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 the FAQ schema work if the answers are hidden in an accordion?
For the FAQ schema, the content must be visible on the page. It is acceptable to display questions with expandable answers, but hiding the entire FAQ block would be problematic. The presence of visibl...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★★ Could separating each step of a site migration save you weeks of SEO diagnostics?
During a domain merge or migration, Google recommends separating the different steps (changing the domain, URL structure, CMS, design) to easily identify the source of any potential issues. Merging co...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★ Is it possible to mark a main page with FAQ schema, or is a dedicated page necessary?
It is technically possible to mark a main page with FAQ schema instead of a dedicated page, but the FAQ content must be visible on the page. Completely hiding FAQs is problematic; an accordion with vi...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★★ Schema.org that's not visible: should you really markup content that doesn't generate rich results?
Certain types of Schema.org help Google understand the context of a page without generating visible rich results. However, adding obvious high-level markup (e.g., WebPage on a webpage) does not provid...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★★ Why isn't optimizing a single SEO factor ever enough to outpace a competitor?
Google employs a multitude of factors for ranking. A site can perform well despite certain weaknesses if other aspects are excellent. To improve ranking against a competitor, you need to optimize the ...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★ Do pop-under ads really hurt your SEO rankings?
Google evaluates a page's quality by looking at whether the top of the page is visible. Pop-under ads are an old technique, and their impact depends on their implementation. It is advisable to first a...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★★ Should you really set noindex for low-content user profile pages?
User profile pages with little content generally do not drag a site down. Google focuses on important pages. Noindex is only useful if profiles are exploited by spammers or if their massive volume (mi...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★ Should you really separate your site into thematic subdomains for SEO?
Separating a site into thematic subdomains (sports, politics, etc.) is generally not useful for SEO. The exception is adult content: SafeSearch requires a distinct subdomain to effectively filter this...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★★ Should you really choose a subdirectory over a subdomain for your microsite?
For a microsite related to the main content, Google recommends a subdirectory rather than a subdomain. The subdirectory simplifies technical maintenance (CMS, redirects, Search Console, sitemap) and s...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★ Do you really need to duplicate your infographics' content in text for Google?
For infographics, it is recommended to also provide the text or the essential content in textual format (in an article or other format), as Google primarily treats infographics as images and not as te...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★ Does the URL Inspection Tool really guarantee your pages will be indexed?
Google does not have any known crawling issues with the URL Inspection Tool, but submitting a URL does not imply automatic indexing. New sites without strong signals may not be indexed immediately; it...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★★ Do you really need to transcribe your podcasts to rank on Google?
For audio content (podcasts, etc.) to be indexed and ranked in web search, a text transcription must be provided. Google does not yet perform automatic voice recognition to index raw audio. Transcript...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★ Do pop-under ads really penalize your organic SEO?
Pop-under ads are considered a very old technique, poorly supported by modern browsers. Google assesses page quality by considering the visibility of the main content. The SEO impact depends on the im...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★★ Is it true that Google ignores GDPR interstitials without penalizing your SEO?
Legally mandated interstitials (privacy policy, cookie consent) are recognized and ignored by Google, provided they are displayed over the HTML content (div overlay) and not instead of the content (re...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★★ Can You Really Optimize Your Content for Google Discover?
In the new version of the help page about its Discover feature, Google explains that "there is no way to create content that explicitly aims to meet Discover's interests." In other words, you cannot o...
Google Jul 20, 2020
★★★ Should You Block 404 Error Pages in Your Robots.txt File?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that it would be a very bad idea to block pages that return 404 errors from search engine crawling, adding that Googlebot attempts to crawl billions of URLs that retu...
John Mueller Jul 20, 2020
★★★ Should You Reject Backlinks from Pages Less Popular Than Yours?
According to John Mueller, receiving links from pages with lower popularity (whether you measure it with metrics like TF, CF, DA or others) than the page receiving the link does not pose a major probl...
John Mueller Jul 20, 2020
★★★ How does Google really detect content changes on your site?
Google employs several signals to determine crawl frequency: content fingerprint, structured data with dates, ETag, HTTP Last-Modified header, and modification date in the sitemap. If these signals do...
Martin Splitt Jul 14, 2020
★★ How does content hashing in URLs truly enhance your crawl budget?
To optimize caching and crawl budget, use content hashes in file names (e.g., application.AEF3CE.js) instead of generic names. This allows Google to cache resources indefinitely, and only new hashes w...
Martin Splitt Jul 14, 2020
★★★ Does the crawl budget really boil down to the simple sum of two variables?
The crawl budget consists of two elements: crawl rate (the speed at which Google can crawl without overloading the server) and crawl demand (crawl frequency based on content change frequency and not i...
Martin Splitt Jul 14, 2020
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