What does Google say about SEO? /
Martin Splitt is a Developer Advocate at Google, specializing in JavaScript rendering and modern web application indexing. He created the 'SEO Mythbusting' video series and regularly explains how Googlebot handles JavaScript frameworks. His statements are essential for developers looking to optimize the SEO of their applications.
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★★★ Why does Google reject aggregated reviews in product structured data?
You must not use aggregated reviews from a specific service and transmit them to Google via structured data for products. The technical guidelines for reviews specifically prohibit this practice, whic...
Aug 21, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Why does Googlebot keep crawling 404 pages long after they've been deleted?
Googlebot continues crawling hacked pages returning 404 for a certain period because sometimes pages are deleted by mistake or return with legitimate content. This doesn't harm the site in Google Sear...
Aug 21, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is the text-to-code ratio really a Google ranking factor?
The text-to-code ratio is not a ranking factor, Google Search does not care about it. Unminified CSS and JavaScript are suboptimal for users because they increase data volume, but have no direct SEO i...
Aug 21, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Do UTM parameters with medium=referral really kill the SEO value of a backlink?
UTM parameters in a link with medium=referral do not remove SEO value from a backlink. However, it is recommended to canonicalize the target page to the URL without the UTM parameter to facilitate rep...
Aug 21, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Do you really need to reply to every blog comment to boost your SEO?
Leaving user comments unanswered on blog articles has no SEO impact whatsoever. They are simply text on the pages. Google Search doesn't check whether a comment received a reply or not. The text is ei...
Aug 21, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Do you really need to worry about missing X-Robots-Tag and meta robots tags?
The absence of an X-Robots-Tag or meta robots tag is not a problem. These mechanisms are only relevant if you want Google or other search engines to treat a page differently. Without these tags, the p...
Aug 21, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can poor quality links or traffic harm your site's reputation?
Sending traffic or links from questionable sources to a site will not make that site suspect. No one can choose or control where traffic or links come from. Google Search will not judge a site's relia...
Aug 21, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Are nofollow links and noindex tags actually hurting your SEO?
Having many internal links with the nofollow attribute or many pages with the noindex tag does not signal to Google that the site contains low-quality pages. It simply indicates that you do not want t...
Aug 21, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does your image CDN speed really penalize your ranking in Google Images?
The response speed of a CDN when downloading an image does not determine whether the image will appear in search results. However, users appreciate images loading quickly, and CDNs offer other advanta...
Aug 21, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Are regional subdomains enough to target a specific geographic market?
Having different subdomains for different markets with the same content does not guarantee that these pages will rank specifically for the market mentioned in the subdomain. If the content is identica...
Aug 21, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google really fail to index most of your website pages—and is that actually a problem?
Google will almost never index the entire content of a website. This is not an error and it's not necessarily a problem that requires special attention. It's a normal behavior of Google's indexing sys...
Aug 20, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why are your pages stuck in 'Discovered - currently not indexed' status?
When Googlebot discovers a URL through a sitemap or link, it adds it to a to-do list of URLs to visit and potentially index later. The 'Discovered - currently not indexed' status simply means Googlebo...
Aug 20, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really wait for Google to index your pages, or is there a smarter way?
Sometimes, the 'Discovered - currently not indexed' status is simply a matter of patience. Googlebot will eventually crawl the URL when it has the resources, and the page will then move to 'Crawled - ...
Aug 20, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Googlebot really slow down when your server struggles, and what does that mean for your indexation?
Googlebot adapts its crawl speed to avoid overwhelming servers. If a server becomes slow or responds with errors during crawling, Googlebot will reduce its pace and crawl fewer pages simultaneously, s...
Aug 20, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How can you spot the server problems that are slowing down Google's crawl of your site?
It is recommended to check the Crawl Stats report in Google Search Console, particularly the Reply section, to verify whether your server is responding slowly or with HTTP 500 errors when Googlebot at...
Aug 20, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Do server problems really only impact massive websites, or can smaller sites suffer too?
Server performance issues that impact crawling generally concern websites with very large quantities of pages (millions or more), but they can also affect smaller sites. It is advisable to consult you...
Aug 20, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is Google refusing to index your 'Discovered' pages? Here's why.
The most common reason why pages remain in 'Discovered - currently not indexed' status is content quality. When Google detects a pattern of low-quality or poor content on pages, those pages can be rem...
Aug 20, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is Google really ignoring entire sections of your site because of a low-quality pattern?
If Google Search detects a pattern of URLs with low-quality content on your site, it can decide to skip these URLs entirely, leaving them in 'Discovered' status. Googlebot knows these pages exist but ...
Aug 20, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does internal linking alone really guarantee your undiscovered pages will get indexed?
If you want pages with the status 'Discovered - currently not indexed' to be indexed, you should rework the content to improve its quality and ensure your internal linking connects this content to oth...
Aug 20, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really worry about pages Google refuses to index?
Most sites will have pages that won't be indexed, and this is generally acceptable. It's not a problem in itself as long as the pages that matter to you are properly indexed....
Aug 20, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
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