Gary Illyes

★★★ Is Google really running out of storage space to index your content?

Google must manage what gets put into the index and what gets excluded from it. Often, exclusion isn't due to low content quality, but simply because there's no more available storage space....

Mar 14, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are natural links really more important than sitemaps for URL discovery?

For discovery purposes, natural links are more important than a sitemap. A natural link not only indicates that a URL exists, but also signals that it's important to crawl it faster by providing conte...

Mar 14, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does linking from your homepage really accelerate the crawl of your new pages?

The homepage is almost always the most important page of a site for Google. Creating links from the homepage to new important pages tells Google that it should crawl these pages earlier....

Mar 14, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does Google actually crawl your website pages?

Crawling is the process by which Google finds new or updated web pages using automated programs called crawlers, then downloads them to make them searchable....

Feb 22, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does Google actually discover your new pages?

Google primarily discovers new pages by following links (URLs) from already-known pages to new pages. Most newly discovered URLs originate from other known pages that Google has previously crawled....

Feb 22, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is Google really missing pages from your site that should be indexed?

With trillions of URLs on the internet, some pages will never be discovered by Google....

Feb 22, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does Googlebot decide which pages to crawl on your website?

Googlebot uses algorithms to determine which sites to crawl, how frequently to crawl them, and how many pages to retrieve from each site....

Feb 22, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Googlebot intentionally slow down on your site to avoid overwhelming it?

Googlebot is programmed to avoid crawling a site too quickly to prevent overloading it. The crawl speed is unique for each site and depends on how quickly the site responds, the quality of the content...

Feb 22, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Googlebot ignore some of the URLs it discovers?

Googlebot does not crawl every URL it discovers. Some pages may be on sites that do not meet the required quality threshold to be indexed, while other URLs may be forbidden from crawling or inaccessib...

Feb 22, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Googlebot really crawl content hidden behind a login page?

Googlebot only crawls publicly accessible URLs. If content is placed behind a login page, Googlebot cannot crawl it....

Feb 22, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really struggle to see your JavaScript content without rendering?

Rendering transforms HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files into a visual representation of the page by executing JavaScript with a recent version of Chrome. Without rendering, Google would not see the conte...

Feb 22, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do you really need an XML sitemap to get indexed by Google?

Sitemaps are a collection of URLs from a website's pages and constitute a valuable aid for Google to discover the site. The most popular format is XML. Sitemaps are absolutely not required but can def...

Feb 22, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really be automating your sitemap generation?

It is recommended to work with your website provider or developer to ensure your site automatically generates sitemap files, rather than creating them manually which is a source of errors....

Feb 22, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can you really pay Google to improve your crawl frequency or search rankings?

Google accepts no payment to crawl a site more frequently or to rank it higher in search results. Anyone claiming otherwise is mistaken....

Feb 15, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does content quality alone really guarantee a strong Google ranking?

Having a website well-ranked on Google, particularly at the top of search results, depends heavily on the quality of your pages' content. For example, large amounts of nonsensical text will produce po...

Feb 15, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google break down its search engine into exactly three distinct phases?

Google Search operates in three main steps: crawling (discovering URLs and exploring the internet), indexation (understanding the page content and its relationship with other pages, then storing this ...

Feb 15, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is indexation really the mechanism by which Google understands your pages?

Indexation is how Google understands what a page is about and its relationship with other pages on the Internet, while storing this information in a way that allows it to be searched efficiently....

Feb 15, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can page attributes really boost your visibility in Google search results?

There are different attributes you can add to your pages to increase your website's visibility in Google search results....

Feb 15, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ What are the three essential pillars that shape Google Search results?

Google Search operates on three main components that make up its functionality. These three building blocks are essential for grasping how Google processes and ranks web content in its search results....

Feb 14, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do you still need to worry about HTTPS for SEO in 2025?

Google removed information about HTTPS from its SEO Starter Guide because most websites now have HTTPS enabled by default during domain setup, with SSL/TLS certificates readily available for free....

Jan 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available