Gary Illyes

★★ Are XML sitemaps really essential without official standardization?

The XML Sitemap format, created in 2005-2006, is a widely adopted de facto standard but has never been formally standardized by a standardization body. There is no obvious benefit to standardizing it ...

Apr 17, 2025 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is robots.txt still essential for modern websites, or just a relic of the past?

Robots.txt is considered extremely important for Google and virtually all search engines. Standardization helps reduce the burden on site owners by uniformizing the way these files are written for all...

Apr 17, 2025 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why did Google open-source its robots.txt parser, and what does it mean for your SEO strategy?

Following the standardization of robots.txt, Google made its robots.txt parser public as open source, enabling developers to use it as a foundation for creating better robots.txt files....

Apr 17, 2025 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are robots.txt and XML sitemaps now officially linked together?

In the IETF's robots.txt standard, XML sitemaps are mentioned as an informative reference, establishing a formal link between these two crawling mechanisms....

Apr 17, 2025 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Is Google Optimizing Its Crawl to Do Less But Better?

In April 2024, Gary Illyes from Google expressed his intention to make web crawling more efficient, seeking to "reduce crawling frequency and the amount of data transferred (...) without reducing craw...

Mar 04, 2025 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Update Your XML Sitemap for Every Minor Website Change?

Gary Illyes recently emphasized that merely changing the copyright year in a website's footer does not constitute a significant content update. Consequently, it is not necessary to update the lastmod ...

Feb 11, 2025 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is Originality Becoming Google's Top-Ranking Factor in 2025?

Gary Illyes stated that originality would be a priority for Google in 2025. This statement emphasizes the importance for websites and content creators to produce unique and authentic information, part...

Feb 11, 2025 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Can You Prevent Google From Completely 'Forgetting' Your Indexed Pages?

Gary Illyes clarified the 'URL unknown to Google' status in Search Console. According to him, when a URL receives this status, it means it is literally unknown to Google's systems and therefore has no...

Feb 04, 2025 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Which HTTP encodings does Googlebot actually accept to crawl your pages effectively?

Google Bot and Google crawlers support three specific types of HTTP encoding for compressing server responses. This information was officially documented in 2024 after being found only in scattered ol...

Dec 30, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is Google finally turning those old blog posts into official documentation—and should you care?

Google is updating its documentation in 2024 to close gaps by converting historical information from blog articles (dating back to 2005-2006) into official documentation and documenting technical deta...

Dec 30, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How can Google's AI white papers transform your SEO strategy?

Google makes technical white papers available explaining how LLMs function, common problems like hallucinations, and AI principles. These resources are recommended for understanding AI interfaces in a...

Dec 30, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Googlebot Really Collect Your Links Instead of Following Them?

Contrary to what Google states in its official documentation, Googlebot doesn't follow links in real-time but collects them for later processing. This clarification was shared by Gary Illyes in the Se...

Aug 13, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are URL Parameters Really Threatening Your Site's Google Crawlability?

Gary Illyes warned that URL parameters could cause crawling issues for Google, particularly by generating an infinite number of URLs for a single page: "technically, you can add an almost infinite num...

Aug 13, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does intensive crawling really guarantee a high-quality website?

Google may crawl a site more extensively for various reasons (quality content, hacks, new URLs, calendar scripts). High crawl volume does not automatically mean the site is high quality. Conversely, r...

Aug 08, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does forcing Google to crawl more pages actually boost your search rankings?

Forcing Google to crawl more of your website (for example via robots.txt) won't make your site rank better in search results. Content quality must come first for Google to naturally increase crawl fre...

Aug 08, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can you really boost your site's crawl budget by contacting Google?

Requests submitted via the Googlebot issue report form cannot be used to increase a site's crawl volume. This form is intended solely to report over-crawling problems or server overload issues....

Aug 08, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google crawl some sites more frequently than others?

Crawl volume is determined by the server's technical capacity to handle requests and by the quality/usefulness of content for users. These two aspects define the frequency and intensity of crawling....

Aug 08, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Google Really Pushing the If-Modified-Since Header to Cut Crawl Costs?

Servers should properly implement the 304 Not Modified response to the If-Modified-Since header. This saves bandwidth and server resources by avoiding retransmitting unchanged content. Currently, this...

Aug 08, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do URL parameters really create an infinite crawl space for Google?

URL parameters can generate a nearly infinite number of versions of the same page. Google must crawl a large sample to determine whether the parameters actually modify the content. Webmasters can use ...

Aug 08, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why do hashtags and URL anchors complicate Google's crawling process?

URL fragments (hashtags/#) exist only on the client side and Googlebot cannot access them without rendering. This complicates crawling and the discovery of content based on anchors....

Aug 08, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available