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.
Quick SEO Quiz

Test your SEO knowledge in 5 questions

Less than a minute. Find out how much you really know about Google search.

🕒 ~1 min 🎯 5 questions
★★★ Does the noindex tag really block the crawling of your pages?
The X-Robots-Tag with noindex prevents indexing but not crawling. Google must first crawl the page to see the noindex. Initially, Google will crawl these pages heavily before its systems learn that th...
John Mueller Apr 09, 2021
★★★ Do Core Web Vitals really only serve to separate tie results?
Core Web Vitals primarily serve as a tiebreaker signal when multiple results are considered equivalent in relevance. Google can then favor the page that meets the Core Web Vitals thresholds. This is n...
John Mueller Apr 09, 2021
★★ Is it true that we should abandon domain sharding for HTTP/2 crawling?
Google is gradually rolling out HTTP/2 crawling to a small percentage of sites (10-20%). The main advantage is multiplexing over a single connection. Domain sharding is no longer necessary with HTTP/2...
Martin Splitt Apr 09, 2021
★★★ Should you really include Web Stories in your XML sitemaps to enhance their indexing?
Web Stories should be included in your XML sitemaps to aid their discovery and indexing by search engines....
Pascal Birchler Apr 08, 2021
★★★ Do Web Stories Need a Specific SEO Strategy, or Do the Same Rules Apply?
To ensure your Web Stories are found and indexed by search engines, you must apply all the SEO practices you would use for any other page on your website. What helps rank your non-story pages will lik...
Pascal Birchler Apr 08, 2021
★★★ Can self-referential canonical tags really safeguard your site from URL duplications?
Using a canonical tag pointing to the page itself allows Google to manage URL variations (www/non-www, UTM parameters, etc.) and consolidates indexing on the preferred version even if different URLs e...
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★★ Do News sitemaps really speed up the indexing of your content?
News sitemaps (limited to 1000 URLs) help Google index content from sites already identified as news sources more quickly. However, using a News sitemap will not speed up indexing if Google is not alr...
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★ Do News sitemaps really accelerate the indexing of your news articles?
News sitemaps allow for faster crawling only if Google is already trying to quickly index the content of a news site. Putting content into a News sitemap does not speed up indexing if Google is not al...
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★ Should you really abandon separate mobile URLs (m.example.com)?
Google still supports separate mobile URL configurations (m.example.com and www.example.com) with appropriate canonical and alternate tags. It's no longer recommended for new sites (it's better to hav...
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★ Why does it really take 3 to 4 months for a revamp to be recognized by Google?
After significant qualitative improvements on a site, it takes about 3 to 4 months for Google to recrawl the content and understand that the site has fundamentally changed. The technical recrawl can t...
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★ Are long-term 302 redirects really equivalent to 301s for SEO?
If a 302 (temporary) redirect remains in place for years, Google will treat it as a permanent redirect and index the destination page. No loss of value is associated with the choice between 302 and 30...
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★ How long can a 503 error last without risking deindexation?
The server code 503 indicates a temporary error. Google recommends not using it for more than 2 to 7 days maximum, after which Google will begin to progressively deindex the affected URLs....
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★★ How long can you keep a 503 code without risking deindexation?
The 503 server code (temporary error) should be used for no more than a few days, between 2 and 7 days. After this period, Google will start to deindex the affected URLs. There is no exact time limit,...
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★★ Should you really add a self-referencing canonical tag on every page?
Using a self-referencing canonical tag (pointing to the same page) is recommended because it helps Google identify the preferred version when a page can be crawled with different URL variations (www/n...
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★★ Should you really worry about the difference between 301 and 302 redirects?
A 302 redirect (temporary) in place for several years will be treated by Google as a 301 redirect (permanent). Google will index the destination page and no value is lost just because it's a 302. Afte...
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★ Are separate mobile URLs (m.example.com) still a viable SEO option?
The configuration with separate mobile URLs (m.example.com) remains fully supported with proper canonical and alternate tags. Google recommends a single version for simplicity but does not enforce thi...
John Mueller Apr 01, 2021
★★★ Why do multiple canonical tags pointing to different URLs break your indexing?
You should avoid having multiple rel canonical tags pointing to different URLs on the same page. Multiple canonicals with separate URLs should be avoided....
John Mueller Mar 31, 2021
★★★ Should you remove dates from your URLs to improve your rankings?
Including the day and month in the URL is acceptable and does not affect the crawling, indexing, or ranking of the page in Google....
John Mueller Mar 31, 2021
★★ Should you really include the Google verification file in your XML sitemap?
There is no need to include the Google Webmasters verification file in the XML sitemap. This file is only for Search Console and has no utility for indexing....
John Mueller Mar 31, 2021
★★ Should you canonicalize or index your product variants separately?
For product variants (different colors, sizes), you can choose to canonicalize them to a single page or index them separately. If the differences are significant and sought after by users, it is prefe...
John Mueller Mar 26, 2021
🔔

Get real-time analysis of the latest Google SEO declarations

Be the first to know every time a new official Google statement drops — with full expert analysis.

No spam. Unsubscribe in one click.