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.
Quick SEO Quiz

Test your SEO knowledge in 5 questions

Less than a minute. Find out how much you really know about Google search.

🕒 ~1 min 🎯 5 questions
★★ Does Google really analyze video visual content for SEO purposes?
Google is working to understand videos through their visual signals: identification of objects, animals, movements. This technology continues to improve to identify key moments in videos....
Danielle Marshak Mar 10, 2022
★★ Should you really be using Lighthouse with feature flags to measure SEO impact before rolling out changes?
The Lighthouse tool allows you to measure the impact of modifications on performance. It is recommended to use it with feature flags to compare performance before and after deploying a new feature....
Martin Splitt Mar 09, 2022
★★★ Do Core Web Vitals Really Affect Your Google Rankings?
Performance metrics like LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) matter for SEO. Improving these indicators has a positive impact on your site's index rating and search visibility....
Martin Splitt Mar 09, 2022
★★★ Are accordions and collapsible content still hurting your mobile SEO rankings?
With mobile-first indexing, Google has become more tolerant of certain elements like accordions or collapsible content, since mobile screens have limited space. These elements do not penalize your SEO...
Martin Splitt Mar 09, 2022
★★ Is semantic HTML really a game-changing ranking factor for SEO?
Using correct semantic HTML (semantic links, appropriate structure) is part of the basic SEO concepts that frontend developers should master for effective search engine optimization....
Martin Splitt Mar 09, 2022
★★ Is lazy loading really an easy SEO optimization to implement without risks?
Adding lazy loading for images is a simple technical optimization to implement that can have a positive impact on performance and therefore on SEO....
Martin Splitt Mar 09, 2022
★★★ Should You Still Be Using Google's Disavow Tool in 2024?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that Google doesn't use the disavow file submitted by webmasters to discover spammy links or link networks. Why? Simply because, according to him, "fake link networks...
John Mueller Mar 07, 2022
★★★ Can you safely use bidirectional canonicals between two site versions without any risk?
Duplicating content between two versions of a site (global and local) while providing a canonical tag is a perfect use of this tag. You don't need to apply the same direction for all content: one site...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Can commodity content really survive in Google search results?
For commodity content that anyone can reproduce (public domain poems, well-known quotes, etc.), it is crucial to provide significant unique value. Sites based solely on this type of content are in a p...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Should you update the same page or create a new URL every day for frequently refreshed content?
For daily updated content (like cryptocurrency prices), Google recommends maintaining the same URL and simply updating the existing content rather than creating a new page each day. This allows you to...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Does server speed really impact the crawl budget of large websites?
For very large sites, server speed plays an important role in Google's crawl capacity. If a web server is very slow, Google cannot crawl as much content. The amount of crawl affects what can be indexe...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Do H2 tags in your footer actually hurt your SEO rankings?
Google can recognize common elements that repeat across all pages (like footers) and automatically de-emphasizes them for ranking purposes. Using H2 tags in the footer is not problematic. Google will ...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Is Google really refusing to index your pages even though they're crawled regularly and have no technical issues?
When a page is crawled multiple times but not indexed (excluding technical errors, noindex, or duplications), it's generally related to the perceived quality of the entire site or that specific sectio...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Do HTML5 <header> and <footer> tags really boost your SEO rankings?
In HTML5, you can use <header> and <footer> elements to semantically structure your page. Within these elements, you can have your own heading hierarchies. This allows for clean structure from a seman...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Can Core Web Vitals Really Tank Your Rankings by 48 Positions?
Page Experience, including Core Web Vitals, is a subtle ranking signal that helps differentiate between content of similar quality. It should not cause drastic changes in positioning. A page should no...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Why does Google insist that sitemaps should never be your only safety net?
Sitemaps should provide supplementary information about a site, but should not be the primary means of content discovery. Internal linking is essential. Google must be able to discover all content by ...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Is hidden text still a problem for SEO in 2024?
Hidden text is problematic only when it serves to deceive search engines about the true content of a page. Using hidden text for internal identifiers, accessibility, or legitimate technical needs is p...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Does the shift from 'Bad' to 'Medium' on Core Web Vitals really transform your Google rankings?
Google uses Core Web Vitals (not the 0-100 PageSpeed score) as a ranking factor, based on what real users actually experience. Google primarily focuses on the gap between 'reasonably OK' and 'very slo...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Why does Google refuse to index some of your pages?
Google doesn't automatically index all pages from every website. The 'Discovered, not crawled' or 'Crawled, not indexed' status lasting several weeks doesn't necessarily indicate a technical problem, ...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Should you disable automatic links to boost your SEO performance?
Massively removing internally generated automatic links will probably have an impact on rankings, but it's impossible to predict whether that impact will be positive or negative. It's recommended to c...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
🔔

Get real-time analysis of the latest Google SEO declarations

Be the first to know every time a new official Google statement drops — with full expert analysis.

No spam. Unsubscribe in one click.