What does Google say about SEO? /
This category compiles all official Google statements regarding the impact of social media on search engine optimization. It covers Google's positions on major platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and their influence on search rankings. SEO professionals will find essential clarifications about the role of social signals, shares, and social engagement within Google's algorithms. The documentation also includes official recommendations for implementing Open Graph tags and other social metadata to optimize content display when shared across networks. Google has regularly clarified its stance on using social media data, particularly regarding social profile indexation, treatment of shared links, and the indirect impact of social traffic on organic visibility. Understanding these official statements enables search marketers to develop coherent digital strategies, dispel persistent myths about social signals as direct ranking factors, and properly leverage the social ecosystem to improve website discoverability and authority. This knowledge proves crucial for implementing comprehensive SEO approaches that effectively integrate social media presence while maintaining realistic expectations about their direct influence on search performance and organic traffic generation.
★★ Does Your Social Media Follower Count Really Affect Your Google Rankings?
On X (Twitter), a user asked Danny Sullivan whether follower count was a ranking factor for social media profiles on Google, since the search engine now displays follower counts on SERPs. Sullivan res...
Danny Sullivan Nov 28, 2023
★★ How Can You Avoid Keyword Stuffing Without Becoming Paranoid About Repetition?
On X/Twitter, Danny Sullivan provided some clarifications regarding Keyword Stuffing. According to him, the problem is less related to the number of times a word is repeated on a page than to the way ...
Danny Sullivan Nov 07, 2023
★★ Should You Really Stop Thinking About Google When Creating SEO Content?
On X/Twitter, Danny Sullivan from the Search Liaison team invited bloggers and other content creators not to focus on Google when writing content: "I encourage you (or anyone) to stop thinking – what ...
Danny Sullivan Nov 07, 2023
★★ Why Are Google Events Disappearing from Rich Search Results?
Several SEO professionals have noticed the disappearance of events in Google's rich results. A phenomenon that appears to date back to the end of September, according to the first messages mentioning ...
Google Oct 24, 2023
★★★ Should You Avoid a Website Redesign for Fear of Losing Your SEO Traffic?
On the social network X, a user asked John Mueller if it was possible to prevent a drop in traffic and rankings after a website redesign, and how long it might take to return to normal. John Mueller n...
John Mueller Sep 19, 2023
★★★ Should You Slow Down Your Page Load Time to Boost Your SEO?
On LinkedIn, Liam Fallen published a joke about a myth that Google has debunked numerous times: "If your site loads too fast... consider slowing it down. Why? Users will have to wait longer for your p...
John Mueller Sep 05, 2023
★★★ Is Page Loading Speed Really a Google Ranking Factor or Just an SEO Myth?
On Twitter, a user wanted to know what John Mueller thought about Page Speed and more specifically whether it was a ranking factor for Google. Mueller responded by stating that the notion of Page Spee...
John Mueller Jul 25, 2023
★★★ Can Fake Profiles Really Deceive Google in 2024?
In a series of sharp tweets, John Mueller shared his perspective on the use of fake profiles designed to deceive users, whether on LinkedIn or Google. After reminding us that Google uses machine intel...
John Mueller Jul 25, 2023
★★★ How Will Bing Chat's New #nosearch Feature Change the Way AI Answers Your Questions?
On Twitter, several users complained about Bing Chat's tendency to provide answers sourced from the web, even when simply coding or solving a math problem. In response, Mikhail Parakhin, Corporate Vic...
Google Jul 11, 2023
★★★ Should You Abandon Google Business Profile for Google Merchant Center for Your Products?
To silence the rumors about the potential disappearance of products from Google Business Profile (GBP) following an email promoting the Merchant Center service, Ginny Marvin from the Google AdsLiaison...
Google Jun 20, 2023
★★★ Should You Implement HTTP 103 Early Hints to Improve Your SEO?
On LinkedIn, Gary Illyes clarified how Google handles 103 Early Hints responses in HTTP headers: "HTTP 103 should be handled gracefully by Googlebot. If the server response is formatted as described i...
Gary Illyes Jun 20, 2023
★★ Can High-Quality, Information-Rich Content Actually Be Worthless to Google?
On Twitter, a user asked John Mueller whether Google preferred short content with varied and quality backlinks or rather high-quality content with lots of information but few quality backlinks. The an...
John Mueller May 16, 2023
★★★ Should You Use "Coming Soon" Pages During a Site Migration?
According to John Mueller, it's best to avoid "coming back soon" pages as much as possible during a redesign. On Twitter, he indicates that he would simply use a 503 status code if the site migration ...
John Mueller May 09, 2023
★★ Should You Really Avoid Using Noindex and Canonical Together on the Same Page?
Google has always said that you shouldn't use noindex and a canonical tag at the same time. But John Mueller recently played his "it depends" card on Twitter. "For identical pages you don't care much ...
John Mueller May 09, 2023
★★★ Should You Really Disavow Links Flagged as Toxic by SEO Tools?
John Mueller is not a big fan of link disavowal. On Twitter, he stated that it was a "terrible idea" to disavow links based on metrics from a third-party tool. He also added "Plus, none of these metri...
John Mueller May 09, 2023
★★★ Should you really abandon directories and social bookmarking for your SEO strategy once and for all?
Submissions to directories and social bookmarking sites are a waste of time and provide no SEO benefit whatsoever. Google recommends that you stop investing effort in these outdated practices....
Gary Illyes May 04, 2023
★★★ Should You Be Worried About the New GoogleOther Crawler?
Gary Illyes announced on LinkedIn that a new crawler, GoogleOther, has been added to the list of crawlers that relieve Googlebot. According to him, it doesn't change much but it's interesting to know....
Gary Illyes Apr 25, 2023
★★ Can Your Well-Ranked Site Lose Its Google Positions Overnight?
On Twitter, John Mueller responded to a user who was surprised to see their three-year-old site disappear from Google News. According to Google's Senior Search Analyst, the fact that a site is in the ...
John Mueller Apr 18, 2023
★★ Should You Publish Thousands of SEO Pages All at Once or Gradually Roll Them Out?
On Twitter, a user asked John Mueller whether he should publish his site's 8,000 new pages all at once or if it would be better to proceed gradually. Mueller's response: "If it's great content that th...
John Mueller Apr 18, 2023
★★★ Why Is Your Evergreen Content Suddenly Losing Rankings to News Articles?
On Twitter, Danny Sullivan responded to a complaint from the Celebrity Net Worth website. They were complaining that their excellent content about Gwyneth Paltrow was being outranked by poor quality c...
Danny Sullivan Apr 11, 2023
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