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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Does disavowing poor-quality backlinks really carry a negative impact?
Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that a disavowed site, therefore designated as providing low-quality links, was not negatively impacted subsequently by Google's algorithm. The links it provides are s...
Gary Illyes Aug 14, 2017
Do Google's Quality Raters Really Influence Your Site's Rankings?
John Mueller indicated in a hangout that quality raters were there primarily to evaluate and even help correct Google's algorithms, but that their purpose was not to assess the sites appearing in sear...
John Mueller Aug 07, 2017
Should You Nofollow Links to Legal Pages and Terms & Conditions?
John Mueller indicated during a hangout that links to pages such as "About", "Terms and Conditions" or "Legal Notices" can be set to dofollow. For our part, we recommend nofollow (especially for large...
John Mueller Jul 17, 2017
★★ Does the Position of Internal Links Really Affect Their SEO Weight?
John Mueller reminded in a hangout that the position of an internal link on a web page doesn't matter in terms of indexation: top of page, footer, sidebar, etc. In all cases, the link will be detected...
John Mueller Jul 17, 2017
★★★ Do Breadcrumbs Really Pass PageRank Just Like Other Internal Links?
Gary Illyes explained that Google particularly appreciates breadcrumbs and that these links are treated like any other internal links on the page for internal PageRank distribution......
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
★★★ 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
★★ Should You Really Avoid Empty Link Anchors for SEO?
We asked the question on Twitter about empty link anchors (for example on an image that would be added via CSS). John Mueller responded that this type of link was followed by Google but that the absen...
John Mueller May 22, 2017
★★ Should You Really Disavow All Links Coming from Spammy Sites?
John Mueller indicated that links from "spammy" sites are not necessarily unnatural. And that the priority should be to track down (and disavow) unnatural links. He also explained that you can have na...
John Mueller May 22, 2017
★★ Should Widget Signature Links Always Be Nofollow?
John Mueller indicated in a hangout that if a link wasn't systematically set to "nofollow" in a widget signature (such as "Widget created by [link]"), the search engine could automatically do it itsel...
John Mueller May 22, 2017
★★★ Do Outbound 404 Links Really Hurt Your Page's SEO Performance?
Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that a web page will not see its relevance score decrease because some of its outbound links point to a 404 URL. This situation does not imply any "punishment" from Go...
Gary Illyes May 15, 2017
★★ Does a Page's Traffic Really Influence the Value of Its Links?
John Mueller has indicated on Twitter that a link from a high-traffic page carries no more weight in Google's algorithm than a link from a low-traffic page. Let's remember that it's PageRank (which ha...
John Mueller May 15, 2017
★★ Does Domain Age Really Impact Google Rankings?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that the age (seniority) of a domain name is not a relevance criterion for Google's algorithm (although this is a deeply rooted belief in the SEO community). It's pos...
John Mueller Apr 24, 2017
★★ Do Clicks on a 404 Page from Search Results Actually Trigger Deindexing?
Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that if a user clicks on a link in a SERP and lands on a 404 page, this will not send a signal to Google to remove that URL. For this page to be deindexed, it will be ...
Gary Illyes Apr 24, 2017
★★★ Do Internal Nofollow Links Actually Hurt Your Page's Relevance?
Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that if a page contains internal nofollow links, this does not degrade the relevance of that page (the one containing the link) in Google's eyes. One wonders why it wo...
Gary Illyes Apr 24, 2017
★★★ Should You Avoid PageRank Sculpting with Nofollow Links to Prevent Penalties?
Gary Illyes clarified on Twitter that performing "PageRank Sculpting" by creating silos through nofollow internal links cannot generate a penalty from Google. However, he continued with a very "Gary-e...
Gary Illyes Apr 24, 2017
Why Does Google Deliberately Hide Information About Disavowed Links in Search Console?
John Mueller indicated in a hangout that if Google doesn't provide information in its Search Console about whether a link has been disavowed or not (in the "Links to your site" section), it's basicall...
John Mueller Apr 10, 2017
Do You Really Need Backlinks for Google to Crawl Your Pages?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that if a page had no backlinks, Googlebot would not crawl it. This is obviously false since a URL can be identified by the search engine via the XML Sitemap or be su...
John Mueller Apr 03, 2017
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