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 Choose a National Domain (ccTLD) or a Generic One (gTLD) for Your SEO?
Following the reclassification of the .ai domain as a gTLD, John Mueller clarified the distinction between generic top-level domains (gTLD) and country code top-level domains (ccTLD). Google's well-kn...
John Mueller Jun 13, 2023
★★ Should You Really Consolidate Pages Ranking for the Same Queries?
During the June 2023 SEO Office Hours, Gary Illyes recommended consolidating text results from the same domain that appear one above the other. Referred to as "host clusters" by Google, these results ...
Gary Illyes Jun 13, 2023
★★ Do numbers in your URLs really hurt your search rankings?
Numbers in URLs are not bad for SEO. You can use numbers, letters, non-Latin characters, or Unicode symbols. Only avoid temporary identifiers that change with each visit, as this complicates crawling....
Martin Splitt Jun 07, 2023
★★ Are host groups really a sign of cannibalization you need to fix?
When two results from the same domain appear with the second slightly indented, these are host groups. This indicates that you have multiple pages that can rank well for a query. You might consider co...
Gary Illyes Jun 07, 2023
★★ Does Google really issue official SEO certifications?
There is no official SEO certification or badge approved by Google. Certifications exist for certain products like Google Ads, but not for SEO in general. Always verify the official source for any pur...
Martin Splitt Jun 07, 2023
★★ Does Google really reprocess your sitemap on every crawl?
Google doesn't reprocess a sitemap that hasn't changed since the last crawl, as a resource optimization strategy. As soon as a change appears (URL or lastmod), the sitemap is analyzed again. Deleting ...
Gary Illyes Jun 07, 2023
★★ Do multiple navigation menus really hurt your SEO?
Having multiple navigation menus (main menu and secondary menu) has virtually no effect on a website's SEO performance....
Gary Illyes Jun 07, 2023
★★ Does Google really ignore structured data that contains parsing errors?
If structured data contains parsing errors, Google cannot extract information from it and ignores it completely....
Gary Illyes Jun 07, 2023
★★★ Does Google really penalize multiple domains targeting the same market, or is this just another SEO myth?
Using two domains with different TLDs to target the same country with identical keywords may be considered search result manipulation according to Google's anti-spam policies. This can also create con...
Gary Illyes Jun 07, 2023
★ Can you really disavow toxic backlinks by targeting their IP address in Google's tool?
There is no way to disavow links using IP addresses rather than domain names in Google's disavow tool....
Gary Illyes Jun 07, 2023
★★★ How do you get a video thumbnail in Google search results: what does Google really mean by 'main content'?
For a video to get a thumbnail in search results, it must be the main content of the page, meaning it's immediately visible to the user without them having to actively search for it. Take inspiration ...
Gary Illyes Jun 07, 2023
★ Should you remove the NOODP meta tag from your Blogger sites?
The NOODP meta robots tag, often found on Blogger, has been obsolete for a long time. Google stopped using it years ago because it referenced the DMOZ project, which no longer exists. It has no effect...
John Mueller Jun 07, 2023
★★ Does Google really care about the difference between HTML and XML sitemaps? Here's what John Mueller revealed
An HTML sitemap is intended for users and may indicate unclear navigation. An XML sitemap is exclusively for search engine crawlers. These are two different tools despite sharing a similar name....
John Mueller Jun 07, 2023
★★★ Can you really prevent Google from crawling certain parts of a webpage?
It is not possible to block Googlebot from crawling a specific section of an HTML page. You can use data-nosnippet to exclude text from snippets, or use iframes/JavaScript blocked by robots.txt, but t...
John Mueller Jun 07, 2023
★★★ Is it really worth your time submitting an XML sitemap to Google?
Submitting a sitemap tells Google where your content is located, but it absolutely does not guarantee that URLs will be crawled or indexed. Crawling and indexing depend on content quality and relative...
Gary Illyes Jun 07, 2023
★★ Why isn't schema.org compliance enough to guarantee Google rich results?
Schema.org defines data types and attributes in an open and vendor-independent manner. Google, like other vendors, may have stricter specific requirements for certain attributes in order to use struct...
Martin Splitt Jun 07, 2023
★★★ Should You Really Avoid Charitable Donations in Exchange for Google Business Reviews?
Joy Hawkins from Sterlingsky asked Google whether making a donation to a charitable organization in exchange for a review, whether positive or not, was acceptable or not. According to Google, the prac...
Google Jun 06, 2023
★★★ How does Google's searchdata_url_impression table break down your search performance data?
The searchdata_url_impression table aggregates all performance data by individual URL rather than by site. If two pages appear in the same Google search result, you'll see two impressions—one for each...
Daniel Waisberg Jun 01, 2023
★★★ Should you really limit queries by date in Search Console to optimize your performance?
You should limit queries by date as much as possible to speed up queries and save processing costs. This is done with a WHERE clause to restrict the date range in the partitioned table....
Daniel Waisberg Jun 01, 2023
★★ Do Search Console grouped exports to BigQuery really replace the Search Analytics API?
Data available through Search Console grouped exports to BigQuery is very similar to Search Analytics API data, but potentially much more voluminous depending on site size....
Daniel Waisberg Jun 01, 2023
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