What does Google say about SEO?

Does a clean website really boost your credibility in Google's eyes?

Martin Splitt Feb 12, 2026 ★★

Having a well-designed website with an appropriate domain name and HTTPS strengthens the credibility and trust users place in a business or project, compared to a presence limited to social media alone.

HTTPS & Security AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Do you really still need a website to rank on Google in 2024?

Gary Illyes Feb 12, 2026 ★★★

The decision to have a website in 2026 depends entirely on your objectives, target audience, and the type of content or service you provide. There is no universal answer—some businesses succeed without a website.

Content AI & SEO

Is a website really still the number one tool for maximizing your online visibility in 2024?

Martin Splitt Feb 12, 2026 ★★★

If the goal is to make information or services available to the greatest number of people possible, a website remains the best solution in 2026, according to Martin Splitt's perspective.

Why does owning a website give you far more control over monetization than relying on social media platforms?

Gary Illyes Feb 12, 2026 ★★

A website gives you complete control over monetization strategies (affiliate links, display ads, etc.), unlike social platforms that impose restrictions and often take a commission.

AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Social Media

Why does Google still prioritize the open web over native mobile apps?

Gary Illyes Feb 12, 2026 ★★

Sharing a web link represents a lower barrier to entry for users compared to downloading an application, because it requires no strong commitment and no compatibility with a specific operating system.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Social Media

Should You Create Alternative Versions of Your Site for AI Bots?

John Mueller Feb 10, 2026 ★★★

Developers are experimenting with a technique that involves detecting AI bots and serving them raw Markdown instead of complete HTML. The objective: reduce token usage (up to 95% according to one developer) and increase site ingestion capacity by RAG...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos

Should You Really Analyze All Redirects and CSP Configurations to Optimize Your SEO?

John Mueller Feb 10, 2026 ★★

John Mueller advises against spending too much time analyzing redirects and CSP (Content Security Policy) parameters for every URL on a website to optimize search engine rankings. His argument: Bad redirects or CSP configurations are generally visibl...

Domain Age & History Content HTTPS & Security AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Redirects

Should You Really Wait for a Google Update to Explain Your Ranking Fluctuations?

John Mueller Feb 03, 2026 ★★

In January 2026, Google results experienced very high volatility. Google officially confirmed no update that would explain these fluctuations. Questioned on Bluesky about a ranking drop in the USA, John Mueller responded that he had "no insight or up...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Social Media

Are action parameters in your URLs sabotaging your crawl budget?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★★

Action parameters (such as add_to_cart=true or add_to_wishlist=true) in URLs represent approximately 25% of crawl problem reports. These parameters can double or triple your crawlable URL space. Googlebot doesn't purchase products and shouldn't crawl...

Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Search Console

Should you really get rid of session IDs in your URLs?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★

Session IDs in URLs are an obsolete practice from the 2000s. Crawlers don't need to access session IDs because they don't maintain session persistence. These parameters can be blocked via robots.txt.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name

Are your WordPress calendar parameters secretly destroying your crawl budget?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★★

Calendar and event date parameters account for 5% of issues. Certain WordPress plugins create infinite calendar URL spaces on every path of your site, which prevents Google from detecting soft 404s and generates excessive crawling.

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

Is double URL encoding silently killing your crawl budget?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★

Double percent encoding of URLs (encoding an already encoded URL) represents about 2% of issues. Google decodes URLs once, but if they have been encoded twice, the URLs remain incorrect and the site cannot handle them properly.

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

Do you really have to wait 24 hours for robots.txt changes to take effect with Google?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★

robots.txt files are cached by Google for a duration that can extend up to approximately 24 hours. Modifications made to robots.txt are therefore not immediate but remain the most sensible method for controlling crawl activity.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Web Performance

Should you replace GET parameters with PUT requests to protect your crawl budget?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★

It is very rare that Googlebot uses HTTP PUT requests. Using PUT requests instead of GET parameters for actions like adding to cart would help prevent these URLs from being crawled.

Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO Domain Name

Is faceted navigation really eating up half of your crawl budget?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★★

Faceted navigation (filters and sorting on e-commerce sites) accounts for nearly 50% of crawl problem reports received in 2025. It creates URL combinations that can overwhelm servers because Googlebot must crawl a large volume of URLs to determine wh...

Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Search Console

Should you really block faceted navigation in robots.txt?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★★

To control the crawling of faceted navigation, the most reasonable method is to use robots.txt to block these paths. Google's robots.txt file provides examples of parameter combinations to allow or block, applicable to faceted navigation.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Pagination & Structure PDF & Files

Is Google really acting as a technical consultant for WordPress plugin developers?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★

Google's Search Relations team identifies WordPress plugins generating crawl problems and submits issues on their open source repositories. WooCommerce quickly resolved a reported problem concerning action parameters.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Are short URL parameters really draining your crawl budget?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★

Irrelevant parameters (UTM, session IDs) make up 10% of reported issues. Google handles standard parameters well like session_id, j_session_id or utm_medium, but short non-standard parameters (like s=) cause problems because their meaning is ambiguou...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Search Console

Why does Googlebot need to crawl massive amounts of a new site before deciding if it's worth its attention?

Gary Illyes Feb 03, 2026 ★★★

Googlebot, despite nearly 30 years of experience, can only determine if a new URL space is relevant after crawling a large portion of it. During this phase, intensive crawling can render the site unusable before Google detects the overload.

Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Why Will Google Gemini Remain Ad-Free While ChatGPT Integrates Them?

Google Jan 27, 2026 ★★★

Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, confirmed at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Google has "no plans" to integrate advertising into Gemini. This statement comes just after OpenAI's announcement regarding the upcoming arrival of ads in Cha...

AI & SEO