What does Google say about SEO?

How Long Does It Really Take to Recover from Google's Helpful Content Update?

Danny Sullivan Feb 27, 2024 ★★

How much time does it take for a site negatively impacted by the Helpful Content Update to get back into Google's good graces? According to Danny Sullivan, you'd better be patient, as it can take several months for Google to consider that your conten...

Algorithms Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Is Using Google's Indexing API Putting Your Site at Risk of Being Flagged as Spam?

John Mueller Feb 27, 2024 ★★★

Between misuse of Google's Indexing API and spam, there's apparently only a small step that John Mueller is willing to take. On X, the famous Google employee clarified once again that this API is commonly used to index spam and low-quality content, a...

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

How does Google actually crawl your website pages?

Gary Illyes Feb 22, 2024 ★★★

Crawling is the process by which Google finds new or updated web pages using automated programs called crawlers, then downloads them to make them searchable.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing

How does Google actually discover your new pages?

Gary Illyes Feb 22, 2024 ★★★

Google primarily discovers new pages by following links (URLs) from already-known pages to new pages. Most newly discovered URLs originate from other known pages that Google has previously crawled.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Domain Name

Is Google really missing pages from your site that should be indexed?

Gary Illyes Feb 22, 2024 ★★

With trillions of URLs on the internet, some pages will never be discovered by Google.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Domain Name

How does Googlebot decide which pages to crawl on your website?

Gary Illyes Feb 22, 2024 ★★★

Googlebot uses algorithms to determine which sites to crawl, how frequently to crawl them, and how many pages to retrieve from each site.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing

Does Googlebot intentionally slow down on your site to avoid overwhelming it?

Gary Illyes Feb 22, 2024 ★★★

Googlebot is programmed to avoid crawling a site too quickly to prevent overloading it. The crawl speed is unique for each site and depends on how quickly the site responds, the quality of the content, and potential server errors.

Content Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Web Performance

Why does Googlebot ignore some of the URLs it discovers?

Gary Illyes Feb 22, 2024 ★★★

Googlebot does not crawl every URL it discovers. Some pages may be on sites that do not meet the required quality threshold to be indexed, while other URLs may be forbidden from crawling or inaccessible without login credentials.

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

Can Googlebot really crawl content hidden behind a login page?

Gary Illyes Feb 22, 2024 ★★★

Googlebot only crawls publicly accessible URLs. If content is placed behind a login page, Googlebot cannot crawl it.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Domain Name

Does Google really struggle to see your JavaScript content without rendering?

Gary Illyes Feb 22, 2024 ★★★

Rendering transforms HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files into a visual representation of the page by executing JavaScript with a recent version of Chrome. Without rendering, Google would not see the content delivered by JavaScript.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files

Do you really need an XML sitemap to get indexed by Google?

Gary Illyes Feb 22, 2024 ★★★

Sitemaps are a collection of URLs from a website's pages and constitute a valuable aid for Google to discover the site. The most popular format is XML. Sitemaps are absolutely not required but can definitely help Google find your content.

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

Should you really be automating your sitemap generation?

Gary Illyes Feb 22, 2024 ★★

It is recommended to work with your website provider or developer to ensure your site automatically generates sitemap files, rather than creating them manually which is a source of errors.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Does Google really keep Search and Ads completely separate, or is this just PR?

Aaseesh Marina Feb 21, 2024 ★★★

Google applies a policy of honest results where Search and Ads are completely separated. No matter if you're a client or partner for other Google products, you must go through the same processes as a small site or a non-client to obtain SEO support.

E-commerce AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Does Google really give large sites privileged SEO support while smaller sites are left behind?

Aaseesh Marina Feb 21, 2024 ★★★

All support provided by Google's Search team is available publicly and accessible to everyone, whether you run a small site or a large one. There is no private or privileged SEO support.

Are PBNs really all classified as spam by Google, or is there room for interpretation?

Aaseesh Marina Feb 21, 2024 ★★★

Private Blog Networks (PBNs) are considered a spam technique by Google. The webspam team appreciates receiving reports on these networks to take action.

Content JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam Search Console

Does Google really monitor help forums to detect spam?

Aaseesh Marina Feb 21, 2024 ★★

Google generally does not crawl help forums to identify spam websites. People who post questions about spam sites do not usually share their URL, and it wouldn't be a good source for the webspam team anyway.

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

Where does Google really get all those spam reports from?

Aaseesh Marina Feb 21, 2024 ★★

Google's webspam team gets spam reports from many different sources. Any user can submit a spam report if they believe a site violates the rules, not just through the forums.

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

Why do SEO priorities shift so dramatically depending on which market you're targeting?

Aaseesh Marina Feb 21, 2024 ★★

SEO questions differ across markets and languages. For example, the Indonesian community asks more questions about sitemaps, while the Japanese community focuses on canonicalization and indexing problems for large e-commerce sites.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Search Console International SEO

Why does Google discourage the use of LLMs for answering in its support forums?

Aaseesh Marina Feb 21, 2024 ★★

Google asks users not to use LLMs to generate answers in support forums because it deteriorates the community experience. AI-generated responses don't provide added value compared to personalized responses from peers and experts.

AI & SEO

Does Google Really Use Product Experts' Feedback to Improve Search Console and Documentation?

Lizzi Sassman Feb 21, 2024 ★★

Product Experts can submit high-quality feedback based on their direct experience with recurring user questions. This feedback is actionable and used to improve documentation and products like Search Console.

E-commerce PDF & Files Search Console