What does Google say about SEO? /
The Crawl & Indexing category compiles all official Google statements regarding how Googlebot discovers, crawls, and indexes web pages. These fundamental processes determine which pages from your website will be included in Google's index and potentially appear in search results. This section addresses critical technical mechanisms: crawl budget management to optimize allocated resources, strategic implementation of robots.txt files to control content access, noindex directives for page exclusion, XML sitemap configuration to enhance discoverability, along with JavaScript rendering challenges and canonical URL implementation. Google's official positions on these topics are essential for SEO professionals as they help avoid technical blocking issues, accelerate new content indexation, and prevent unintentional deindexing. Understanding Google's crawling and indexing processes forms the foundation of any effective search engine optimization strategy, directly impacting organic visibility and SERP performance. Whether troubleshooting indexation problems, optimizing crawl efficiency for large websites, or ensuring proper URL canonicalization, these official guidelines provide authoritative answers to complex technical SEO questions that shape modern web presence and discoverability.
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
★★★ How can cleaning up your URL structure solve your ranking problems?
When multiple similar pages exist and the wrong ones rank, cleaning up the site structure helps Google to identify the right pages. This includes reducing internal links to unwanted pages and using re...
John Mueller Dec 11, 2020
★★★ Should you block pages receiving backlinks with robots.txt?
If a page is blocked by robots.txt, Google does not know its content and cannot indirectly transfer external links to the main content of the site. It is important to avoid blocking important pages th...
John Mueller Dec 11, 2020
★★ Should you really update all backlinks after a domain migration?
After a domain migration, updating external links pointing to the old site helps Google with canonicalization. If Google hesitates between the old and new version, external links to one version help i...
John Mueller Dec 11, 2020
★★★ Can Web Stories really rank like traditional pages?
Web Stories are canonical AMP pages (not alternates). They can be indexed just like any regular content. They show up in the Web Stories features in certain countries; otherwise, they appear in standa...
John Mueller Dec 11, 2020
★★★ Does blocking a folder via robots.txt kill the PageRank transfer to your strategic pages?
Completely blocking a folder with robots.txt prevents Google from knowing the content of the pages. If external links point to these blocked pages, Google cannot indirectly transfer those links to the...
John Mueller Dec 11, 2020
★★★ Should you really show the complete content to Googlebot if the paywall blocks users?
Googlebot must be able to see the complete content to understand the ranking topic, AND see the structured paywall markup. Users do not need to see this markup, but it is essential for Google to see i...
John Mueller Dec 11, 2020
★★ Are Web Stories really indexable like regular pages?
Web Stories are canonical AMP pages (without an alternative HTML version). They can be indexed individually like regular content. Google does not yet display them in all countries in specific features...
John Mueller Dec 11, 2020
★★★ How does cleaning up your URL structure really enhance the ranking of your strategic pages?
When poor pages (tags similar to categories) rank better than good ones, cleaning up the structure helps: reducing internal links to these pages, using rel=canonical, or redirecting to the desired pag...
John Mueller Dec 11, 2020
★★ Does Safe Search really apply during indexing?
Safe Search is a signal calculated during the indexing phase to determine if a page contains adult content. This helps prevent surprising users with inappropriate results for innocent searches....
Gary Illyes Dec 10, 2020
★★ What JavaScript mistakes are silently killing your crawl budget?
Developers must avoid mistakes such as pointing all canonicals to the homepage, using fragments for routing, inadvertently blocking APIs in robots.txt, or misapplying noindex tags....
Martin Splitt Dec 10, 2020
★★★ Is Google truly keeping its rendering engine up to date as fast as claimed with Evergreen Chrome?
Google uses an evergreen version of Chrome for web page rendering. This version is updated a few weeks after each new stable release of Chrome. The system automatically manages errors and retries in c...
Martin Splitt Dec 10, 2020
★★★ Does canonicalization really impact Google rankings?
Canonicalization is completely independent of ranking. The signals used to choose the canonical URL (like presence in the sitemap) do not serve to improve that page’s position in search results....
Gary Illyes Dec 10, 2020
★★★ Is it true that the Intersection Observer is really crawled by Googlebot?
The Intersection Observer is a recommended approach for lazy loading with Googlebot. Google seems to trigger all intersection observers as long as they generate new content, within certain limits....
Martin Splitt Dec 10, 2020
★★ How does Google categorize your pages into duplicate clusters before selecting the canonical one?
When Google calculates and compares the digital fingerprints of pages, those that are similar or partially similar are grouped together in a duplicate cluster before selecting a canonical URL....
Gary Illyes Dec 10, 2020
★★★ Does Google really render ALL crawled pages with JavaScript?
Almost all crawled pages go through the JavaScript rendering process. The Web Rendering Service orchestrates numerous Chrome instances in the cloud to execute JavaScript and build the final DOM, exact...
Martin Splitt Dec 10, 2020
★★★ Are all indexing signals really ranking signals?
Among the many signals extracted during indexing, some become ranking signals (SafeSearch, country, language) while others do not (like most of the hashes used for canonicalization)....
Gary Illyes Dec 10, 2020
★★★ How does Google choose the canonical URL among more than 20 signals?
Google uses over 20 different signals to determine which page should be selected as the canonical URL in a cluster of duplicates. These signals include content, PageRank, HTTPS, sitemaps, and redirect...
Gary Illyes Dec 10, 2020
★★★ Why won't Google reveal the dimensions of Googlebot's viewport?
The dimensions of the viewport used by Googlebot are an implementation detail that can change at any time without notice. Google does not voluntarily disclose these exact dimensions because websites s...
Martin Splitt Dec 10, 2020
★★★ Should you ditch infinite scroll to ensure proper indexing by Google?
For infinite scroll, it is recommended to split the content so that it is accessible via specific URLs, to submit individual elements via sitemap, or to offer a paginated version as an alternative....
Martin Splitt Dec 10, 2020
★★★ Do redirects really outweigh the HTTPS signal when it comes to choosing the canonical URL?
A redirect (301 or any other type) carries significantly more weight in the canonicalization process than whether a page is on HTTPS or HTTP, as the user will ultimately see the destination of the red...
Gary Illyes Dec 10, 2020
🔔

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.