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.
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★★★ Is it true that automatic geographic redirections sabotage your Google crawling?
Googlebot crawls mainly from a single location per website, typically the United States. If a site automatically redirects US users to a specific version, Google will think that these pages should be ...
John Mueller Jun 12, 2020
★★★ Should you really keep the canonical from desktop to mobile in mobile-first indexing?
For sites with separate mobile URLs (m.example.com), even after the switch to mobile-first indexing, you must continue to set the rel canonical from the mobile version to the desktop version and the r...
John Mueller Jun 12, 2020
★★ Does Discover really work without strict technical criteria?
There are no specific technical requirements, mandatory formats, or necessary meta tags to appear in Discover (except for not blocking crawls). You need to create content that your audience really lik...
John Mueller Jun 12, 2020
★★★ Is a low crawl rate really a problem for your SEO?
A low crawl rate is neither a negative signal nor a cause of traffic loss. Google adjusts the crawl frequency based on detected changes and server availability. If content changes little, the crawl na...
Martin Splitt Jun 11, 2020
★★★ Should you really limit the number of HTTP resources per page for SEO?
Google does not impose a strict limit on the number of HTTP resources per page. Fewer resources are generally better to reduce the risks of loading failures, but you must be reasonable: putting everyt...
Martin Splitt Jun 11, 2020
★★ Does a noindex header on an API really stop Googlebot from rendering the page?
A robots noindex header on an API endpoint should not prevent Googlebot from calling it to obtain the data necessary for rendering. The noindex header differs from robots.txt blocking and only pertain...
Martin Splitt Jun 11, 2020
★★ Should You Ditch Search Console's URL Parameters Tool in Favor of Robots.txt?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that the URL parameters handling tool in Search Console does not replace a "clean" use of robots.txt to block crawling on complex URLs with parameters, and that robot...
John Mueller Jun 08, 2020
★★★ Should you really stop placing category pages in noindex?
Google advises against using the noindex tag on category, author, or list pages (for example, in WordPress). Allowing Google to crawl and index all pages helps the algorithm better understand the site...
Anonyme (金谷武明) Jun 04, 2020
★★★ Why is Google delaying the complete transition to the Mobile-First Index?
The full migration to the Mobile-First Index, initially scheduled for September 1st, may be postponed due to the health situation. Google will announce the final date later....
金谷武明 Jun 04, 2020
★★★ Is it true that mobile accordion hidden content is indexed as visible content?
With Mobile-First Indexing, hidden content within mobile accordions is indeed recognized by Google. The handling of accordion content on PC no longer impacts indexing as Google now crawls with the mob...
金谷武明 Jun 04, 2020
★★★ Why doesn't Google canonicalize URLs with fragments in sitelinks and rich results?
Google normally canonicalizes URLs with fragments (#) in standard search results, but not in sitelinks or rich results (like FAQs). In these cases, the URL with the fragment is recorded as it is in th...
Anonyme (金谷武明) Jun 04, 2020
★★★ Is it really necessary to combine both 301 redirections AND canonical tags for an HTTPS migration?
During an HTTP to HTTPS migration, it is essential to implement both 301 redirections AND canonical tags pointing to HTTPS to clearly indicate to Google which version is canonical....
金谷武明 Jun 04, 2020
★★ Are Search Console tools really enough to solve your indexing problems?
To resolve indexing issues, check the registration in Search Console, submit an indexing request via the URL Inspection Tool, and send an XML sitemap. If the problem persists, provide detailed screens...
金谷武明 Jun 04, 2020
★★★ Should you still optimize rel=next/prev tags for pagination?
Google no longer uses rel=next/prev tags for pagination. There is no specific signal to send. All paginated pages can be indexed normally. The XML sitemap should contain important pages, not necessari...
金谷武明 Jun 04, 2020
★★ Does the HTTP header rel=canonical really work to manage duplicate content?
The rel=canonical attribute specified via the HTTP header is still recognized and effective. Google recommends using it if pages (like PDFs) are duplicated across multiple domains (separate PC and mob...
Anonyme (金谷武明) Jun 04, 2020
★★★ Why does Search Console still show 'PC Googlebot' on recent sites when Mobile-First Index is supposed to be the standard?
Newly indexed sites since July 2019 are supposed to be on Mobile-First Index by default. If Search Console shows 'PC Googlebot', it’s likely a display bug in the interface, not a real issue. Check ser...
金谷武明 Jun 04, 2020
★★ Does the number of JavaScript files really slow down Google indexing?
Google renders all JavaScript files on a page in a single rendering pass, not file by file. The number of JS files does not proportionally increase the rendering delay in the indexing process....
金谷武明 Jun 04, 2020
★★★ What happens when Google occasionally indexes HTTP instead of HTTPS even after an SSL migration?
If HTTP and HTTPS coexist without redirection or canonical, Google may index the HTTP version instead of HTTPS. To correct this, implement a 301 redirect from HTTP to HTTPS and/or add a rel=canonical ...
Anonyme (金谷武明) Jun 04, 2020
★★ Does the rel=canonical via HTTP header really still work?
The rel=canonical attribute via HTTP header continues to work and remains effective for PDFs or other content with separate desktop/mobile versions on different domains....
金谷武明 Jun 04, 2020
★★★ Are mobile and desktop accordions really neutral for SEO?
Google recognizes and correctly indexes hidden content in accordions, whether on mobile or desktop. With Mobile-First Indexing, hidden content on desktop has no impact on indexing because Google mainl...
Anonyme (金谷武明) Jun 04, 2020
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