What does Google say about SEO? /
John Mueller is one of Google's most active spokespeople on search engine optimization topics. As a Search Advocate, he regularly answers the SEO community's questions during Google Search Central sessions and on social media. His statements are a prime source of information for understanding how Google Search works and the best practices to follow.
Quick SEO Quiz

Test your SEO knowledge in 5 questions

Less than a minute. Find out how much you really know about Google search.

🕒 ~1 min 🎯 5 questions
★★★ Does a fast server really boost Google's crawling frequency?
To increase crawling, the server must be responsive and able to respond quickly without 500 errors. Google increases crawling without causing issues for the server....
Apr 05, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is AMP still worth it beyond the news carousel?
Google currently showcases AMP pages primarily for news-type content in search results with an AMP carousel....
Apr 05, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does hreflang really consolidate your TLDs into a single entity?
Hreflang tags help connect identical content across different TLDs, but do not determine the grouping into a single entity....
Apr 05, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Can large PDF files sabotage your crawl budget?
Large files on a server, such as multi-megabyte PDFs, can affect the average download time per URL displayed in Search Console....
Apr 05, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Googlebot really render JavaScript as well as promised?
Googlebot aims to effectively render and crawl JavaScript pages. If many sites are not rendered correctly, examples should be submitted to the team for investigation....
Apr 05, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does a redirect also transfer link penalties to the new domain?
Link issues affecting an original site are transferred to the new domain in the case of a redirect, as the PageRank is redirected to the new site....
Apr 05, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google really crawl less frequently on noindex pages?
Google reduces its crawl of noindex URLs compared to indexable URLs. They are checked less frequently but are still periodically sampled....
Apr 05, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How does Google really handle hacked sites in its search results?
Google does not automatically eliminate hacked sites, as doing so could harm unintentional webmasters. Google tries to alert webmasters and remove hacked content from search results....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really merge your local microsites to avoid SEO cannibalization?
When a lot of content is duplicated across multiple local microsites, it can be problematic. Fewer versions strengthen individual pages, so identify the content that should remain unique....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does the URL submission tool really speed up your page rankings?
The URL submission tool in Search Console stimulates rapid indexing with limited initial signals. The algorithm adjusts ranking as more signals are collected....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should You Really Index Your Internal Search and Tag Pages?
Internal search and tag pages can be beneficial for crawling and indexing if they offer value. Weak pages should indicate NOINDEX to focus on relevant content....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google really ignore rel 'next' and 'prev' today?
The rel 'next' and 'prev' tags should be in the HTML header to indicate related page sets. Avoid massive navigation sets that can trap the crawler....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Why does indexing SVG images take longer than web pages?
Google can index SVG images, but the indexing of images takes longer than that of web pages....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really remove JSON-LD from NOINDEX pages?
Placing JSON-LD data markup on a NOINDEX page makes no sense, as Google cannot associate the markup with the unindexed page....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Is the If-Modified-Since support truly universal across all servers?
The support for 'If-Modified-Since' is likely available on most modern servers and aided by content management systems. There is no specific Google tool for this....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why does Google ignore URLs present in your XML sitemap?
Google does not necessarily index all URLs in a sitemap file. It depends on the perceived quality of the site and the uniqueness of the provided URLs....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should Google still respect the NOODP meta tag?
Google must respect the NOODP meta tag. If it does not do so after several crawls, this is considered a bug....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really worry about 'not-followed' errors in Search Console?
‘Not-followed’ errors can persist for old deleted links. This does not cause major SEO problems. It’s more of an information and cache issue....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why does it take Google up to a year to process all redirects after a domain migration?
After a domain change with correct redirects, there can still be many old indexed URLs. It may take up to a year for all the redirects to be followed....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does personalizing content based on demographic data harm Google's crawling process?
Personalizing content for logged-out users based on demographic data should not be too aggressive. Ensure that the main content is the same as what Googlebot sees to avoid crawling interference....
Mar 24, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available
🔔

Get real-time analysis of the latest Google SEO declarations

Be the first to know every time a new official Google statement drops — with full expert analysis.

No spam. Unsubscribe in one click.