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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★★★ Do hash fragments (#) in URLs really prevent Google from indexing them?
Google generally does not consider URLs with hash fragments (#) for indexing. It is advisable to use the HTML5 History API for navigation in JavaScript applications so that Google can properly index t...
John Mueller Jun 12, 2018
★★★ Should You Really Worry About Crawl Budget for Your Website?
John Mueller indicated, again on Twitter, that the notion of "crawl budget" was often overestimated by webmasters. Focusing on this point can be effective for very large sites, not for smaller ones....
John Mueller Jun 06, 2018
★★★ Does Frequent Crawling Really Improve Your SEO Rankings?
John Mueller, once again, explained on Twitter that regular crawling of a site was not synonymous with better rankings and that, as a general rule, crawl frequency has no direct correlation with ranki...
John Mueller Jun 06, 2018
★★★ Are PDF Files Penalized by Google for Not Being Mobile-Friendly?
John Mueller reminded us of an obvious fact on Twitter by explaining that a PDF document cannot be "mobile friendly" or at least that Google does not see them as such......
John Mueller Jun 06, 2018
★★★ Should You Block Certain CSS or JavaScript Resources to Improve Your Site's SEO?
Once again, John Mueller explains in a hangout that he doesn't recommend blocking resources solely for Google, as this can affect how the search engine "sees" the page. And this can therefore modify i...
John Mueller Jun 06, 2018
★★★ Do you really need to duplicate all your structured data on the mobile version?
When a site is in m-dot version, all important content and structured data must be present on the mobile version because Google will only index this version during mobile-first indexing....
John Mueller Jun 01, 2018
★★★ Should you really use 'noindex' on the unfinished translations of your multilingual site?
'Noindex' is appropriate for partially translated pages. It is normal for updated pages to take time to be reindexed after 'noindex' is removed....
John Mueller Jun 01, 2018
★★★ Can the no-index be a temporary fix for your pages?
Using the no index attribute is an appropriate method to temporarily exclude pages from the index while correcting their content and subsequently revalidating it for inclusion in the results....
John Mueller Jun 01, 2018
★★★ Should you prioritize 301 redirects or canonicals when moving content?
When moving content from a subdomain or a section, use 301 redirects or canonical links to guide Google to the new URL. In the absence of physical redirection, a JavaScript redirect can also be used....
John Mueller Jun 01, 2018
★★★ Should you block scripts for Googlebot to enhance perceived speed?
Avoid blocking scripts specifically for Googlebot, as this could prevent Google from rendering the page properly and checking its mobile compatibility. Blocking scripts to simulate an improvement in l...
John Mueller Jun 01, 2018
★★★ Should you really duplicate 100% of your desktop content on mobile to avoid penalties?
Ensure that the content of an m-dot site is equivalent to its desktop site, especially for mobile-first indexing. Any difference in content or structured data could be detrimental if the sites are not...
John Mueller Jun 01, 2018
★★★ Do noindex pages transfer PageRank before being deindexed?
Google initially treats pages with the noindex attribute by indexing them and viewing their links. Over time, if a page remains noindex, Google may consider it a 'soft 404' and remove those links from...
John Mueller May 31, 2018
★★ Is it true that your iFrames and external resources aren't displaying correctly in the SERPs?
Google Bot prioritizes crawling HTML pages over resources like JavaScript or iFrames. The slow update rate for these external resources can create delays in their updated rendering in indexing....
John Mueller May 31, 2018
★★★ Can Google Tag Manager really index URLs blocked by robots.txt?
Google Bot can continue to index URLs generated by scripts, even if they are blocked by robots.txt. Using parameters after a question mark can help manage their indexing....
John Mueller May 31, 2018
★★ Does Google's URL Parameters tool really replace robots.txt for controlling crawling?
The URL parameters management tool can indicate to Google to reduce the crawling of specific URLs but does not equate to a prohibition by robots.txt....
John Mueller May 29, 2018
★★★ Should you really block country interstitials for Googlebot?
It's acceptable to display interstitial banners to users outside the target area, but you must allow users, including Googlebot which crawls internationally, to access the site's content....
John Mueller May 29, 2018
★★★ Why does Googlebot slow down its crawl on your site and how can you prevent it?
If a server responds too slowly to Google's requests, the bot will decrease the frequency of its crawl to prevent overwhelming the server....
John Mueller May 29, 2018
★★★ Do canonical and noindex tags in HTTP headers really work the same way as those in HTML?
The rel=canonical and noindex tags in the HTTP header are treated as if they were tags in the HTML header and must be in the static HTML to be effective....
John Mueller May 29, 2018
★★★ Should you really treat Googlebot like an average visitor in your A/B tests?
Google recommends treating Googlebot like an average user during A/B testing (including in the test variants), while noting that Googlebot does not return cookies between visits....
John Mueller May 29, 2018
★★ Do GDPR pop-ups really hurt your Google indexing?
Pop-ups that do not block access to the main HTML content generally do not affect indexing. Avoid redirecting to interstitial pages that require interaction to display the content....
John Mueller May 29, 2018
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