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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★★★ Should You Really Use URL Parameters in Search Console?
Gary Illyes explained on Twitter that the indications provided by webmasters in the "URL Parameters" section of Search Console were directives followed by the search engine's algorithms, and that you ...
Gary Illyes Jun 26, 2017
★★ Can Repetitive URLs Actually Harm Your Site's Search Rankings?
John Mueller indicated in a Google webmaster forum that the search engine could ignore certain URLs if they repeat identical patterns or titles too many (excessively many) times. In short, when implem...
John Mueller Jun 26, 2017
★★ How Is Google Rolling Out Mobile First Indexing Site by Site?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that Google was considering launching the Mobile First index site by site, as soon as the algorithm determines that the site in question will be ready for it. Therefo...
John Mueller Jun 26, 2017
★★★ How Long Does It Really Take for Google to Process a Site Migration?
Gary Illyes explained at the SMX Advanced conference that processing a site migration (domain name change and/or URL structure change) by Google can take 3 months, depending on the site's size, and no...
Gary Illyes Jun 26, 2017
★★ Should You Really Stop Buying Links for SEO in 2024?
Once again Gary Illyes at the SMX Advanced conference, who explained that "buying links literally corresponds to throwing money out the window". He specified that Google is getting better and better t...
Gary Illyes Jun 19, 2017
★★ Should You Create a Specific Meta Tag to Optimize Your Content for Featured Snippets?
Gary Illyes explained at the SMX Advanced conference that Google would not be offering specific data on the appearance of your site's content in featured snippets in the Search Console in the short te...
Gary Illyes Jun 19, 2017
★★ Are Page Speed and HTTPS Really Minor Ranking Factors?
Gary Illyes explained on Twitter that the page load time criterion (Page Speed) was, like the HTTPS criterion, more of a "tie breaker", a criterion to separate 2 pages that would have a very (too) clo...
Gary Illyes Jun 19, 2017
★★ How Does Google Use Machine Learning to Assess Website Quality?
John Mueller explained in a hangout that machine learning algorithms were primarily used by Google to understand whether a site is generally of good or poor quality, but not in the context of a specif...
John Mueller Jun 19, 2017
★★ Should You Panic About the Mobile First Indexing Delay in 2018?
Once again at the SMX Advanced conference, Gary Illyes confirmed that the "Mobile First" project would not be launched in 2017 and that 2018 was more realistic as a timeline, as indicated a few weeks ...
Gary Illyes Jun 19, 2017
★★★★ How Does Google Actually Distinguish Near Duplicate Content from Pure Duplicate Content?
Gary Illyes explained on Twitter his vision of "near duplicate content": he sees it in two forms: either it's slightly modified content on another page, or the same content, but in a different environ...
Gary Illyes Jun 19, 2017
★★★ How Long Can You Use a 503 Code Before Risking Deindexation?
John Mueller reminded us on Twitter that using a 503 code (Service Unavailable) is not a problem if it's implemented for a few hours (for a quick maintenance operation, for example), but it should not...
John Mueller Jun 12, 2017
★★★ Does Google Really Perform a Seasonal Spring Cleaning of Its Index?
John Mueller indicated in a hangout that Google does not perform a "spring cleaning" of its index by removing, at that time of year, more low-quality pages. One might wonder why it would do that, anyw...
John Mueller Jun 12, 2017
★★ Do You Really Need Hreflang Tags on a Monolingual Website?
Still on the subject of Hreflang tags, John Mueller indicated, also on Twitter, that if your site is published in a single language, you are not obligated to use Hreflang tags. Logical there too. Howe...
John Mueller Jun 12, 2017
★★ Should You Worry About a Drop in Your Site's Crawl Rate?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that the fact that a website experiences a lower crawl rate at a given time from the search engine's robots is not necessarily a negative signal for your future visib...
John Mueller Jun 12, 2017
★★★ Does the Order of Hreflang Tags Really Matter for SEO?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that hreflang tags in a page's source code could be listed in any order, it didn't matter at all. Makes sense......
John Mueller Jun 12, 2017
★★★ Does Google Simply Ignore Spammy Links or Do They Trigger Penalties?
Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that if links were not recognized as "blatant attempts to manipulate" the search engine's algorithm, there was a strong chance they would be purely and simply ignored ...
Gary Illyes Jun 12, 2017
★★★ Does Nofollow Really Burn Your Crawl Budget?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that using a "nofollow" attribute on links does not "burn" crawl budget for a website. Fortunately so. We can even say that this technique is rather beneficial in thi...
John Mueller Jun 06, 2017
★★ Is Guest Blogging Really Under Threat from a Wave of Google Penalties?
Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that the recently published post about guest blogging was simply a "general reminder" of best practices and was not necessarily the announcement of an upcoming series ...
Gary Illyes Jun 06, 2017
★★ Will Google Launch a Public Sandbox to Test Mobile First Index Before Deployment?
In 2009, when Google launched its new Caffeine indexing structure, the search engine set up a "sandbox", or new version of its index on a specific URL, to test the new infrastructure being implemented...
John Mueller Jun 06, 2017
Does the Google Sandbox Really Exist or Is It Just an SEO Myth?
Gary Illyes explained on Twitter that Google has no mechanism that could be likened to a "sandbox". The concept of the "sandbox" has been in the air for over 10 years and would characterize a specific...
Gary Illyes May 29, 2017
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