What does Google say about SEO?

How Can You Structure Your Site to Speed Up Indexing of Your News Content?

Gary Illyes Dec 26, 2023 ★★★

During the SEO Office Hours, Gary Illyes also explained that it was wise to use a hierarchical structure for large-scale sites in order to encourage Google to explore different sections quickly. Gary Illyes particularly recommends creating a "news" s...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure

Is Googlebot really rejecting HTML pages larger than 15 MB from being crawled?

Gary Illyes Dec 21, 2023 ★★★

Google has a 15 megabyte request size limit for crawling web pages. This limit applies to individual HTML files and is large enough for the vast majority of websites.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO PDF & Files

Why does Google separate Googlebot and Google-Other in its crawling activities?

Gary Illyes Dec 21, 2023 ★★★

Google created the Google-Other user-agent to isolate crawl traffic unrelated to search. Googlebot is now reserved exclusively for search-related traffic, while Google-Other is used for search and certain AI training activities.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Is Google-Extended really just a token and not an active crawler?

Gary Illyes Dec 21, 2023 ★★★

Google-Extended is not a crawler but a product token in robots.txt that allows sites to opt out from training AI models like Bard and Vertex AI. It will never appear in access logs because it is not an active bot.

Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO

Is Google really preparing a universal opt-out for AI training?

Gary Illyes Dec 21, 2023 ★★

Google is working on control mechanisms allowing publishers to choose opt-in or opt-out from AI training. These solutions must be developed in collaboration with other AI companies and publishers, not by Google alone, to avoid multiplying controls.

AI & SEO

How does Google really want to regulate AI usage in content creation?

Martin Splitt Dec 21, 2023 ★★

Google will continue to emphasize content quality in 2024. The objective is to help content creators learn how to use AI responsibly and reasonably, rather than allowing it to harm the quality of the web.

Content AI & SEO

Is the title tag still truly a cornerstone of SEO despite modern CMS evolution?

John Mueller Dec 21, 2023 ★★

The title element (title tag) remains a fundamental HTML element that SEO professionals must know how to locate and modify in a page's source code, even though modern CMS platforms make it less visible.

Domain Age & History Content Local Search

Is Google really replacing First Input Delay with Interaction to Next Paint in Core Web Vitals, and what does that mean for your SEO?

Martin Splitt Dec 21, 2023 ★★★

Google will replace First Input Delay with Interaction to Next Paint in Core Web Vitals in March 2024. This new metric measures the delay between all user interactions and the page's response, not just the first interaction.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Web Performance

Should you really stop obsessing over Core Web Vitals scores?

John Mueller Dec 21, 2023 ★★★

Sites should not specifically optimize to achieve exact numerical values for Core Web Vitals, but rather focus on improving actual user experience. Metrics are indicators, not goals in themselves.

AI & SEO Web Performance

Does Google really check 4 billion robots.txt files every single day?

Gary Illyes Dec 21, 2023 ★★

Google checks the robots.txt files of roughly 4 billion hostnames daily, and the total number of sites (including subdirectories) likely surpasses this number. Any control solution must factor in this massive scale.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files

Are Google's AI principles really shaping how search results rank?

Martin Splitt Dec 21, 2023 ★★

Google applies its artificial intelligence principles to all its AI-related products, including SGE and Bard. The gradual rollout across different countries allows it to comply with local regulations and monitor impacts.

E-commerce AI & SEO Local Search

Can you really trust AI-generated content for SEO?

Gary Illyes Dec 21, 2023 ★★

With current technology, it is impossible to reduce AI model hallucinations to zero. AI-generated content always requires human verification and oversight, even for simple tasks.

Content AI & SEO

Should you really ignore Core Updates during the holiday season?

Martin Splitt Dec 20, 2023 ★★

There's no need to worry about core updates during the end-of-year period. Google recommends taking a few days off and relaxing, as core updates don't require constant monitoring during this time.

Algorithms AI & SEO

Should You Worry About Duplicate Content Between an HTML Page and Its PDF Version?

John Mueller Dec 19, 2023 ★★★

In a recent video published on YouTube, John Mueller explains that there is no problem with content being published in both HTML and PDF formats, noting that both types of pages can be displayed independently in search results, "even if the words the...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos Links & Backlinks PDF & Files

Should you really exclude prices from flight page title tags?

Google Dec 19, 2023 ★★★

For pages concerning flights, you should not include prices in title tags. Titles are highly visible and prices can change rapidly, which would make the title become outdated.

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Are these new structured data types really opening doors for your SEO, or just adding technical overhead?

John Mueller Dec 19, 2023 ★★★

Google has announced several new types of structured data: course information, vehicle announcements for auto dealerships, learning videos for students and teachers, vacation rental listings, updates to organization markup, and tagging for forum disc...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Mobile SEO

Do structured data implementations really guarantee rich snippet display in Google search results?

John Mueller Dec 19, 2023 ★★★

Structured data is primarily used to provide more context in search results, but its use is not guaranteed by Google.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Should you slow down Googlebot when it's crawling your site too aggressively?

John Mueller Dec 19, 2023 ★★★

If Googlebot is crawling your site too aggressively, you can use standard HTTP result codes 503 or 429 to slow it down.

Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO

What are Google's real priorities hidden behind its latest algorithmic updates?

John Mueller Dec 19, 2023 ★★

Google has deployed several algorithmic updates including Core Updates, a spam update, and a Reviews update. Details are available on Google's blog and the Search Status Dashboard.

Algorithms AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure Penalties & Spam Local Search

Should you block Google's generative AI in robots.txt? Here's what you need to know about Google-Extended

John Mueller Dec 19, 2023 ★★★

Google has added Google-Extended, a new user agent for robots.txt. Web publishers can use it to control whether their sites help improve Bard and generative Vertex AI APIs.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO