is possible to use multiple hreflang tags for the same page. For example, a German-language page can target both Germany and Austria. Hreflang allows you to replace the URLs shown to users based on their language and location.

Domain Age & History Domain Name Local Search International SEO

Should You Really Worry About 404 and 410 Errors for Your Site's SEO?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2024 ★★★

In a Reddit discussion, John Mueller clarified the confusion surrounding HTTP status codes 404 and 410, and their impact on SEO. He explains that Google does not penalize sites for the presence of 404 errors, and also specifies that the difference be...

Domain Age & History Content HTTPS & Security AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO