What does Google say about SEO? /
This category compiles official Google statements regarding Google Discover and Google News, two critical content distribution platforms for publishers. Google Discover has emerged as a significant traffic source, operating on a personalized recommendation model without user queries. Official Google positions on these topics are vital for understanding content selection criteria, eligibility factors, and necessary technical optimizations. SEO professionals will find guidance on E-E-A-T quality requirements, technical specifications including structured data markup, AMP formats, and editorial policy compliance. Google News maintains strict inclusion standards, while Discover prioritizes engagement metrics and contextual relevance. Mastering these official guidelines enables publishers to optimize visibility within these feeds, maximize referral traffic, and align content strategies with recommendation algorithms. These declarations also illuminate algorithm updates specific to these platforms and evolving journalistic standards expected by Google. Understanding the nuances between these two services helps publishers differentiate their optimization approaches and capitalize on opportunities for increased content distribution beyond traditional search results.
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★★★ How can you feature in Top Stories without being a news site?
Top Stories and the News tab in Google Search are specific variations of search. Any site can appear there, with no need to be a news site or listed in Google News. These surfaces utilize slightly dif...
John Mueller Nov 13, 2020
★★★ Does the length of an article really influence its Google ranking?
There is no direct relationship between the length of an article and its ranking. What matters is meeting user needs. For some topics, users expect long articles, while for others they do not. There i...
John Mueller Nov 13, 2020
★★★ Does the length of an article really influence its ranking on Google?
There is no relationship between the length of an article and its ranking. For some topics, users expect long articles; for others, they do not. The important thing is to meet user needs, not to reach...
John Mueller Nov 13, 2020
★★★ Does article length really impact Google rankings?
There is no direct relationship between an article's length and its ranking. Some topics require long articles according to user expectations, while others do not. The important thing is to meet user ...
John Mueller Nov 13, 2020
★★ Should you really align visible dates and structured data for chronological ranking?
Google recommends that the visible date on the page matches the date in the structured data. If Google can correctly recognize the date, it will be able to rank articles chronologically when necessary...
John Mueller Nov 13, 2020
★★ Why doesn't the Google News tab always display your articles in chronological order?
Articles are not necessarily displayed in chronological order in the News tab. Google must be able to correctly recognize the date of the pages via structured data and visible display for appropriate ...
John Mueller Nov 13, 2020
★★ How does Google really determine the publication date of an article?
To ensure that Google correctly recognizes the date of an article, make sure that the date displayed on the page matches the date in the structured data. Google can display a snippet with a date if it...
John Mueller Nov 13, 2020
★★ Should you redirect WordPress attachment pages to media files for better SEO?
Redirecting WordPress attachment pages to media files likely does not impact SEO significantly, as Google typically does not index these attachment pages in a visible way. Images are indexed from the ...
John Mueller Nov 10, 2020
★★ Should you isolate your blog or news section on a separate domain?
For a news section on a product site, it is recommended to keep it on the existing domain rather than creating a new domain. This allows you to immediately benefit from the authority of the existing s...
John Mueller Oct 16, 2020
★★★ Should you show the same number of products on mobile and desktop for mobile-first indexing?
On e-commerce category pages, if the desktop version displays 50 products and the mobile version only 10, this can pose a problem for mobile-first indexing. Google addressed this point in its latest b...
John Mueller Oct 15, 2020
★★ Should you really implement all the new types of structured data supported by Google?
Google has added support for new types of structured data in the rich results test, including Article, Review, and EmployerAggregateRating. Details for all types of structured data are available in th...
John Mueller Sep 29, 2020
★★ How can you enable large image previews in Google Discover without using AMP?
For pages displayed in Google Discover, it is possible to enable large image previews to make them stand out. This can be done either through AMP pages or by using the max-image-preview attribute in t...
John Mueller Sep 29, 2020
★★★ Why Do Google's SEO Spokespeople Systematically Decline Private Help Requests?
Martin Splitt explained during a podcast that SEO spokespeople like himself, Gary Illyes or John Mueller, never respond to private requests for help on a particular site in terms of SEO, as this is pr...
John Mueller Sep 28, 2020
★★★ Is it true that Google penalizes syndicated content as duplicate content?
When the same article is published on multiple sites, Google recognizes it as duplicate content and tries to choose a version to display. It is not guaranteed that the version from the original site w...
John Mueller Sep 25, 2020
★★★ Should you really update your content to preserve your Google rankings?
To maintain the visibility of an article, you should not merely leave it as is, hoping something will change. You must continue to work on it and improve it so that Google recognizes there is new usef...
John Mueller Sep 25, 2020
★★ Should you really worry about product duplication with infinite scrolling?
For an e-commerce site, if page 2 loads products from page 1 (infinite scroll), it is not an SEO problem. Google is looking for links to product pages, and finding them duplicated across multiple pagi...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
Why does Search Console only show partial data for the News section at launch?
Data for the News section in Search Console (for News mode in Search, not Google News App) only goes back to around July 2020, which is when data collection began. For older sites, this view will be l...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★★ Should You Still Be Using the Speakable Tag for SEO in 2024?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that the Speakable tag was still valid and not obsolete, contrary to what an email received by a publisher from a Googler working on Google News might have suggested....
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★★ Should you really stop adding the current year to your SEO titles?
Adding the current year to article titles (e.g. 'how to create a website in 2020') does not help with ranking. Google does not have an algorithm that favors content featuring the current year. This pr...
John Mueller Sep 04, 2020
★★★ Why does Google ignore your date structured data if it's not visible?
For Google to recognize the date of an article, it must be confirmed in the visible content, not just in structured data. The algorithms extract all dates (visible and metadata) and choose the one wit...
John Mueller Sep 04, 2020
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