Gary Illyes

★★ Should you really use Google's link disavow tool, or is it just wasting your time?

Google has been managing spam links for 25 years and knows how to ignore them well. The disavow tool in Search Console should only be used if links really bother you; otherwise, it's enough to simply ...

May 04, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do you really need to optimize image file names for SEO?

Descriptive file names for images are somewhat useful. For a few images, it's recommended, but if you have millions of images, you need to evaluate whether the benefit is worth the effort required....

May 04, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does invalid schema markup really hurt your search rankings?

Invalid schema markup doesn't harm your site. If Google can't parse the schema, it simply won't use it. This means you could miss out on search features like rich snippets....

May 04, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does extended boilerplate content really hurt your SEO rankings?

Extended boilerplate content should generally not have any effect on your site's presence in search results. Instead, you should think about how users perceive it, as they might not appreciate it....

May 04, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can a domain migration really happen without losing your SEO rankings?

A well-executed website move, including a domain change, should not result in lasting traffic loss. There is a method to change domains without losing rankings by following official documentation....

May 04, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ 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....

Apr 25, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why Does Your Website Suddenly Disappear for a Keyword It Once Ranked #1 For?

During the latest edition of SEO Office Hours, Gary Illyes provided an answer to website owners who notice their site disappearing for certain specific keywords, even though they were sometimes ranked...

Apr 18, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why doesn't Google index every single URL on your site?

Google does not index every URL on the internet—it's simply not feasible. The URLs that Google indexes are those considered to be high quality. You need to verify URL accessibility via Search Console ...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Google really penalizing your site, or is it just an algorithm update?

If a URL or site is sanctioned by Google, this appears in Search Console via the manual actions report. If automated systems rank your URLs lower without manual action, you need to check the documenta...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why are robots.txt unreachable errors always your own fault?

robots.txt unreachable errors are common and always linked to site parameters. Google can't do anything about it. You need to check your firewall settings, network components, CDN, and blocked IPs. Su...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really maintain redirects when migrating to a new domain?

When switching to a new domain, you must absolutely redirect the old site to the new one instead of simply deleting it. The old domain has likely accumulated valuable signals that you cannot afford to...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is deliberately serving different HTTP status codes to Googlebot really that risky for your site?

Serving a 410 status code to Googlebot and 200 to users is cloaking and a very bad idea. With multiple Terms of Service conditions, something will eventually go wrong and your site can disappear from ...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does content quality really impact how fast Google indexes your pages?

The amount of content Google indexes and the speed of indexation depend on the accessibility of the site for Googlebot and the quality of the content. The higher the quality, the more pages from the s...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really distinguish between WiFi and Wi-Fi for SEO purposes?

Google treats WiFi and Wi-Fi with hyphen as equivalent from a comprehension standpoint. However, since users employ both spellings interchangeably, Google displays slightly different results to match ...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why do some migrated sites appear in Google within minutes while others take months to show up?

The time required for a migrated domain to appear in Google Search depends on the site itself and can range from a few minutes to several months. It is generally faster for higher quality sites....

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Does Google Actually Discover Your New Domains for Indexing?

Gary Illyes confirmed that Google examines domain name registrations to discover new domains to include in the Google search index. This information was shared in the Search Off The Record podcast. Re...

Apr 11, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is robots.txt really sufficient (almost always) to block a staging site from being indexed?

To prevent indexation of a staging site, robots.txt is a simple and effective solution. In most cases, this works because Google cannot crawl the pages and therefore cannot make an indexation decision...

Apr 05, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the no-index tag really block all indexing without any exceptions?

If you put a no-index tag on your pages, they will absolutely not be indexed, especially if you don't modify the head element in any way. It's the second choice after robots.txt for blocking a staging...

Apr 05, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are orphaned pages really invisible to Google's crawlers?

If you don't create any links to a page and don't mention it anywhere, it's very difficult for Google to discover it. The internet is like deep space: without a link to a resource, it's practically im...

Apr 05, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really discover all your subdomains automatically?

Google examines DNS records for discovery, but this typically means discovering the main domain name (A record), not necessarily subdomains. If DNS doesn't announce CNAME records for subdomains, Googl...

Apr 05, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available