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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★★★ Are you hiding redirects from Googlebot and killing your site migration?
Google has received escalations from sites that configured redirects triggering only for users but not for Googlebot, causing migration issues....
Gary Illyes Feb 23, 2023
★★ Is it true that the order of tags in an XML sitemap doesn't matter to Google?
In an XML sitemap, the order of tags (URL, last updated date, frequency, priority) is not important. Only the URL is mandatory. If Search Console processes the sitemap correctly, there are no issues e...
Google Feb 09, 2023
★★ Could removing obsolete URLs from your sitemaps actually boost your SEO?
It is recommended to gradually remove obsolete URLs from XML sitemaps instead of keeping them indefinitely. This facilitates management and reduces the size of sitemap files over time....
Google Feb 09, 2023
★★★ Why should you keep old URLs in the sitemap after a 301 redirect?
When changing URLs with 301 redirects, it is advisable to keep the old URLs in the XML sitemap until they disappear from Google's index. Once they are indexed under their new URL, they can be removed ...
Google Feb 09, 2023
★★ Do your JSON files really need to be indexed?
For resource files (like JSON files used by JavaScript), there's no need to make them directly accessible via URL if Google can read them through JavaScript. There's no need for specific configuration...
Google Feb 09, 2023
★★★ Does Googlebot really ignore scrolling and user interactions?
Googlebot does not interact with pages, which includes not only clicking but also scrolling. JavaScript code that depends on scroll events will therefore not be executed by Googlebot during exploratio...
Google Feb 07, 2023
★★★ Should you really ban lazy loading and infinite scroll to get indexed by Google?
For Googlebot to index content, it must be loaded without requiring user interaction such as scrolling. Developers must find an alternative to load this content in a way that is accessible to Googlebo...
Google Feb 07, 2023
★★★ Why does spoofing Googlebot's user agent in your browser actually accomplish nothing?
Changing the user agent to Googlebot in your browser may not work as expected because Googlebot also respects robots.txt (which browsers ignore) and some websites verify whether the request actually c...
Google Feb 07, 2023
★★★ Should You Really Always Use Absolute URLs in Your Canonical Tags?
Gary Illyes explained on LinkedIn that "canonical" tags on a website should contain absolute addresses (https://www..com/20230203-51450-quand-les-quality-raters-de-google-manifestent-pour-etre-mieux-p...
Gary Illyes Feb 06, 2023
★★★ Could Your CDN and Firewall Be Blocking Googlebot Without You Knowing?
Gary Illyes explained on LinkedIn that the two obstacles most frequently encountered by Googlebot when crawling a site were CDNs and Firewalls that are more or less properly configured. And he advises...
Gary Illyes Feb 06, 2023
★★★ Is your JavaScript slowing down how fast Google discovers your pages?
In comparative experiments, the discovery and crawling of internal links are significantly faster on HTML-based sites than on sites where links are injected dynamically via JavaScript....
Martin Splitt Feb 01, 2023
★★ Can JavaScript Really Be Indexed Faster Than HTML?
Contrary to expectations, some JavaScript pages can be indexed faster than their HTML equivalents, because Google runs indexing processes in parallel with different priorities depending on the type of...
Martin Splitt Feb 01, 2023
★★★ Is your JavaScript really being rendered by Google? Here's how to verify it with the honeypot method.
To verify whether Google is correctly rendering your JavaScript, create links accessible only via JavaScript that point to unique URLs, then analyze your server logs to confirm that Googlebot accesses...
Martin Splitt Feb 01, 2023
★★★ Why does Google take 3 to 6 months to index JavaScript content after crawling your site?
Even when Google crawls a JavaScript site quickly (a few weeks for 50-100K URLs), full processing and indexation of rendered content can take 3 to 6 additional months before being reflected in search ...
Martin Splitt Feb 01, 2023
★★★ Can loading spinners really prevent Google from indexing your JavaScript pages?
Loading spinners that hide content during JavaScript rendering can prevent Googlebot from accessing the full content of the page, even if everything works correctly in Chrome or in Fetch as Google....
Martin Splitt Feb 01, 2023
★★★ Was Google really prioritizing HTML over JavaScript for crawling and indexing?
In 2015-2016, Google had difficulty indexing certain JavaScript frameworks like AngularJS. Websites built entirely in HTML were crawled and indexed faster than JavaScript-based sites, even though Goog...
Martin Splitt Feb 01, 2023
★★ Do you really need to request removal of redirected URLs from Google's index?
After moving content with 301 redirects, there is no need to request the removal of old URLs from the index. This happens automatically over time. If old URLs appear in specific searches, this is norm...
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023
★★ Does verifying your site in Search Console really improve your SEO rankings?
Having a verified site in Search Console or changing the verification code and method has no effect on indexation or ranking. Search Console provides data to improve your site....
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023
★★ Should you really separate news sitemaps and general sitemaps to avoid duplicate URLs?
Including the same URLs in both a news sitemap and a general sitemap causes no problems, although it's not ideal. It's generally simpler to have separate sitemaps....
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023
★★★ Does Google really require identical content on mobile and desktop for mobile-first indexing to work?
For mobile-first indexing, you must provide the same content on both mobile and desktop versions of your site, and ensure that both users and Google can access both versions....
John Mueller Jan 31, 2023
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