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 Your Mobile Site Need the Same Structure as Desktop for SEO?
John Mueller clarified on Twitter that a site's architecture in its mobile version doesn't necessarily have to be the same as the desktop site, but this architecture must be crawlable by robots....
John Mueller Jan 08, 2018
★★★ Why Does a Noindex,Follow Page Eventually Become Noindex,Nofollow?
John Mueller indicated in a hangout that a "noindex,follow" directive in the meta "robots" tag will eventually be considered as "noindex,nofollow" because the links on the page will no longer be follo...
John Mueller Jan 08, 2018
★★★ Does Google Consider Hiding Structured Data from Users as Cloaking?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that showing structured data tags to Googlebot only and not to the average user was considered by Google as cloaking and that this type of technique was therefore rep...
John Mueller Dec 27, 2017
★★★ Could Your Localized Pages Be Flagged as Doorway Pages by Google?
John Mueller clarified his definition of a "doorway page" in a hangout, in addition to the official definition: it refers to numerous pages offering identical or similar content, where the only thing ...
John Mueller Dec 27, 2017
★★ Should You Really Ignore Spammy Links in 2024?
Still in a hangout, John Mueller explains that today, Google tends to ignore spammy links rather than penalize sites that use them. And that it is now impossible to know whether, precisely, such and s...
John Mueller Dec 27, 2017
★ Should You Really Mark All Guest Blogging Links as Nofollow?
John Mueller also indicated in a hangout that, in his opinion, all links from guest blogging practices should be nofollow, which wouldn't prevent users reading the articles from clicking on the links ...
John Mueller Dec 27, 2017
★★★ Do nofollow links still pass PageRank in SEO?
Links with the nofollow attribute do not impact search rankings as they do not pass any signals. Google recommends that user-generated content containing links should use a nofollow attribute....
John Mueller Dec 22, 2017
★★★ What truly sets a natural link apart from an artificial one in Google's eyes?
Natural link building involves links being created organically by people who like and recommend your content. In contrast, paying for links or inserting them yourself into various directories goes aga...
John Mueller Dec 22, 2017
★★★ Can duplicate content really make your site disappear from Google's index?
Duplicate content means identical content seen across multiple URLs. Google may choose to display only one version in search results. Sites built solely on duplicate content can be removed from search...
John Mueller Dec 22, 2017
★★★ Should AMP pages really be identical to mobile pages to rank?
AMP pages must offer the same functionality and content as regular mobile pages to be recommended by Google. If AMP pages are not equivalent in functionality, the AMP team could choose not to display ...
John Mueller Dec 22, 2017
★★★ Should you really limit the number of H1 tags on a page?
According to Google, using multiple H1 tags on a web page is not an issue. With HTML5, it is common to have distinct H1 tags for different sections of a page. Whether you are using HTML5 or not, it is...
John Mueller Dec 21, 2017
★★★ How does Google really crawl your site? Official answers to ground-level SEO questions
In this series of short videos, we address common questions from webmasters and SEO experts to help them understand aspects such as 404 errors, how crawling works, the URL structure of a site, or dupl...
John Mueller Dec 21, 2017
★★ Why must rel="amphtml" annotations be present on both versions of your pages?
Rel="amphtml" annotations must be present on both mobile pages and AMP pages to ensure the proper association of content....
Google Dec 20, 2017
★★ Do author qualifications truly impact the ranking of health pages?
For health and medical pages, indicating the qualifications and credibility of the author can help maintain or improve rankings in search results, particularly after algorithm updates targeting the qu...
Google Dec 20, 2017
★★★ Do health pages really need to display their authors' qualifications to rank?
Pages providing medical information must clearly indicate the qualifications of the authors and ensure that the content remains reliable and current to avoid being negatively affected in search result...
Google Dec 20, 2017
★★ How can you effectively report a site that violates Google’s rules?
For sites found in violation of Google’s rules or blog platform policies, use spam reports or contact the platform provider directly to address the violations....
Google Dec 20, 2017
★★ Should You Use Generic Disavow Files Containing Lists of Toxic Sites?
Some webmasters use "standard" disavow files containing numerous toxic sites, even when these sites don't necessarily link to their website. However, John Mueller has indicated that Google does not en...
John Mueller Dec 18, 2017
★★ Can an Expired SSL Certificate Really Not Affect Your Site's SEO?
Google recently sent a message to certain webmasters in Search Console indicating that their TLS certificate had expired and required renewal. However, John Mueller indicated in the same hangout as me...
John Mueller Dec 18, 2017
★★★ How Can You Tell If Your Site Has Moved to Google's Mobile First Index?
Regarding the Mobile First project, John Mueller indicated in a hangout that one way to know if a site has moved to the Mobile First index is to look at server logs and check Google's activity: if 80%...
John Mueller Dec 18, 2017
★★ Is AMP traffic distorting your SEO statistics?
Tracking AMP pages may appear as external referrals to the main site. Technical adjustments are necessary to properly track traffic between AMP and standard pages....
John Mueller Dec 15, 2017
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