Gary Illyes

★★ Why does Google include URIs in robots.txt?

When standardizing robots.txt, Google expanded the language to accept URIs (not just URLs) to avoid creating new crawling control mechanisms for every new type of URI that might emerge on the internet...

Nov 11, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Will Structured Data Become Obsolete for SEO?

In 10 to 15 years, with advancements in machine learning, Google may be able to automatically identify page attributes without structured data. At that point, structured data could primarily serve as ...

Nov 11, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why is Google focusing on intelligent crawling instead of pushing?

Google is skeptical about generalized push submission interfaces due to massive spam. The priority is to be smarter in crawling to avoid wasting resources. If everyone pushes all their pages via API, ...

Nov 11, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are Links Really Still Essential for SEO?

Links aren't going anywhere because they are fundamental building blocks of the web (they are part of HTML). Google has improved its handling of links and may not need as many as people believe to ran...

Nov 11, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you be wary of machine-generated content to avoid SEO penalties?

Google's current position is that machine-generated content without human supervision is unwelcome in Search. If someone reviews it before publication, then it's acceptable. This topic warrants in-dep...

Nov 11, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why are alt attributes crucial for image SEO?

While Google can detect the general subjects of images, it still cannot precisely distinguish between similar objects (grapefruit vs orange) or identify all details. Google will continue to rely on al...

Nov 11, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should You Choose Meta Refresh or JavaScript for Your SEO Redirections?

For redirections, it is preferable to use server-side redirections or meta refresh rather than JavaScript. The meta refresh is recommended as it does not require rendering and is supported by most bro...

Sep 30, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How do Google's automated crawlers shape your SEO strategy?

Google is a fully automated search engine that constantly uses web crawlers to explore the internet in search of sites to add to its index. The vast majority of websites are not manually submitted but...

Sep 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can the robots.txt file help you optimize your site's crawl budget?

The robots.txt file is useful for managing crawl budget. If you have a section of your site that you consider of little value or URL patterns that are different versions of the same content, you can u...

Sep 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why Does Google Treat Social Media Links as Nofollow?

Google is capable of identifying social media sites and marking all links coming from these sites as nofollow on its end, even if these sites use dofollow links. It would be quite surprising for a lar...

Sep 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How is Mobile-First Indexing Revolutionizing SEO?

Starting in late 2016, Google began experimenting with using primarily the mobile version of a site's content for ranking, crawling, structured data, and generating snippets. Having a mobile-ready sit...

Sep 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How Do Titles and Meta Descriptions Really Impact SEO Traffic?

Title tags and meta descriptions are useful for drawing highly targeted visitors to your site. What you write in the title tag and meta description can actually appear in the search results as present...

Sep 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it true that Google can change site titles in the SERPs?

Google can automatically add the site name it determines for your site in search results, even if you have already included it in your title tag. This can result in a duplication of the site name in t...

Sep 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does the age of a domain truly impact SEO?

When the value of domain age in Google search was raised ironically, Gary Illyes responded negatively, indicating that domain age is not used as a ranking factor....

Sep 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How do Google's experiments shape your SEO strategy?

Google performs a very large number of experiments each year on its search engine. Virtually every feature launch, whether it concerns ranking or user interface, requires prior experimentation. These ...

Aug 19, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How do Google's secret tests impact your SEO strategy?

Users are never notified when they are part of a search experiment. Google wants to observe their natural behavior without them altering their habits knowing they are part of a test. Any user can be p...

Aug 19, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should we rethink our SEO testing approach with Google's latest methods?

Google employs two testing methods: live experiments on real user segments for adjustable interface and ranking changes, and evaluations by human raters for modifications that require a complete rebui...

Aug 19, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does the duration of Google's SEO tests vary so much?

Search experiments can last from a week to several months depending on the amount of data needed to make an informed decision. Google doesn't rely on assumptions but waits to gather enough data before...

Aug 19, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does Google evaluate user behavior during its experiments?

During experiments, Google analyzes several behavioral metrics: whether users avoid certain results, how much time they spend on the results page, if they click and then go back, and the overall durat...

Aug 19, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why do some SEO experiments fail despite solid ideas?

Many ideas that seem excellent in theory are ultimately abandoned after experimentation because they reduce user engagement. For instance, some labels meant to identify secure sites were tested but ha...

Aug 19, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available