Gary Illyes

★★ Can Google really target geography at the individual page level?

Google can determine geographic targeting at the level of each individual page, not just at the entire site level. A specific section or page can be identified as targeting a particular country even i...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really ignore the HTML lang attribute for multilingual SEO?

Google does not use the lang attribute of HTML tags to determine a page's language because this signal has proven historically unreliable. Many CMS platforms — such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla — ...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Will Google finally automate hreflang tag detection?

Google wants to reduce manual annotations and automatically learn hreflang relationships between pages. Systems capable of automatically identifying linguistic versions of the same content have existe...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google trust hreflang more than the HTML lang attribute?

Hreflang is considered more reliable than the HTML lang attribute because its implementation represents significant investment, particularly for large websites. This constraint incentivizes owners to ...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★ Should you really worry about hreflang if only 9% of websites actually use it?

According to the 2022 Web Almanac, only 9% of crawled homepage pages use hreflang. This figure shows that relatively few sites actually require this annotation compared to the entire web....

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you abandon hreflang in sitemaps and switch to HTML or HTTP headers instead?

Hreflang implemented in HTTP headers or in HTML is processed faster than hreflang in an XML sitemap. Discovery via sitemap is not tied to a specific page and can take longer, whereas HTML/HTTP trigger...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does hreflang automatically trigger Google to crawl all your alternative URLs?

When Google discovers an hreflang annotation, it triggers crawling of the alternative URLs mentioned to verify they belong to the same cluster of linguistic variations. This dependency verification is...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do you really need to include a self-referencing hreflang tag on every page?

Although Google recommends including a self-referencing hreflang tag on each page, it is not strictly required technically. This recommendation exists for historical reasons related to rel=canonical a...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really index your multilingual pages separately with hreflang, or does it only store one version?

Pages marked as hreflang alternatives are not indexed separately but grouped into a duplication cluster. Google stores only the canonical version and can swap the displayed URL based on the user's lan...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why are your hreflang pages disappearing from Search Console without being deindexed?

Google Search Console only reports data for canonical URLs in hreflang clusters. Alternative language versions are not tracked individually, which can create the impression that pages are dropping out...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can your x-default hreflang tag really point to any page on your site?

The x-default hreflang tag can point to any page, not necessarily one of the existing language variants. It can direct to a country selector, a fallback page, or any page chosen for users without a la...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why did Google discontinue its official hreflang validator tool?

Google no longer provides an official hreflang validator. Previously offered validation tools were removed due to low utilization. Google now recommends third-party tools such as those from Aleyda Sol...

Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do You Really Need a Country-Specific Domain (.fr, .de) to Rank Locally on Google?

Gary Illyes indicated that country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) benefit from a local ranking advantage. When a user searches in their local language, domains like .de, .in, .fr, or .kr do tend to b...

Jul 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you block GoogleOther or risk disrupting your Google services?

GoogleOther is a generic crawler used by various Google product teams to retrieve publicly accessible content, notably for internal research and development. It was launched to provide greater transpa...

Jul 18, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do local domains (ccTLD) really offer an SEO advantage for local search rankings?

Local domain names like .kr tend to perform better because Google Search favors local content for the user. A .com can work just as well, but the local ccTLD offers a slight advantage. However, the ma...

Jul 18, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google keep displaying your old site name in search results long after a rebrand?

When Google continues to rank links or names from an old site after a rebrand, it's normal. People may call a product by its old name long after the change. Google Search is a reflection of what peopl...

Jul 18, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★ How can you leverage the Google Search Status Dashboard API to supercharge your SEO tools?

It's now possible to access Google Search Status Dashboard data through an RSS feed and JSON history, both linked from each dashboard page. These data sources can be used to build custom monitoring to...

Jul 18, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google refuse to grant unlimited indexation request quotas in Search Console?

It is not possible to have an unlimited number of indexation requests in Google Search Console, even for managers handling multiple sites....

Jul 18, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ What's the only way to hide text from Google without using HTML tags?

There is no HTML tag or annotation to tell Google to ignore certain text portions. One workaround involves injecting unwanted tags via JavaScript and blocking Google from crawling that JavaScript. If ...

Jul 18, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Google actually transfer your SEO rankings during a domain migration?

Google's team cannot directly help transfer SEO rankings from an old domain to a new one, but site owners can do it themselves. Migration guidelines are available that explain how to proceed....

Jul 18, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available