What does Google say about SEO? /
The Content category compiles all official Google statements regarding textual content creation, optimization, and evaluation in the context of search engine optimization. It encompasses fundamental aspects such as editorial quality, E-E-A-T criteria (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), duplicate content issues, and thin content concerns. Google's positions on these topics are critical for understanding how algorithms assess the relevance and added value of web pages. This category also includes recommendations on structural elements like headings (H1, H2, Hn tags), meta descriptions, and semantic optimization. With the introduction of the Helpful Content system, Google has reinforced the importance of a user-first approach rather than a search engine-first methodology. SEO professionals will find here official guidance for creating content that meets algorithmic expectations while delivering genuine value to users, a balance that has become essential for achieving and maintaining strong rankings in search results. These declarations provide clarity on content strategies that align with Google's evolving quality standards and ranking factors.
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★★★ Does migrating to a new domain really erase SEO penalties and bad signals?
Migrating to a new domain to evade low-quality content or spammy links does not work. Google continually evaluates content, and low-quality material remains poor regardless of where it’s moved. Some s...
Martin Splitt Aug 27, 2020
★★★ Should you really roll back after a site migration fails?
Before contemplating a rollback, it’s essential to diagnose the cause of the issue (missing redirects, crawl problems, technical errors). If after a month no improvement is observed, no explanation is...
Martin Splitt Aug 27, 2020
★★★ Does a domain's purchase history truly hinder an SEO migration?
The history of a domain plays a limited role in a migration. If a purchased domain has been used for spam, it is essential to clean up existing issues, possibly use the disavow file, wait for Google t...
Martin Splitt Aug 27, 2020
★★★ Should you really avoid changing everything at once during an SEO migration?
You shouldn't take advantage of a migration to simultaneously change multiple elements (URL structure, technology, content). Modifying all variables at the same time makes it impossible to identify th...
Martin Splitt Aug 27, 2020
★★★ Merging two websites: Why doesn’t Google treat this like a standard migration?
Merging two websites into one is not a standard site migration. It involves creating a new site that combines two existing versions, which requires Google to re-crawl numerous pages. The outcome and p...
Martin Splitt Aug 27, 2020
★★★ Should you really redirect all images during a site migration?
It is essential to implement 301 redirects for all images during a site migration. Visual content is very important for SEO. Since refreshing in the image index takes time, you should monitor the serv...
Martin Splitt Aug 27, 2020
★★ Does a migration trigger a quality reevaluation by Google?
Google constantly reevaluates content quality, whether during a migration or not. A site migration does not trigger any special quality reevaluation. Google always assesses content in its current form...
Martin Splitt Aug 27, 2020
★★★ Does a domain migration really lead to traffic loss?
A well-executed domain migration does not necessarily result in overall traffic loss. If you simply copy the entire URL structure and content to a new domain, traffic will decrease on the old one and ...
Martin Splitt Aug 27, 2020
★★★ How Does Google Actually Determine the Canonical URL of Your Pages?
John Mueller provided on Twitter a list of criteria that Google takes into account to define what the canonical URL of a page is (and therefore its "canonicalization"): redirects, internal links, exte...
John Mueller Aug 24, 2020
★★★ Should You Index Automatically Translated Content Without Human Review?
Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that the official recommendation was not to index content that would be translated automatically (with software/algorithm like GPT-3) without subsequent human review. ...
Gary Illyes Aug 24, 2020
★★★ Does the Mobile First Index Really Apply Automatically to New Websites?
Google indicated in May 2019 that starting from July 1st of that same year, all new sites discovered by the search engine's crawlers would automatically be integrated into the Mobile First Index. John...
John Mueller Aug 24, 2020
★★★ Should You Really Optimize Keywords in URLs to Improve Your SEO?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that keywords present in the URL carry low weight in the search engine's algorithm....
John Mueller Aug 24, 2020
★★ Does mobile-first indexing really offer any SEO advantages, or is it just a myth?
Being already indexed in mobile-first does not provide any advantages in terms of ranking or indexing. It is a technical change (using the mobile crawler). If the site is responsive and equivalent on ...
John Mueller Aug 21, 2020
★★★ Does rel=canonical really protect your syndicated content from ranking theft?
When syndicating an article with rel=canonical, two outcomes are possible: either Google indexes both pages separately (risking the syndicator ranking better), or Google chooses a unique canonical. Th...
John Mueller Aug 21, 2020
★★★ Does Google Discover really use the same quality algorithms as traditional search?
Google Discover is part of the Search systems. It uses the same crawling, indexing, content understanding processes and the same quality algorithms as traditional search. Major algorithm updates for S...
John Mueller Aug 21, 2020
★★★ Is Google really merging your multilingual pages into a single canonical URL?
When a site has identical content pages targeting different countries (e.g., French Canada vs. France), Google may group (fold) them into a single canonical version in the index. In Search Console, on...
John Mueller Aug 21, 2020
★★★ Is advertising on your site harming your SEO?
Displaying ads is not an SEO problem in itself. Google checks that the main content remains visible above-the-fold (not just ads) and that the site adheres to the Better Ads Standard (otherwise, Chrom...
John Mueller Aug 21, 2020
★★★ Does a poorly configured sitemap really diminish your crawl budget?
The Crawl Budget is determined by two factors: Google's demand (how many pages need to be recrawled) and technical limits (server capacity, optional limit in Search Console). A poorly configured sitem...
John Mueller Aug 21, 2020
★★ Should you really update the lastmod date of the sitemap for every minor change?
Google recommends using the lastmod date in sitemaps only for significant content changes, not for minor changes like an update of a counter or metric. Priority and changefreq are generally ignored by...
John Mueller Aug 21, 2020
★★ Is it really necessary to eliminate all duplicate content or should you rely on rel=canonical?
Completely eliminating duplicates is impractical for most sites, as it's normal on the web. Using rel=canonical helps Google focus on the main content. Both approaches (manual reduction + canonicaliza...
John Mueller Aug 21, 2020
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