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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★★ Why does Search Console show some resources as blocked when they're supposed to be accessible?
If resources appear blocked in Search Console, it may be due to temporary unavailability of the robots.txt files or server overload making certain resources inaccessible....
Google May 17, 2018
★★★ How does Google really choose the canonical version of a page when faced with duplicate content?
The canonical tag is used to indicate which version of a page should be indexed when multiple pages have similar content. Google examines several signals to determine which page should be canonically ...
Google May 17, 2018
★★ Are dynamic URLs with parameters really penalized by Google?
Dynamic URLs with parameters are not inherently disadvantaged in terms of indexing. However, it is advisable to check that Google can easily crawl these URLs and that the content is rendered accessibl...
Google May 17, 2018
★★★ Should you really redirect all HTTP pages to HTTPS to avoid indexing issues?
It is advisable to redirect all HTTP pages to their HTTPS versions to avoid indexing problems between the two protocols....
John Mueller May 15, 2018
★★★ Are JavaScript canonicals really ignored by Google?
Canonical tag elements are not considered when they are dynamically generated by JavaScript. Make sure the static HTML version correctly sends the canonical tag....
John Mueller May 15, 2018
★★★ Why do URLs with a hash (#) block the indexing of your Angular pages?
To correctly index Angular pages, ensure that URLs with JavaScript do not contain a hash (#) because Google ignores them for indexing....
John Mueller May 15, 2018
★★★ Does Google really merge similar pages into a single indexed version?
Google may consider pages to be identical if the content is very similar, which can lead to indexing only one version by using the hreflang attribute to direct users to the correct page based on their...
John Mueller May 15, 2018
★★★ Should you fix URLs marked 'submitted URL not selected as canonical'?
Pages already labeled as 'submitted URL not selected as canonical' do not require additional intervention since they are not indexed....
John Mueller May 15, 2018
★★★ Should you remove a sitemap filled with errors?
If a sitemap file contains numerous errors, it should either be corrected or removed from the server so that Google no longer processes it....
John Mueller May 15, 2018
★★ Why Does Googlebot Still Refuse to Follow Certain Types of Links in 2024?
Let's wrap up with, once again, the Google I/O event and a presentation by a Google engineer outlining which types of links are followed by Googlebot on a web page. The following links will be followe...
Google May 14, 2018
★★★ How Does Google's Two-Phase JavaScript Crawling Really Affect Your Rankings?
At the Google I/O event, Tom Greenaway, a search engine engineer, indicated that Google crawls JavaScript pages using a two-phase process (largely due to available machine resource management): a firs...
Google May 14, 2018
★★★ How can you truly harness all the data from the Search Console to enhance your indexing?
The Search Console provides detailed information on the process of discovery, indexing, and presentation of pages. Verifying site ownership to access the data is essential, and it is advisable to faci...
John Mueller May 11, 2018
★★★ How can you avoid duplicate content linked to URLs: does the canonical tag truly suffice?
Google advocates for simple and consistent URLs across your entire site. Using tracking parameters should be avoided to prevent the creation of duplicate content. The rel='canonical' tag can help indi...
John Mueller May 11, 2018
★★★ Is Googlebot really stuck on Chrome 41 for JavaScript?
Googlebot operates using Chrome 41. Newer JavaScript features are not supported, so it is essential to ensure that the JavaScript code remains compatible with earlier versions....
John Mueller May 10, 2018
★★★ Is Hybrid Rendering really the only solution for indexing your JavaScript pages?
Hybrid rendering, combining server-side and client-side rendering, is the long-term solution recommended by Google to ensure effective indexing of JavaScript sites....
John Mueller May 10, 2018
★★★ Should you really test the mobile version of every page to avoid indexing penalties?
Google recommends using the Mobile-Friendly Test to check how Googlebot renders and indexes pages. The check should mainly target mobile versions in anticipation of mobile-first indexing....
John Mueller May 10, 2018
★★ Should you really use Puppeteer and Rendertron to make your JavaScript crawlable?
Puppeteer and Rendertron are recommended tools for implementing dynamic rendering. They generate and cache pre-rendered server-side content for crawl bots....
John Mueller May 10, 2018
★★★ Why does Google ignore your links without an HREF attribute?
Google only analyzes anchor tags with an HREF attribute to identify and follow links when crawling pages. Other client navigation methods are not followed by Googlebot....
Tom Greenaway May 10, 2018
★★ Does lazy loading doom your images to invisibility on Google?
Googlebot may not always index images loaded lazily. To ensure their indexing, it is advisable to use the noscript tag or integrate structured data to reference the images....
John Mueller May 10, 2018
★★★ Is dynamic rendering truly the solution for indexing your JavaScript pages?
Dynamic rendering involves serving pre-rendered server-side content to search engines while maintaining client-side rendering for users. It's a recommended approach for complex JavaScript sites....
John Mueller May 10, 2018
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