What does Google say about 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

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