What does Google say about SEO? /
This category compiles all official Google statements regarding links and their role in search engine optimization. Backlinks have always been a cornerstone of Google's ranking algorithm, though guidelines continue to evolve. Here you'll find Google's positions on link building strategies, acceptable practices versus manipulative techniques, proper use of nofollow and dofollow attributes, and official guidance on private blog networks (PBN) and guest blogging approaches. SEO practitioners will discover authoritative recommendations on anchor text optimization, toxic link management through the disavow tool, and the significance of internal linking for site architecture. Google regularly communicates about backlink quality, emphasizing relevance and natural link profiles over sheer volume. Understanding these official declarations is crucial for developing compliant netlinking strategies, avoiding algorithmic or manual penalties, and effectively optimizing PageRank flow throughout your website. This documentation helps search marketers separate myths from facts regarding outbound links impact, various link types, and acquisition techniques endorsed by the search engine. Whether you're addressing linkspam concerns or building sustainable link equity, these official statements provide the authoritative foundation for modern link-based SEO strategies.
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★★★ Can Submitting a Disavow File Actually Hurt Your Site in Google's Eyes?
John Mueller explained for the 2,476th time 😉 that submitting a disavow file to Google does not provide any negative signal to Google about the site that submitted it: "The disavow tool is a purely te...
John Mueller Jan 18, 2021
★★ Is it really necessary to add nofollow to every link on a noindex page?
If an entire page is marked as noindex, Google already sees that no signals should be transmitted. Adding the sponsored or nofollow attribute to individual links may help machine learning systems but ...
John Mueller Jan 15, 2021
★★ How does the position of a link in the structure really affect crawl frequency?
Google crawls pages it considers important for a site more frequently. Links from the homepage help Google understand that a page is important and deserves to be crawled more often. Pages like legal n...
John Mueller Jan 15, 2021
★★★ What does Google really consider to be crossing the line with paid links?
Paying bloggers to write articles with links or paying for PR articles with links constitutes paying for links, which goes against the guidelines. These links must have nofollow or rel=sponsored to be...
John Mueller Jan 15, 2021
★★ Do homepage links really boost crawl frequency?
Google crawls pages that receive links from the homepage more frequently. These internal links help Google recognize that these are important pages for the site that deserve to be crawled more often....
John Mueller Jan 15, 2021
★★★ Can hreflang really substitute for internal links on your international pages?
Hreflang helps with page swapping by country but is not equivalent to a regular HTML link. For new country pages, internal HTML links are necessary for Google to understand how they fit into the site....
John Mueller Jan 15, 2021
★★★ Does Infinite Scroll Really Hinder Your Content's Indexing on Google?
For Infinite Scroll, having paginated links is very important for crawling and indexing. The History API alone is not enough as Googlebot does not trigger user actions like scrolling. Without paginate...
John Mueller Jan 15, 2021
★★ Do noindex pages really block the transmission of value through their links?
If an entire page is set to noindex, Google understands that there is no need to transmit value to the links present on that page. Adding the 'sponsored' attribute to the links helps Google's machine ...
John Mueller Jan 15, 2021
★★★ Are Your HTML Buttons Sabotaging Your Crawl Budget?
HTML button elements are not considered links by Googlebot. For a link that looks like a button, use a normal HTML link styled in CSS instead of a button with JavaScript....
John Mueller Jan 15, 2021
★★★ Could disavowing links actually harm your site’s reputation with Google?
Using the link disavow tool leaves no negative mark on the domain. It is not an admission of guilt. It is merely a technical tool to tell Google to ignore certain links. Google does not assume that a ...
John Mueller Jan 08, 2021
★★★ Do Google manual penalties really require you to disavow every toxic link?
Manual actions for unnatural links are not based on individual links but on a general trend. The website owner must identify and correct this overarching trend. The Google team will not be picky about...
John Mueller Jan 08, 2021
★★★ Is it really necessary to disavow your toxic backlinks?
The disavow tool should primarily be used in the case of confirmed manual actions. For normal sites on a day-to-day basis, it is not necessary to disavow links. The exception would be if you know that...
John Mueller Jan 08, 2021
★★★ Do links really follow the canonical URLs on both sides?
Google follows links by using the canonical URLs from both the source page and the destination page. When migrating a website, transferring link data in Search Console takes time because Google must f...
John Mueller Jan 08, 2021
★★★ Do you really need to disavow nofollow, UGC, or sponsored links?
There is no need to disavow links marked as nofollow, UGC, or sponsored. These attributes already inform Google not to pass PageRank, so disavowing these types of links is unnecessary....
John Mueller Jan 08, 2021
★★★ Does the links report in Search Console really show all your backlinks?
The links report in Google Search Console displays a representative sample of the links, not the total. Google does not filter these links by type (nofollow, disavow, etc.), but simply shows a sample ...
John Mueller Jan 08, 2021
★★★ Can You Actually Spot Passage Indexing Results in Google's SERPs?
Danny Sullivan also explained on Twitter that results displayed through "Passage Indexing" (when this system is implemented, which is not yet the case) will not appear as featured snippets, in any for...
Danny Sullivan Jan 04, 2021
★★ Are Adult Sites Really Excluded from All Rich Results in Google?
John Mueller explained during a hangout that in his opinion, no rich results (enhanced display in the SERPs) were taken into account for sites targeting an "adult" audience. These sites therefore do n...
John Mueller Dec 28, 2020
★★★ How does Google really structure its search ecosystem?
The search ecosystem consists of three components: the web where millions of sites publish content, Google which explores the web and stores content in the Google index by extracting all relevant info...
Daniel Waisberg Dec 28, 2020
★★★ Should you really block the indexing of certain pages to improve your crawl?
For sites with crawl and indexing difficulties, it’s essential to limit the number of indexable pages. Using noindex on filter pages allows Google to focus on the truly important pages. Fewer links to...
John Mueller Dec 18, 2020
★★★ Should you really return a 404 for temporarily empty e-commerce categories?
For a category that is temporarily emptied of all its products, using a 404 status code is the simplest and most effective solution. The noindex has the same effect. A canonical to another category wi...
John Mueller Dec 18, 2020
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