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 Does Google Actually Differentiate Between Two Similar Sites for Ranking?
John Mueller explained during a webmaster hangout how Google handles 2 similar sites: ultimately, it doesn't matter if the visual design is more or less different—what counts is the editorial content....
John Mueller Sep 22, 2022
★★★ Are hyphens in URLs really an essential ranking factor?
A 2006 article on using hyphens in URLs continues to cause problems, with websites still modifying all their URLs today to add hyphens while believing it's an essential best practice....
Vanessa Fox Sep 22, 2022
★★ Can automatic updates in Merchant Center fix your product data without manual intervention?
Enabling automatic article updates in Merchant Center allows it to automatically update price and inventory data based on web page content when discrepancies are detected....
Alan Kent Aug 29, 2022
★★★ Do Age Verification Pop-ups Really Prevent Your Content from Appearing in Google Discover?
Danny Sullivan explained that if a website displays an age verification request (particularly for sites accessible only to adult users via a pop-up) before accessing its content, this can prevent it f...
Danny Sullivan Aug 01, 2022
★★ Should you continue publishing even when facing canonicalization issues?
Even when canonicalization problems persist and new articles are not indexed, it is recommended to continue publishing. Other channels beyond Google Search can drive traffic. Stopping publication due ...
Kanatani Takeaki Jul 28, 2022
★★★ Are structured data really essential to avoid missing out on rich snippets?
If Google doesn't correctly understand the intent of your pages, you may miss special presentation treatments in search results. Structured data is additional markup that helps Google understand pages...
Alan Kent Jul 28, 2022
★★ How can adding structured data to your meta descriptions enhance your SEO?
The meta description doesn’t need to be a complete sentence. For a product page, it can display product details, price, or manufacturer. For a blog post, it can list the author or the publication date...
Google Jul 20, 2022
★★ Should you really use max-snippet and max-image-preview to control how your content appears in search results?
The 'max-snippet' and 'max-image-preview' meta tags allow you to control the length of text snippets and the size of image previews displayed in search results, with particularly visible effects in Go...
Gary Illyes Jun 30, 2022
★★★ Should you really use rel=canonical over noindex for aging content?
To manage old blog articles that remain relevant, it's better to use the rel=canonical tag pointing to your main page rather than deindexing them with noindex. This allows you to preserve historical a...
Gary Illyes Jun 30, 2022
★★★ How can you survive a Google Core Update without losing all your traffic?
Google launched an algorithmic update called the May Core Update. These Core Updates affect the core of Google's systems and can lead to notable changes in Search and Discover. Some sites may experien...
John Mueller Jun 23, 2022
★★ Should you connect Search Console to Data Studio to boost your SEO performance?
Google published a series of blog articles explaining how to connect Google Search Console to Google Data Studio. This connection allows you to create advanced visualizations such as bubble charts sho...
John Mueller Jun 23, 2022
★★★ Should you duplicate your content across multiple sites to maximize SEO visibility?
A question was asked to John Mueller during a webmaster hangout about duplicate content, namely: "what happens if you yourself publish multiple identical (or similar) content pieces on different sites...
John Mueller May 16, 2022
★★★ Should you really avoid duplicating your own content for SEO?
Reusing your own content by changing a few words is not contrary to Google's guidelines, but delivers little value. It's better to create fewer, higher-quality articles. Warning: creating many variati...
John Mueller May 08, 2022
★★ Should you really leverage Search Console with Data Studio to optimize your SEO tracking?
Google has launched a series of blog articles explaining how to use Search Console with Data Studio. This combination allows you to connect multiple data sources and create personalized dashboards....
John Mueller Mar 31, 2022
★★★ Should you use rel=canonical instead of noindex to handle similar content?
To manage closely related content such as a blog article and a documentation page on the same subject, it is preferable to use the canonical tag rather than noindex. This allows search engines to unde...
Gary Illyes Mar 24, 2022
★★★ Discovered but not indexed: Has Google really never crawled these pages at all?
When a page appears as 'discovered - currently not indexed' in Search Console, it means Google has seen a link to it but has not yet crawled it. The next step would be 'crawled - not indexed' before e...
John Mueller Mar 22, 2022
★★ Should you really write meta descriptions as complete sentences?
Meta descriptions don't need to be in sentence form. For product pages, you can include product details and the manufacturer. For blog articles, you can display the author and publication date....
Google Feb 24, 2022
★★★ How can you define your goals to effectively optimize your online presence?
Your choice of the appropriate online presence depends on your goals: increasing in-store traffic, boosting online sales, growing your newsletter subscribers, or simply raising awareness about your pr...
Google Feb 24, 2022
★★★ Should You Really Update Your Content Publication Dates to Improve SEO?
John Mueller stated on Twitter that it's acceptable to modify the publication date of content, such as a blog post, only if the content has undergone a significant modification: "When you write someth...
John Mueller Feb 14, 2022
★★★ Why does Google crawl pages it never adds to its index?
The statuses 'URL crawled but not indexed' and 'URL discovered but not indexed' should be treated essentially the same way. Just because Google crawled a page doesn't mean it will automatically be ind...
John Mueller Feb 04, 2022
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