What does Google say about SEO?

How do Search Console reports shape your SEO strategy?

Google Nov 30, 2023 ★★★

Search Console reports (including the breadcrumb report) are based on URL samples and can vary over time. They do not exhaustively control everything that appears in search results. The important thing is to focus on reported issues.

Structured Data Domain Name Pagination & Structure Search Console

How does result personalization influence your SEO strategy?

Google Nov 30, 2023 ★★

Search results vary depending on the device, environment, and connection status. Personalization is important and useful, especially for language settings per account. Results are not static and identical for all users.

Content International SEO

Why are there ranking differences between PC and mobile devices?

Google Nov 30, 2023 ★★

Significant differences in position between PC and mobile (for example, 2nd position on PC vs 9th on mobile) are considered a normal behavior. Results can legitimately vary depending on devices and environments, even in the absence of technical issue...

Content Mobile SEO Web Performance

Is page speed really a decisive ranking factor for Google?

Martin Splitt Nov 29, 2023 ★★★

Page speed is important for SEO, but more importantly for your website's users. Google considers page performance as an element of SEO.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console

Are images really the biggest performance bottleneck dragging down your website?

Martin Splitt Nov 29, 2023 ★★★

Images are one of the main causes of performance problems on websites. By optimizing images, you should see an improvement in page performance.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos Web Performance Search Console

Should you really migrate all your images to WebP to boost your SEO performance?

Martin Splitt Nov 29, 2023 ★★

To optimize images, it is recommended to use modern formats like WebP, or to select the right parameters for JPEG encoding to improve performance.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos Web Performance Search Console

Does Google really consider the srcset attribute on images for SEO?

Martin Splitt Nov 29, 2023 ★★

In your website code, you can use the srcset attribute on image or photo elements to provide different devices with the best image adapted for users.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos Mobile SEO

Is Lighthouse really enough to spot all your problematic JavaScript code?

Martin Splitt Nov 29, 2023 ★★

To identify problematic scripts, you can use Lighthouse which flags unused JavaScript, or use the Network panel in DevTools to find slow scripts.

JavaScript & Technical SEO

Is lazy loading really safe for your SEO rankings?

Martin Splitt Nov 29, 2023 ★★★

Lazy loading can be used for content that isn't immediately visible when a page is first visited, thereby improving initial loading performance.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos Web Performance Search Console

Is the loading=lazy attribute really enough to optimize image loading for SEO?

Martin Splitt Nov 29, 2023 ★★

For images and iframes, simply add the loading=lazy attribute to HTML elements to implement deferred loading in a simple and effective way.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos

Should you really preload videos with poster images for SEO success?

Martin Splitt Nov 29, 2023 ★★

To optimize videos, it is recommended to use preloading and a poster image as a placeholder to improve loading performance.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos JavaScript & Technical SEO Web Performance Local Search Search Console

Are third-party scripts really sabotaging your Core Web Vitals even when they're not visible on screen?

Martin Splitt Nov 29, 2023 ★★★

Plugins or third-party scripts used to display image carousels or widgets sometimes circulate a lot of data over the network and slow down the browser, even if the widget doesn't display on the page.

Domain Age & History Images & Videos Local Search

Should You Really Trust Your SEO Tools' Recommendations?

John Mueller Nov 28, 2023 ★★★

John Mueller answered a question on Reddit from a user wondering whether or not to use accents for Vietnamese words, as these would surely not be used by the American and Australian tourists that his blog targets. However, his SEO tool recommended us...

Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks International SEO

Does Your Social Media Follower Count Really Affect Your Google Rankings?

Danny Sullivan Nov 28, 2023 ★★

On X (Twitter), a user asked Danny Sullivan whether follower count was a ranking factor for social media profiles on Google, since the search engine now displays follower counts on SERPs. Sullivan responded that it is not.

Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Local Search Social Media

Is Google Planning to Phase Out the Robots.txt File?

John Mueller Nov 28, 2023 ★★

Alexis Rylko (who frequently contributes to Réacteur) noticed that Google had removed its Robots.txt help page from its documentation, and wondered whether robots.txt was going to be discontinued soon. John Mueller responded: "We update the documenta...

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

How is Google Tackling the Problem of Fake Obituaries in Search Results?

Danny Sullivan Nov 21, 2023 ★★★

Google is encountering some issues with fake obituaries, to which the Mountain View firm is still struggling to provide solutions. In response to an internet user who shared the depressing dimension of the situation, Danny Sullivan affirmed that this...

AI & SEO

Should We Abandon the Topical Authority Concept and Return to Simple Relevance?

John Mueller Nov 21, 2023 ★★★

On Reddit, John Mueller confirmed the claims of a user who stated that the concept of Topical Authority was far from new and simply served to qualify the relevance of content in relation to a given topic: "this concept has existed forever and is actu...

Content AI & SEO Search Console

Is technical SEO really still essential for search rankings?

Gary Illyes Nov 21, 2023 ★★★

Technical SEO aspects are always very important. If Googlebot cannot access the site, if rendering fails severely, or if there are no words/tokens on the page, Google cannot do much for you.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Is Search Console really the solution to fix all your SEO problems?

Gary Illyes Nov 21, 2023 ★★

Search Console and webmaster tools are very effective at recognizing technical problems. They can help with ranking issues, but are particularly useful for diagnosing technical problems.

Content AI & SEO Search Console

Does Google really prioritize your homepage first when it comes to crawling and indexing?

Gary Illyes Nov 21, 2023 ★★★

For Google, the homepage is the most important page on your site. It's the page users land on when they type your domain name directly. Google will try very hard to crawl and index this page. If it's not indexed, you likely have a problem.

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