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.
Quick SEO Quiz

Test your SEO knowledge in 5 questions

Less than a minute. Find out how much you really know about Google search.

🕒 ~1 min 🎯 5 questions
★★ Is it true that Google advises against using reverse proxies for migrating from a subdomain to a subfolder?
To migrate from a subdomain structure to a subfolder, Google recommends using classic 301 redirects instead of a reverse proxy. Redirects are well controlled and avoid technical complexity and outage ...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★★ Do you really need to transcribe your podcasts to rank on Google?
For audio content (podcasts, etc.) to be indexed and ranked in web search, a text transcription must be provided. Google does not yet perform automatic voice recognition to index raw audio. Transcript...
John Mueller Jul 24, 2020
★★★ Should you really create your robots.txt from scratch or can you take inspiration from a competitor?
You shouldn't simply reuse someone else's robots.txt file assuming it will work for your site. Instead, think about the parts of your site that you really don't want crawled, and block only those....
John Mueller Jul 20, 2020
★★★ Should You Reject Backlinks from Pages Less Popular Than Yours?
According to John Mueller, receiving links from pages with lower popularity (whether you measure it with metrics like TF, CF, DA or others) than the page receiving the link does not pose a major probl...
John Mueller Jul 20, 2020
★★ Should you really block server configuration files in robots.txt?
Configuration files such as PHP.ini or .htaccess are not accessible from the outside by default. They are secured or located in a special place. If no one can access them, Googlebot cannot either. The...
John Mueller Jul 20, 2020
★★★ Can You Really Optimize Your Content for Google Discover?
In the new version of the help page about its Discover feature, Google explains that "there is no way to create content that explicitly aims to meet Discover's interests." In other words, you cannot o...
Google Jul 20, 2020
★★★ Should You Block 404 Error Pages in Your Robots.txt File?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that it would be a very bad idea to block pages that return 404 errors from search engine crawling, adding that Googlebot attempts to crawl billions of URLs that retu...
John Mueller Jul 20, 2020
★★ Should you ditch POST for crawlable APIs and switch everything to GET?
Google cannot cache POST requests, leading to greater crawl budget consumption. For rendering APIs, use GET requests. GraphQL can be employed to reduce the number of requests, but only in GET mode....
Martin Splitt Jul 14, 2020
★★★ Does the crawl budget truly impact the rendering phase of your JavaScript pages?
The crawl budget affects not only the initial crawl but also the rendering, as Google needs to fetch additional resources (CSS, JavaScript, API). A poor cache can force Google to continuously re-downl...
Martin Splitt Jul 14, 2020
★★★ Does crawl budget really only concern very large sites?
Crawl budget should only be a concern for sites with millions of URLs. For sites with fewer than one million pages, crawl budget is generally not an issue unless the server infrastructure is failing....
Martin Splitt Jul 14, 2020
★★ Should You Avoid JavaScript Redirects for SEO?
Gary Illyes explained on Twitter that implementing redirects from one URL to another (in this case based on the visitor's IP address to redirect them to a specific site depending on the country) was n...
Gary Illyes Jul 13, 2020
★★★ How can you leverage the Search Appearance tab to enhance your rich results?
The Search Console performance report contains a 'Search Appearance' tab that provides a quick overview of traffic volume from rich results. Some rich results have dedicated filters (such as How-to an...
Daniel Waisberg Jul 08, 2020
★★ How could testing structured data before launching save you weeks of work?
Developers can use the Rich Results Test to check and modify their code in the live code editor. It’s always more efficient to ensure the markup works correctly before going live, saving time and effo...
Daniel Waisberg Jul 08, 2020
★★ Should you really fix SEO errors in the order suggested by Google Search Console?
By default, issues are sorted by a combination of severity and the number of affected pages. If you see an error that seems to result from a faulty template, fix it first. Then, continue correcting ot...
Daniel Waisberg Jul 08, 2020
★★★ Do structured data really enhance Google's understanding of content?
Structured data is a markup that developers add to their pages so that machines can better understand their content. This markup powers rich results. Google recommends visiting the Search Gallery to b...
Daniel Waisberg Jul 08, 2020
★★★ Does Search Console really alert you for every structured data error?
Search Console will send an email each time an error is found on your pages. You will receive details about the issue along with a link for more information. However, if an existing problem affects mo...
Daniel Waisberg Jul 08, 2020
★★★ Are rich results really an SEO lever to prioritize or just a cosmetic gimmick?
Rich results are search results that provide special features or enhanced information. For example, for recipes, you can see an image of the dish and an overview of the ingredients. For job postings, ...
Daniel Waisberg Jul 08, 2020
★★★ Should You Optimize Your Mobile Site for Landscape Mode in SEO?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that the fact that a website doesn't support "landscape" mode on mobile has no impact on the search engine algorithm and therefore no SEO impact......
John Mueller Jul 06, 2020
★★★ How does Google Search Console now monitor your video structured data?
Google announced on Twitter a minor change in how video traffic data is displayed in Search Console: "if you're using structured video data, our report is now aligned with official documentation and w...
Google Jul 06, 2020
★★★ Does changing your JavaScript framework lead to a drop in Google rankings?
Changing a JavaScript framework (e.g., moving from Angular to Vue/Nuxt) should not in itself lead to a drop in ranking, as Google focuses on the content, not on the technology being used. The drops ob...
Martin Splitt Jul 01, 2020
🔔

Get real-time analysis of the latest Google SEO declarations

Be the first to know every time a new official Google statement drops — with full expert analysis.

No spam. Unsubscribe in one click.