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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★★★ Does the number of HTTP requests really drain your crawl budget?
The number of requests needed to load a page can affect the crawl budget. Minimizing requests through server or hybrid rendering can improve crawl efficiency....
Martin Splitt Jun 27, 2019
★★★ How can you speed up the removal of unnecessary content from Google?
The process of bulk de-indexing can take time, especially for content that is rarely explored. Adding noindex directives can accelerate de-indexing....
John Mueller Jun 27, 2019
★★★ Does the XML sitemap and lastmod field really speed up the indexing of your content?
An XML sitemap file will help facilitate the discovery and quick indexing of new pages. The lastmod field is particularly useful for indicating that the page has been modified....
John Mueller Jun 25, 2019
★★ Should you really be concerned about Googlebot's viewport height?
The height of the viewport used by Googlebot is not specified, but it can be inferred using tools like the URL inspection tool....
Google Jun 25, 2019
★★★ Are new subdomains automatically eligible for mobile-first indexing?
For existing sites, subdomains created will not automatically transition to mobile-first indexing (MFI) after July....
Google Jun 25, 2019
★★★ Do Duplicate Hn Tags (Desktop/Mobile) Actually Hurt Your SEO Rankings?
We noticed, when analyzing certain websites, that some templates and CMS platforms (especially when using a "builder") create duplicate Hn tags: one version for desktop, another for mobile. We therefo...
Google Jun 25, 2019
★★★ Are URLs with non-Latin characters really crawled by Google without issues?
Google can crawl URLs containing non-Latin characters without any issues. We've been doing this for a long time....
John Mueller Jun 25, 2019
★★ Why does changing a title take weeks on a large site?
The time it takes for a page title change to propagate increases with the number of pages to be crawled, but can accelerate with an optimized crawl....
Google Jun 25, 2019
★★★ Does Googlebot really index images with native lazy-loading?
Googlebot supports lazy-loading implemented via attr='loading=lazy' without the need for additional scripts....
Google Jun 25, 2019
★★★ Should you still optimize infinite scroll for Google indexing?
Recommendations for infinite scroll remain valid, except for rel-next and rel-previous. It is crucial to have updated URLs during scrolling to facilitate indexing....
John Mueller Jun 25, 2019
★★ Is it true that Google can index podcast audio content?
Google is starting to index podcast content and can display it directly in search results....
Google Jun 25, 2019
★★★ Is URL removal in Search Console really only temporary?
Removing a URL via Search Console is intended to last 90 days and can be interrupted if Googlebot no longer finds the page....
Google Jun 25, 2019
★★★ Should Every Page Really Have a Canonical Tag, Even When It Points to Itself?
John Mueller indicated during a webmaster hangout that while the "self canonical" technique (implementing a "canonical" tag pointing to the page's own URL to avoid DUST) wasn't entirely mandatory, it ...
John Mueller Jun 25, 2019
★★ Why does Google de-index your content without warning?
If a page is not intentionally indexed, check that its quality and usefulness for users are sufficiently high....
Google Jun 19, 2019
★★★ Is it true that Google penalizes sites older than 10 years in its results?
Google does not stop displaying sites older than 10 years, unless the content is deemed irrelevant for modern queries....
Google Jun 19, 2019
★★★ Should you really use hreflang for untranslated pages?
It is possible to use hreflang with untranslated pages by using canonical content. However, it is generally better to aim for a reduced number of URLs to avoid diluting the authority of your content....
John Mueller Jun 14, 2019
★★★ Does Google really ignore inline SVGs for Google Images?
Google does not index inline SVGs for Google Images. It is advisable to think about how users visually search for your content and not to focus on indexing every graphic element....
John Mueller Jun 14, 2019
★★★ Could a mistake in your XML sitemap block the indexing of your entire site?
If a URL in an XML sitemap file has an error, only that URL is ignored; the rest of the file is processed if it is technically valid....
John Mueller Jun 14, 2019
★★★ Are Sitemaps Truly Essential or Just a Safety Net?
It is advisable to use both sitemap files and internal links to facilitate Google's crawling, but not to rely solely on sitemaps. Internal links aid in the discovery of pages by Google....
John Mueller Jun 14, 2019
★★★ Can noindex pages still pass PageRank and enhance crawling?
Noindex-marked pages that contain relevant links can still contribute to content discovery. Googlebot will continue to follow links if they are regularly found through internal links....
John Mueller Jun 13, 2019
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