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 Order of H1, H2, H3 Tags Really Impact Your Google Rankings?
John Mueller indicated in a hangout that the placement of H1, H2... H6 tags in the source code doesn't matter. The H2 can come before the H1, for example, it doesn't matter. This will have no impact o...
John Mueller Dec 19, 2016
★★ Is Google Really Going to Block Scraping and How Will This Impact Your SEO Tools?
John Mueller and Gary Illyes recently reminded us on Twitter that "scraping" (copying/pasting) Google's search results using automated tools, sending queries to the search engine via software, was aga...
John Mueller Dec 19, 2016
★★★ How Can You Actually Know for Sure If Your Site Is Penalized by Google?
Let's continue with penalties with an obvious point reminded by John Mueller in a hangout: only the owner of a site can know if it is penalized as part of a manual action (through Search Console in pa...
John Mueller Dec 19, 2016
★★ Should You Really Worry About Crawl Budget for Your Site's SEO?
John Mueller indicated in a hangout that the notion of "crawl budget" (time allocated to Googlebot to crawl a site) was very often misunderstood or misanalyzed by webmasters and SEOs. Overall, accordi...
John Mueller Dec 12, 2016
★★ Can You Really Trust Google's Official SEO Statements?
Gary Illyes recently indicated that he wasn't lying. John Mueller, for his part, reiterated that the notion of Google not telling the truth to webmasters was a myth and that they could definitely trus...
John Mueller Dec 12, 2016
★★★ Should You Change Your URLs During an HTTPS Migration or Prioritize Fast Indexing?
John Mueller himself explained that it's not necessarily a good idea to take advantage of an HTTP to HTTPS migration to change URL slugs (to insert more keywords, for example), because the switch to H...
John Mueller Dec 12, 2016
Are EMDs Still a Risk for Your SEO in 2024?
Gary Illyes indicated last week that he was on the hunt for "spammy" Exact Match Domain (EMD) names. He also explained that EMDs themselves are not problematic, but rather their combination with other...
Gary Illyes Dec 05, 2016
★★★ Does the Noindex Tag Really Save Google Crawl Budget?
An obvious point but reminded by John Mueller on Twitter: implementing a meta robots "noindex" tag will not save "crawl budget" (time allocated to Googlebot to crawl your site) since, to read this tag...
John Mueller Dec 05, 2016
★★ What's the Ideal Page Load Time for Google SEO Rankings?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that an interesting metric for average page display time on a website was to keep this figure below 2 to 3 seconds, using the WebPageTest tool. For our part, we most ...
John Mueller Dec 05, 2016
Is the Google Cache Date Really Reliable for Measuring Your Pages' Crawl Frequency?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that the date displayed when viewing a page's cached version (for example, using the "cache:" syntax) is not necessarily representative of either the page's crawl fre...
John Mueller Nov 28, 2016
★★★ Is Hummingbird Really an Anti-Spam Algorithm or Does It Serve an Entirely Different Purpose?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that Hummingbird, launched in 2013, was not an algorithm specifically dedicated to fighting spam. This is clearly true, since Hummingbird (just like its legitimate su...
John Mueller Nov 21, 2016
★★★ Does Your Domain Extension (.com, .fr, .edu, .paris) Really Affect Your Google Rankings?
John Mueller and Gary Illyes have both recently indicated (for the 3,687th time 😉) that Google does not assign a lower or higher score to a site based on its extension (.com, .fr, .edu...), and in par...
John Mueller Nov 14, 2016
Should You Still Worry About Hidden Content in Accordions and Tabs for SEO?
Until now, Google had indicated that hidden but "potentially visible" content, for example in tabs or accordions, was taken into account and analyzed, but with a lower weight in the algorithm. Gary Il...
Gary Illyes Nov 14, 2016
★★★ Should You Really Worry About the HTML Lang Attribute for International SEO?
John Mueller has indicated that Google completely ignores the HTML "lang" attribute ("lang=fr" for example). It's the Hreflang attribute that is taken into account....
John Mueller Nov 14, 2016
★★ Does Domain Registration Length Really Impact SEO Rankings?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that purchasing (or renewing) a domain name for a longer or shorter period is not considered a relevance criterion by Google. The rumor suggests that the longer you r...
John Mueller Nov 14, 2016
★★★ Should You Request Frequent Recrawls of Your Site to Improve Your SEO Rankings?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that if you request (for example via Search Console) that Googlebot recrawl a site, it will not negatively impact a site. And if the search engine's robots crawl a si...
John Mueller Nov 07, 2016
Should You Really Worry About Google's Announced Algorithm Changes Coming This Year?
John Mueller recently hinted during a hangout that Google could launch numerous new features on the search engine and its algorithm before the end of the year. But without any specifics. So, saying th...
John Mueller Nov 07, 2016
★★★ How Does Google's Page Layout Algorithm Actually Penalize Ad-Heavy Websites?
John Mueller indicated in a hangout that the Page Layout algorithm, which penalizes pages offering too many ads relative to editorial content, was being updated in an automated fashion and not launche...
John Mueller Nov 07, 2016
★★ Do Rich Snippets Really Mean Google Considers Your Site High Quality?
John Mueller indicated that the fact that "rich snippets" (stars, reviews, in particular) are displayed for a site does not necessarily mean that all Google algorithms consider that site to be of good...
John Mueller Nov 07, 2016
★★★ Should You Still Disavow Links That Have Gone Nofollow or Disappeared?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that if a link has disappeared or has switched to nofollow, it is no longer necessary to include it in a disavow file. This indeed seems logical....
John Mueller Nov 07, 2016
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