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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★★ Do You Really Need a Keyword in Your Domain Name to Rank Well?
John Mueller indicated in a video from the "Ask Google Webmasters" series that the presence of a keyword in a site's domain name is not a criterion taken into account by Google: "In short, no. You don...
John Mueller Sep 21, 2020
★★ Should you really ditch exact match domain names for better SEO?
It is recommended to choose a domain name that can be used long-term rather than one that only corresponds to current offerings. Businesses evolve over time, and changing a domain is difficult. For ex...
John Mueller Sep 15, 2020
★★ Should you really sacrifice keywords in your domain name for longevity?
It's better to choose a domain name that can be used long-term rather than one that corresponds only to the current offering. Businesses evolve and migrating domains is difficult. For example, a site ...
John Mueller Sep 15, 2020
★★★ Do keyword TLDs (.jobs, .tech, .pro) really boost your SEO?
Google does not grant any ranking bonus for having a keyword in the domain extension (TLD). A site with .jobs, .tech, or any other keyword TLD is not favored for that keyword. The fact that a site con...
John Mueller Sep 15, 2020
★★★ Do keyword TLDs (.jobs, .seo, .tech) really boost your SEO?
Having a keyword in a top-level domain (TLD) name like .jobs does not give any specific ranking bonus on Google. The highest-ranked results for a given search typically do not contain the keyword in t...
John Mueller Sep 15, 2020
★★★ Should you include or exclude Googlebot from your A/B tests without risking a penalty?
It is acceptable to include Googlebot in a temporary A/B test (e.g., menu change) or to exclude it by treating it as a special category (based on geolocation, language, capabilities). If separate URLs...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★ Is footer content really treated as standard content by Google?
Content placed in the footer is treated like normal content located at the bottom of the page, provided that it is legible and not hidden. Google performs a viewport expansion during rendering and det...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★★ Do blog backlinks to product pages really convey authority?
Creating internal links from a blog (that naturally attracts backlinks) to the product or category pages of an e-commerce site is a recommended practice. The backlinks obtained by the blog help streng...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★ Should you really implement both Merchant Center feeds and product structured data?
It is recommended to use both the Merchant Center feed and the product structured data on the pages. The feed powers organic shopping results, while the structured data generates rich results in regul...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★★ Should you really wait for the next core update to reclaim your lost traffic?
A site negatively impacted by a core update does not need to wait for the next update to recover. Improvements can be detected incrementally over time. Some major changes require a full reevaluation d...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★ Why does Google show spam in brand search results beyond the first page?
If phishing or spam sites are massively appearing on deep pages (top 10 pages) of brand results, it’s often because Google lacks quality content to show beyond the first page. Patterns of spam should ...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★ Can switching your WordPress theme really sabotage your SEO?
Changing a site's theme can have an SEO impact not through speed, but through the alteration of internal linking and the presentation of content. For example, a central image changing to a thumbnail c...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★ Is it true that a JavaScript migration can ruin your indexing due to cache issues?
During a domain migration of a client-side JavaScript site, Google may struggle to render pages correctly if JavaScript resources are cached from the old URL. This can lead to rendering failures and i...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★ How does Google really deindex an expired site or one that’s globally 404?
When a site becomes 404 or expires, Google does not immediately deindex all pages. Frequently crawled pages (homepage, categories) disappear quickly, while others do so more slowly. Google attempts to...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★★ Should you really limit text content on your e-commerce category pages?
On e-commerce category pages, it is essential to find a balance. Too much informational content (e.g., several encyclopedic paragraphs) can cause the page to be classified as informational rather than...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★★ Could cleaning up your artificial backlinks really cause your Google rankings to plummet?
When cleaning up after a manual action related to artificial backlinks, the site may see a drop in rankings because it was previously ranked in an artificial situation. After correction, the ranking r...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★★ Could your meta tags be hiding from Google without you even knowing?
Some third-party scripts inject tags (e.g. iframe) at the top of the <head>, which can lead Google to believe that the <head> is prematurely closed. Result: robots metatag, canonical, hreflang may be ...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★ Does Google Tag Manager affect your content to the point of impacting your SEO?
If the 'container tag' refers to Google Tag Manager, Google processes it during the page rendering. GTM can add, modify, or remove content via JavaScript. Using URL Inspection allows you to see the re...
John Mueller Sep 14, 2020
★★★ Can a blog on a subdomain really pass SEO authority to the main site?
For a blog on a subdomain (e.g., Shopify + WordPress) to pass authority to the main site, Google primarily relies on internal links and the fact that both are on the same root domain. Similar design o...
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
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