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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★★★ Should you index the internal search pages of your site?
If internal search pages resemble categories, indexing them can make sense. If they consist of random user searches, it’s better to use noindex or robots.txt. Mueller prefers noindex because robots.tx...
John Mueller May 01, 2020
★★★ Why does Google deindex your blog articles after an update?
When previously indexed articles are deindexed after an algorithm update, it is usually not a technical issue but a problem of perceived quality. Google decides that indexing fewer pages from this sec...
John Mueller May 01, 2020
★★★ Site Architecture: Is it really necessary to choose between flat and deep?
It's essential to avoid an architecture that's too flat (everything at the same level) or too deep (too many clicks). Finding a balance facilitates crawling, indexing, and ranking. There are no strict...
John Mueller May 01, 2020
★★★ Do full-page hero images really harm Google indexing?
Hero images that require scrolling do not pose an issue for indexing as long as the complete content is present in the DOM....
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Should you really multiply sitemaps when you have a lot of URLs?
If you have a large number of URLs, it is advisable to use multiple sitemap indexes to organize your URLs more effectively. This allows Google to process and discover the URLs optimally....
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Should you ditch HTML5 canvas to ensure your content gets indexed?
Using JavaScript to replace HTML5 text content with canvas text commands is not recommended. Google does not plan to index content in canvases. It is better to build a standard HTML page to ensure the...
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★ Will Server-Side Rendering Become Essential for the SEO of JavaScript Applications?
The future focus for JavaScript web applications will be on enhancing performance and facilitating server-side rendering to ensure faster user experiences....
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Is it really necessary to split your sitemap into multiple files to index a large site?
If you have a large number of URLs to index, it is acceptable to divide your sitemap into multiple sub-sitemaps as long as you adhere to Google's limit of 50,000 URLs per sitemap file....
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Why does replacing HTML with JavaScript canvas hurt SEO?
Replacing HTML text content with JavaScript canvas is not recommended for accessibility and performance reasons. Crawlers may have difficulty reading the text presented this way, and it can complicate...
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Do full-screen hero images really block the indexing of your pages?
Full-page 'hero' images do not impact indexing if the content is in the DOM without requiring scrolling....
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Do complex JavaScript menus really block the indexing of your navigation?
As long as the navigation uses appropriate links with anchor tags and hrefs, it will be correctly followed and indexed by Google. Avoid complex interactions, such as dropdowns that are not traditional...
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Does Googlebot really follow all the JavaScript links on your site?
Googlebot can follow links produced by JavaScript, provided they are generated with appropriate anchor tags. Non-standard elements, such as spans with onclick, will not be followed....
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Is it true that URL fragments (#) are killing your crawl budget and how can you fix it?
Avoid using URL fragments if you want crawlers to discover and follow your links. Fragment identifiers are not designed to point to different content and are ignored by crawlers....
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★ Should you really ditch noscript for rendering your content?
Noscript can be used as a fallback for rendering, but it should not be the only way to make content visible to Googlebot. JavaScript lazy-loading methods should be used concurrently....
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Is it true that Google really respects the canonical tag?
Canonical tags are viewed as indicators by Google. Google can choose a different canonical URL based on various signals such as inbound links and the actual content of the page....
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Are Your JavaScript Links Wrecking Your Crawl Budget, and How Can You Fix It?
Use semantic HTML markup for links and ensure your links point to a correct URL. Avoid using pseudo-protocol URLs like 'javascript:' because they are not followed by crawlers. Make sure that links inc...
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ How do internal links really shape the topical relevance of your pages?
Links allow crawlers to explore the pages of your website and understand the structure and architecture of information. They are essential for search engines to determine which pages are relevant to a...
Martin Splitt Apr 29, 2020
★★★ Can Googlebot really execute your AJAX requests and index the JavaScript-loaded content?
Googlebot can execute AJAX requests when rendering a page, particularly to load additional content displayed with JavaScript. Therefore, it is crucial not to block these requests in the robots.txt fil...
John Mueller Apr 28, 2020
★★★ Do non-canonical URLs in internal links really kill PageRank?
Using non-canonical URLs in internal links does not directly affect PageRank flow, but it can complicate analysis in Search Console and lead Google to choose the wrong canonical URL....
John Mueller Apr 28, 2020
★★★ Do AJAX calls really consume crawl budget or not?
When a site uses AJAX calls to load content, these resources can be indexed but do not affect the crawl budget. Use the HTTP X-Robots-Tag headers to prevent their indexing without impacting the render...
Martin Splitt Apr 28, 2020
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