What does Google say about SEO? /
Pagination and site structure represent core foundations of web architecture and search engine optimization. This category compiles Google's official statements regarding hierarchical content organization, navigation systems, and pagination mechanisms. The stakes are significant: facilitating crawling and indexation by bots, optimizing crawl budget allocation, enhancing user experience, and efficiently distributing authority across pages. Google has evolved its guidance on rel next/prev tags, now deprecated, while maintaining the importance of logical silo-based architecture. Breadcrumb navigation remains a structural element valued for contextual page understanding. SEO practitioners will find official positions on internal linking strategies, tab-based organization, navigation menus, and their impact on organic visibility. Understanding Google's directives on these structural aspects helps avoid architecture mistakes that fragment authority or create indexation black holes, while building a solid foundation for long-term organic performance. Proper implementation of site structure principles directly influences how search engines discover, understand, and rank content, making this knowledge essential for technical SEO success and sustainable search visibility across large-scale websites.
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★★★ Why do scrapers index faster than your original content?
When an original site is outrun by a scraper, it is often due to technical issues that delay indexing. Ensure that the site is easy to crawl, with a clear structure and quickly updated sitemaps to ass...
John Mueller Jan 08, 2020
★★ Are blog comment links still effective for SEO?
Leaving legitimate comments on blogs with links to your site is generally acceptable, unless done on a large scale. Google may ignore these links if they all appear to be self-created....
John Mueller Jan 08, 2020
★★ Why do the figures in Search Console never match between graphs and tables?
When you filter by queries or pages, the results on the graph may not match the total displayed in the table due to Google's anonymizations for privacy reasons and the limitation on the number of quer...
Daniel Waisberg Jan 08, 2020
★★★ Should you really redirect after changing your WordPress theme?
Changing a WordPress theme or altering the HTML5 structure can be recognized by Google as a change in similar content, but for clarity and accuracy of discovery, it's advisable to use redirects....
John Mueller Jan 08, 2020
★★★ How Does Google's Machine Learning Really Determine Canonicalization Criteria Weights?
The same John Mueller explained during a webmaster hangout an example of how Google can use machine learning algorithms: "So, for example, we use machine learning for canonicalization. We have all the...
John Mueller Dec 23, 2019
★★★ Can structured data really trigger a penalty for cloaking?
When correctly implemented, structured data helps Google understand the content of web pages. Ensure that structured data accurately reflects the information visible to users to avoid penalties for pe...
Google Dec 17, 2019
★★★ How is machine learning really changing Google's ranking criteria?
Google employs machine learning to adjust certain aspects of its algorithm, such as the weighting of signals for URL canonicalization. This does not make the algorithm completely opaque, as weights an...
John Mueller Dec 13, 2019
★★★ Can you really combine multiple structured data schemas on the same page?
It is acceptable to have multiple types of structured data on a page, such as for an e-commerce site and a local business....
John Mueller Dec 13, 2019
★★★ Does Google Really Penalize Websites Using Outdated HTML Code?
John Mueller reminded us on Twitter that Google does not penalize sites that use "old version" HTML, the use of tables, the absence of CSS, the fact that the HTML code does not pass the W3C Validator,...
John Mueller Nov 25, 2019
★★★ Should You Block Parameterized URLs in Robots.txt or Rely on Canonical Tags Instead?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that you should not use the robots.txt file to deindex parameterized URLs in favor of those same URLs without parameters, because the search engine cannot canonicaliz...
John Mueller Nov 12, 2019
★★★ Does BERT Really Require No Technical SEO Optimization Whatsoever?
Danny Sullivan reiterated on Twitter, as he typically does after almost every "core update," that there were no real modifications (particularly technical ones) to anticipate on your site following BE...
Danny Sullivan Nov 04, 2019
★★★ Should You Use Nofollow Links Internally to Sculpt PageRank?
John Mueller has indicated that, in his opinion, using the nofollow attribute in internal linking to do "internal PageRank sculpting" was a waste of time and that it doesn't work....
John Mueller Nov 04, 2019
★★ Should we still use nofollow on internal links for crawl budget management?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that the new approach to Nofollow attributes will also work for internal links on a website, although he indicated that these changes were primarily designed for exte...
John Mueller Oct 07, 2019
★★★ Do You Really Have to Wait 24 Hours for a Crawl Rate Change to Take Effect?
John Mueller indicated that changing Googlebot's crawl rate via Search Console takes approximately one day to be taken into account....
John Mueller Sep 30, 2019
★★★ How Does Google Actually Choose Which Canonical URL to Index When Multiple Versions Exist?
John Mueller, in a new video from his #AskGoogleWebmasters channel, explains how Google selects canonical URLs. Indeed, in many cases, the search engine identifies a page offering given content (or si...
John Mueller Sep 09, 2019
★★★ Is an XML Sitemap Really Essential for Your Google Rankings?
Gary Illyes (Google) indicated on Twitter that XML Sitemap files still remain the second source of URL discovery for the search engine today (he had already said this in 2014, so the situation has not...
Gary Illyes Sep 02, 2019
★★★ Is Voice Search Really Invisible in Search Console?
Second episode of the #AskGoogleWebmasters videos, which this time addresses the question of voice search within Search Console. John Mueller explains on this occasion that questions asked to Google A...
John Mueller Aug 05, 2019
★★★ Can Google Actually Identify the Real Author Behind a Pseudonym or Avatar?
A user asked John Mueller on Twitter about whether Google can (or cannot) determine who the real author of content is when an avatar (pseudonym) is used. John's response: "I doubt Google's algorithms ...
John Mueller Jul 22, 2019
★★ Can Hidden Content in Accordions Really Appear as Featured Snippets?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that content present in an accordion or tab (and therefore potentially visible upon user action but hidden by default) could appear in featured snippets (whereas this...
John Mueller Jun 25, 2019
★★★ Why Should Your Homepage Be Optimized Differently from Your Internal Pages?
John Mueller explained in a recent webmaster hangout that a homepage should primarily be optimized to describe what the site will be about in general, not for more specific queries, even though the ho...
John Mueller Apr 15, 2019
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