What does Google say about SEO? /
Google Search Console stands as the essential tool for SEO professionals seeking to optimize their website's organic visibility. This free platform delivers invaluable data on organic performance, indexation status, technical errors, and user behavior in search results. Official Google statements regarding Search Console are critical for properly interpreting coverage reports, performance data, URL inspection tools, and sitemap management features. SEO practitioners rely on these official positions to diagnose indexation issues, identify optimization opportunities, and monitor organic traffic evolution. Mastering functionalities like Core Web Vitals reports, structured data validation, internal and external link analysis, and page experience signals has become essential for modern SEO strategies. Understanding official recommendations helps avoid metric misinterpretation, optimize crawl budget efficiently, and make strategic decisions based on reliable data to sustainably improve SERP rankings. Whether troubleshooting mobile usability issues, monitoring manual actions, or analyzing search queries that drive traffic, Search Console insights combined with Google's official guidance provide the foundation for data-driven SEO decision-making and continuous performance improvement in an ever-evolving search landscape.
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★★★ 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
★★★ Do Nofollow Links Really Show Up in Search Console and Pass PageRank?
In a new video on the #AskGoogleWebmasters YouTube channel, John Mueller explains that "nofollow" links do not transmit any signals (and particularly no PageRank) to Google, but that they do appear in...
John Mueller Aug 19, 2019
★★★ Are JavaScript Redirects Really Safe for Your SEO?
Third episode of the #AskGoogleWebmasters videos, which this time addresses the question of JavaScript redirects. John Mueller explains that Googlebot understands JS redirects well during its crawls a...
John Mueller Aug 12, 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
★★ Should You Worry About Missing Features in the New Search Console?
John Mueller hinted on Twitter that features still present in the old Search Console and not yet migrated to the new one (such as International Targeting or the robots.txt file tester, for example) wo...
John Mueller Jul 16, 2019
★★★ Do XML Sitemaps Really Impact Your Site's Ranking?
Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that the content of XML Sitemap files did not impact a site's rankings in the search engine's results....
Gary Illyes Jul 02, 2019
★★ Does Google's URL Parameters Tool Actually Deindex Pages?
John Mueller reminded us in a recent hangout that the URL parameter handling tool in the old Search Console (a tool not yet transferred to the new version but still fully operational) doesn't specific...
John Mueller Jun 03, 2019
★★★ Should You Enter SEO Contests to Test Your Skills and Strategy?
John Mueller let loose on Twitter about SEO contests, which he doesn't seem particularly fond of: "SEO contests are rather useless. They never reflect real performance, they generate a ton of spam tha...
John Mueller May 13, 2019
★★★ Which Dates Does Google Actually Use to Rank Your Pages?
John Mueller explained on Twitter that Google can take into account two types of dates: the one indicated in the XML Sitemap ("lastmod" field or last modified date) which corresponds to the last modif...
John Mueller May 02, 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
★★ If a Backlink Doesn't Show in Search Console, Does Google Simply Ignore It?
John Mueller indicated on Reddit that if a backlink wasn't identified or found in Search Console, it was certainly irrelevant (except in the case of sitewide backlinks: a link in the footer of all pag...
John Mueller Apr 02, 2019
★★ Should You Really Add Text Content Below Product Listings in E-commerce?
John Mueller explained during a hangout that adding a block of text below product listing pages on an e-commerce site, while only displaying the category name in H1 above the list, was not necessarily...
John Mueller Mar 11, 2019
★★★ Can You Really Create a Search Console Property for a Non-Indexed Site?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that, in principle, a website does not need to be indexed on the search engine to create a Search Console property at its address. Theoretically, you can therefore re...
John Mueller Feb 18, 2019
★★★ Can You Really Trust Google Search Console's Mobile Data to Guide Your SEO Strategy?
We asked Vincent Courson whether the data from the new Search Console regarding mobile compatibility was only samples. Because, most often, the number of pages indicated (sum of mobile-compatible page...
Google Feb 04, 2019
★★★ Why Does Google Crawl Your Pages But Still Refuse to Index Them?
In the new Search Console and its "Index Coverage" option, many pages are sometimes indicated as "Crawled - currently not indexed". Most of the time, these are pages that have not yet been indexed (th...
John Mueller Nov 26, 2018
★★★ Does Using the Same Google Account for Search Console and Analytics Hurt Your SEO?
John Mueller indicated on Reddit that having the same Google account (same login, same email address) for Search Console and Analytics across multiple sites, or using different accounts, has no impact...
John Mueller Nov 12, 2018
★★ Do 301 Redirects Between Unrelated Pages Really Lose All Their PageRank?
John Mueller provided more information during a hangout on how a 301 redirect passes "link juice" (PageRank) from one page to another. He initially indicated, as was already known, that 301 and 302 re...
John Mueller Nov 05, 2018
★★★ How Does Google Actually Discover Your New Web Pages?
Gary Illyes indicated at the Pubcon event that the two main pathways Google considers for identifying new URLs to crawl are first the tracking of hyperlinks by its bots, and secondly XML Sitemap files...
Gary Illyes Oct 29, 2018
★★ Can You Host Your Website on Multiple Servers in Different Countries Without Hurting SEO?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that having certain parts of a site hosted on a server with an IP address in one country (for example the United States) and other parts on another server with an IP ...
John Mueller Oct 29, 2018
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