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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★★★ How Can You Protect Your Site from AI Agent Saturation?
Gary Illyes warns about the massive influx of AI-powered bots, which threatens to saturate the web. According to him, it's not the crawling that consumes the most resources, but the processing and sto...
Gary Illyes Jun 03, 2025
★★★ Should You Stop Using Google's Indexing API to Speed Up Your Pages' Ranking?
On Bluesky, John Mueller once again explained that the Indexing API should only be used for two types of content: job postings and live streams. John Mueller emphasized that many SEOs, often spammers,...
John Mueller Jun 03, 2025
★★★ Can Ads Really Appear in Multiple Spots Within Google's AI Overviews?
Google has clarified that ads cannot appear simultaneously in multiple placements within AI Overviews. According to Ginny Marvin from Google's Ads Liaison, an ad can display either above/below or insi...
Google Jun 03, 2025
★★ Why has Google multiplied its crawlers since the arrival of Mediapartners-Google?
In 2006, Google AdSense introduced its own distinct user agent separate from Googlebot. From this period onwards, Google began to have increasingly more separate crawlers with their own identifiers....
Gary Illyes May 29, 2025
★★ Does Google really ignore robots.txt when users take action?
When an action is initiated directly by a user (such as manually submitting a URL for inspection), it may be appropriate to ignore robots.txt because it's not truly a robot but a specific user action....
Gary Illyes May 29, 2025
★★ Is Google Really Crawling Less of the Web, and Should You Worry About It?
Last year, Google actively worked to reduce its footprint on the internet by optimizing its crawling requests to save resources....
Gary Illyes May 29, 2025
★★ Does Google's Live Test Tool Actually Crawl Your Site in Real Time?
The Live Test tool in Search Console uses a high-priority real crawler, while property verification of the site is user-triggered and works almost instantly without any crawl delay....
Gary Illyes May 29, 2025
★★★ Does Google's crawling really consume the most server resources?
Contrary to popular belief, it's not crawling that consumes the most resources at Google, but indexation and processing of the data retrieved that are truly resource-intensive....
Gary Illyes May 29, 2025
★★★ Should you really worry about crawl budget before hitting 1 million pages?
For an individual website, a threshold of around 1 million pages is the point where site owners should start concerning themselves with crawl budget. Below that, it's generally not a problem....
Gary Illyes May 29, 2025
★★★ Has Google really been respecting robots.txt since day one?
Since Google's very beginning, robots.txt has been supported. Regardless of the crawling technology used, Google has always allowed site owners to opt-out of crawling via the robots exclusion protocol...
Gary Illyes May 29, 2025
★★ Does Googlebot really support HTTP/3 for crawling your website?
Googlebot currently supports HTTP/2 for more efficient crawling using streamed connections. HTTP/3 is not yet supported but could be in the future....
Gary Illyes May 29, 2025
★★★ Why Doesn't Google Search Console Show Any Traffic for Certain Versions of Your Domain?
On Reddit, John Mueller explained to a user that they wouldn't be able to see a drop in traffic on Google Search Console for certain versions of their domain (without "http", without "www") since thes...
John Mueller May 27, 2025
★★★ Why Is Google Ignoring Your JavaScript-Generated Meta Tags?
On Reddit, John Mueller responded to a user wondering why Google wasn't using meta tags dynamically implemented with JavaScript. The Google representative suggested that the meta description of the pa...
John Mueller May 27, 2025
★★ Is Technical SEO Still Essential in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?
After distinguishing between "programmatic SEO" and "technical SEO," John Mueller explained that technical SEO (namely making sites crawlable, indexable, and understandable) will continue to make sens...
John Mueller May 27, 2025
★★★ Do Hreflang Tags Really Guarantee Indexing of All Your International Pages?
On Bluesky, John Mueller reminded us that using hreflang tags guarantees neither the indexing nor the ranking of pages in Google search. He clarifies that some hreflang variants may not be indexed, es...
John Mueller May 20, 2025
★★ Why Does Using Multiple URLs for the Same Image Hurt Your SEO?
Google recently clarified its SEO recommendations for images: it is advised against using multiple different URLs or file names for the same image on a website, even if it is embedded on multiple page...
Google May 20, 2025
★★ Is Your Crawl Budget Being Compromised by HTTP 429 Status Codes?
HTTP status code 429 (Too Many Requests) is treated by Google as a client-side error (4xx), indicating that the client is requesting a resource too frequently. It is not a server error even though it ...
Gary Illyes May 15, 2025
★★★ Should you still worry about choosing between 301 and 302 redirects?
For Google Search, all 3xx redirect codes (301, 302, 307, 308) are treated similarly during crawling. Google slightly takes into account the temporary/permanent distinction for canonicalization, but o...
Gary Illyes May 15, 2025
★★ Why does Google really care so much about HTTP status codes for your search rankings?
HTTP status codes tell an important story about what happens during a request. They are crucial for website owners and SEO professionals because they allow you to understand how Google interacts with ...
Gary Illyes May 15, 2025
★★ Are HTTP 1xx status codes harming your site's crawlability by Googlebot?
Google does not support HTTP 1xx status codes (such as 100 Continue or 101 Switching Protocols). The crawler simply passes through them without noticing and waits for the next non-1xx status code to e...
Gary Illyes May 15, 2025
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