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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★★★ Could A/B testing jeopardize your organic rankings?
A/B testing generally does not have a negative impact on SEO, provided that all versions are treated equally by Googlebot and that the tests achieve a stable state. Significant variations in content m...
John Mueller Feb 23, 2017
★★★ Should you really avoid combining NoIndex and Canonical on the same page?
Combining a NoIndex tag and a Canonical tag on the same page can cause issues. It may be better to use Canonical alone or redirect when possible. A NoIndex tag does not affect crawl budget, as we cont...
John Mueller Feb 23, 2017
★★ Should you really index all your content or make strategic choices?
It is recommended to only index content that truly helps users solve their problems or answer their questions....
Google Feb 23, 2017
★★★ Do hamburger menus on desktop really block Google's crawling?
Using hamburger menus on desktop sites does not affect Google's ability to crawl or index a site as long as the content is loaded on the page without an AJAX call....
John Mueller Feb 21, 2017
★★ Should You Use Google's URL Inspection Tool to Speed Up Page Indexing?
John Mueller provided an interesting insight during a hangout about how Google indexes web pages on a site. In fact, there are two possibilities for this: the "classic" method (Googlebot finds a link ...
John Mueller Feb 20, 2017
★★★ Should you really index all your AMP pages for them to be cached by Google?
Google does not recommend adding a 'noindex' tag to AMP pages if the content is to be visible and used in search results. Pages must be indexable to allow Google to crawl and cache them....
Google Feb 16, 2017
★★ Should you really put your category pages on noindex?
Category pages should not necessarily be set to 'noindex'. They can be helpful to users. However, if they do not add significant value, then applying a 'noindex' may be justified....
Google Feb 16, 2017
★★★ How can you migrate to HTTPS without losing your visibility?
When migrating your site from HTTP to HTTPS, it's crucial to ensure that 301 redirects are correctly implemented, define your preferred domain in Search Console, and submit sitemaps for the new HTTPS ...
Google Feb 16, 2017
★★ Can Google's Advertising Bots Actually Discover New Pages for Indexing?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that Google's robots used for Adwords and Adsense advertising (examples: Mediapartners-Google, Mediapartners, AdsBot-Google and AdsBot-Google-Mobile-Apps) are not use...
John Mueller Feb 13, 2017
★★★ Is it true that hreflang can indicate duplicate content in multilingual subdomains?
For identical subdomains in different languages, use hreflang tags to indicate the appropriate regional version to avoid duplicate content....
John Mueller Feb 09, 2017
★★★ Do backlinks pointing to an AMP page really benefit its canonical HTML version?
AMP pages generally include a 'rel=canonical' tag pointing to the standard HTML version, allowing the benefits of backlinks from the AMP page to be transferred to the normal page....
John Mueller Feb 09, 2017
★★★ How long does it really take for a metadata change to affect your rankings?
Changing a page's metadata can take from a few days to several weeks to be reflected in search results, depending on crawl frequency and content reassessment by Google....
John Mueller Feb 09, 2017
★★★ Does Googlebot really index images using lazy loading?
Googlebot can see images loaded via lazy loading if they are loaded at the initial page load, but it does not click or scroll to load other dynamic elements....
John Mueller Feb 09, 2017
★★★ Are sitemaps really essential for quickly indexing your new pages?
Sitemaps are essential for signaling to Google the new and updated pages, allowing for faster indexing....
John Mueller Feb 08, 2017
★★★ Are Progressive Web Apps really indexable by Google?
Although Progressive Web Apps are often based on JavaScript, Google has improved its ability to render these pages. However, there are still steps to follow to ensure that these applications are index...
John Mueller Feb 08, 2017
★★★ Should you still care about Canonical, Noindex, and Nofollow?
Canonical, noindex, and nofollow tags remain important. Canonical is a signal for page consolidation, noindex prevents display in search results, and nofollow disavows links that cannot be guaranteed....
John Mueller Feb 08, 2017
★★ Can You Still Trust the Site: Operator to Audit Your Page Indexation?
Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that Google is not at all considering removing the "site:" query syntax, which allows you to obtain a sample of the pages that the search engine indexes for a given we...
Gary Illyes Feb 06, 2017
★★★ How Quickly Can You Remove a Google Penalty for Intrusive Interstitials?
Regarding the mobile interstitial penalty launched in mid-January, John Mueller indicated that if a site was penalized in this way and corrected the issue, the penalty would be lifted at the next craw...
John Mueller Jan 30, 2017
★★★ Is AMP Really a Google Ranking Factor for SEO?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that AMP was not a relevance criterion for Google and that the fact that a page is available in this format does not factor into the search engine's algorithm calcula...
John Mueller Jan 30, 2017
★★★ Are accordions and tabs really taken into account by Google in mobile-first indexing?
In the current indexing, Google considers content in tabs or accordions as secondary. However, with mobile-first indexing, this content can be treated as an integral part of the page as we adapt our a...
John Mueller Jan 27, 2017
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