What does Google say about SEO? /
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping search engine optimization and Google's algorithms. This category compiles Google's official statements regarding AI usage in search, including machine learning technologies, large language models (LLMs), and new generative search experiences like SGE and AI Overview. SEO practitioners will find Google's positions on how AI-generated content (ChatGPT, Gemini, Bard) impacts website rankings and organic visibility. Google has clarified its guidelines concerning artificial intelligence for content creation, distinguishing acceptable practices from manipulative techniques that violate search quality standards. Understanding these official declarations is crucial for adapting SEO strategies to algorithmic evolutions, particularly with the increasing integration of machine learning into ranking systems. This category also covers the impact of AI-generated answers in SERPs, E-E-A-T quality criteria applied to AI-assisted content, and recommendations for maintaining organic search presence in the era of generative search. Essential insights include how Google evaluates content quality regardless of production method, focusing on helpfulness and user value rather than creation process. A must-follow resource for staying ahead in modern search engine optimization.
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★★★ Does improving user experience really impact your search engine rankings?
Making optimizations to improve user experience (performance, accessibility, usability) has a direct positive impact on search rankings. A search engine seeks to present sites offering the best experi...
Martin Splitt Mar 09, 2022
★★ Does JavaScript package size really impact your SEO rankings?
The size of JavaScript packages added to a page impacts performance, loading time, and user experience, which can negatively affect your SEO score and index rating if the packages are too large....
Martin Splitt Mar 09, 2022
★★★ Are accordions and collapsible content still hurting your mobile SEO rankings?
With mobile-first indexing, Google has become more tolerant of certain elements like accordions or collapsible content, since mobile screens have limited space. These elements do not penalize your SEO...
Martin Splitt Mar 09, 2022
★★★ Should You Still Be Using Google's Disavow Tool in 2024?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that Google doesn't use the disavow file submitted by webmasters to discover spammy links or link networks. Why? Simply because, according to him, "fake link networks...
John Mueller Mar 07, 2022
★★ Should you isolate your FAQs on separate pages to rank better?
Separating FAQs from main recipe pages into dedicated pages is a perfectly acceptable strategy for Google. This allows you to concentrate ranking power on the main recipe page. If the FAQ page is only...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Do you really need to pick one primary language per page if you're targeting multiple markets?
Google tries to understand a page's primary language to determine which search queries should display it. Pages intentionally mixing multiple languages make it harder for Google to rank the page corre...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Should you really be using canonicals on your filtered internal search pages?
For internal search results pages with different sorts and filters, it is recommended to define a main sort order and use rel=canonical on filtered or sorted variants to point to the main version. Thi...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Can an invalid AMP page still be indexed by Google?
A page built entirely in AMP is treated as a normal HTML page. If it's AMP-valid, Google can use the AMP cache and AMP features in search. But even if it's AMP-invalid, it will still be indexed normal...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Does improving page speed really boost your rankings as fast as everyone claims?
A rapid ranking improvement after boosting page speed (from 30 to 45-50 on PageSpeed Insights) within a few days is probably not due to speed. Speed metrics are measured via the Chrome User Experience...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Why is one x-default enough for your entire multi-domain hreflang configuration?
In an hreflang configuration, even across multiple domains, there must be only one x-default. For each page, all hreflang annotations must match and clearly indicate which version to show based on cou...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Does Google really crawl all your sitemaps at the same pace?
Google does not crawl all sitemaps at the same time or in any specific order. For each individual sitemap file, Google determines its change frequency and value, then crawls each file at different rat...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Why does the schema.org validator contradict Google's tools?
The schema.org validator validates all the theoretical vocabulary of schema.org, while Google tools (Rich Results Test, Search Console) only validate the types of structured data that have a visible e...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Can you safely use bidirectional canonicals between two site versions without any risk?
Duplicating content between two versions of a site (global and local) while providing a canonical tag is a perfect use of this tag. You don't need to apply the same direction for all content: one site...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Is Google really cutting back on FAQ rich snippets in search results, and what does that mean for your SEO strategy?
Google has observed that many websites are adding FAQ markup to every page purely to occupy more space in search results. Google is therefore reducing the number of FAQ entries displayed in search res...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Should you disable automatic links to boost your SEO performance?
Massively removing internally generated automatic links will probably have an impact on rankings, but it's impossible to predict whether that impact will be positive or negative. It's recommended to c...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Should you stop using the manual submission tool in Google Search Console?
Regularly using the 'Request indexing' function in Search Console is almost a sign that Google isn't yet convinced by your site. Even if you force indexation, there's no guarantee the page will appear...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Can a handful of untagged affiliate links really escape Google penalties?
If the majority of affiliate links correctly use the rel='sponsored' or nofollow attribute, a few exceptions without these attributes won't cause problems. Google won't penalize a site having 900 well...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Are massive footer links really killing your site's context?
Having massive internal links in the footer where every page is linked to all other pages removes context and prevents Google from understanding the site structure and the relative importance of pages...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★★ Can structured data really replace traditional internal linking strategy?
Internal linking is one of the most important SEO actions you can take on a site to guide Google and visitors toward important pages. Structured data does not replace normal HTML links. URLs in hrefla...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
★★ Can you host your XML sitemap on a different domain than your main website?
It is entirely possible to host sitemap files on a different domain. Two methods work: having both domains verified in Search Console, or submitting the sitemap via robots.txt with 'sitemap:' followed...
John Mueller Mar 05, 2022
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