What does Google say about SEO? /
Gary Illyes is an analyst on the Google Search team. Known for his candor and technical expertise, he regularly speaks at SEO conferences and on Google's official podcasts. His statements often focus on the technical aspects of crawling, indexing, and how Google's algorithms work.
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🕒 ~30s 🎯 3 questions 📚 SEO Google
★★★ Can you really control what appears in your SERP snippet, or does Google have the final say?
The snippet (description excerpt) displayed in search results comes directly from the web page's content. It's an element that can be controlled by the site owner....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do webmasters really have complete control over Google search result attribution elements?
The attribution elements of a search result include the favicon, the site name, and the visual URL (which typically resembles a breadcrumb trail). All of these elements can be controlled by website ow...
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Why does Google display your URLs as breadcrumb trails in search results?
The visual URL displayed in search results generally takes the form of a breadcrumb trail, allowing the site structure to be shown in a hierarchical manner....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How can you precisely control the appearance of your results in Google's SERP?
Google provides comprehensive documentation on Search Central explaining how to control the different elements that make up a search result, allowing webmasters to optimize their display....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google really rewrite your title tags whenever it wants?
Title links in search results are generated based on page content. In many cases, the title link is identical to the title element in the page's HTML, which site owners can control directly....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can heading tags really replace your title tag in the SERPs?
Title links can also be generated from the heading tags (titles) present on the page, which means that site owners can control them directly....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Can external anchor texts really take over your title tags in Google search results?
In certain cases, particularly when page content is unavailable, the title link can be generated from external sources such as anchor texts, which are the visible part of links....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google really pull snippets only from what users see when they land on your page?
Generally, the snippet is chosen from what users would see when arriving on the page. Site owners have direct control over the snippet text because it comes solely from their page content....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can Google really use your alt tags and meta descriptions to build your snippets?
If the page does not contain enough text, the snippet can be extracted from otherwise invisible text such as image alt attributes and the meta description element....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How can you disable snippet display in Google search results using the nosnippet tag?
You can control whether Google displays a snippet in search results for a particular page by using the meta robots nosnippet tag....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can you really control how long your snippets appear in Google search results with max-snippet?
You can control the maximum length of the snippet displayed in search results by using the meta robots max-snippet tag....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How can you prevent specific content from showing up in your Google snippets?
If you don't want a particular passage to appear in the snippet, you can use the data-nosnippet HTML attribute on certain specific HTML elements....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does your URL structure really impact how Google displays breadcrumbs in search results?
Changing your URLs can alter how breadcrumbs are displayed in Google search results....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can you actually control how your site name appears in search results using structured data?
Modifying structured data can update your site name as it appears in search results....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does your favicon really impact your site's SEO performance in Google search results?
Uploading a new favicon to your site will update the favicon displayed in Google search results....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does Google really respect your publication dates… or does it just make them up as it goes?
In the snippet, you can sometimes see a byline date that is Google's own estimation of when the page was updated or published....
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Why does Google display multiple links from the same domain underneath a single search result?
Below the snippet, you can sometimes see sitelinks: two or more links coming from the same domain or its alternative version, grouped together to help users access pages relevant to that particular re...
Apr 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does the dash vs underscore distinction in URLs really impact your SEO rankings?
Keywords in URLs contribute very little to ranking in Google search results. However, dashes are preferable to underscores because they separate words more clearly....
Apr 18, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do short 503 errors really impact your site's crawl rate?
Serving a 503 code during an extended period will result in a decrease in crawl rate. However, 10 to 15 minutes of unavailability several times per week is not considered prolonged and should not caus...
Apr 18, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does switching web hosting really hurt your search engine rankings?
If the hosting change is done correctly, with a site that remains accessible and minimal downtime, it should not have negative effects on page rankings in Google search results....
Apr 18, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
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