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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★★ Should You Ditch JavaScript for SEO Because of Google's Rendering Costs?
On LinkedIn, Martin Splitt explained that crawling and rendering, particularly JavaScript pages, represented a potentially significant cost for Google, while specifying that there was no need to worry...
Aug 13, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Is hreflang really enough to handle nearly identical pages that only differ by currency or VAT?
Very similar pages differing only by VAT, currency, or price can be properly managed with hreflang without duplication issues. Google recognizes these variations as legitimate regional versions of the...
Jul 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google really treat internal links as a UX signal for Googlebot?
Internal links are important because they help users identify the next steps to follow and connect individual pages of a website together. Googlebot also uses these internal links in the same way user...
Jul 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Googlebot really discover your pages through internal links?
Googlebot uses internal links primarily for two things: discovering pages on your site and understanding the relationship between your site's pages. When Googlebot finds a URL in your pages, it may tr...
Jul 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why is the HTML <a> element with an href attribute absolutely essential for Google's crawling?
HTML has a dedicated element for links: the A element. For an A element to be a proper link, it must have a URL in its href attribute. This can be either a relative or absolute URL — both are acceptab...
Jul 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why does Google insist that links should remain real HTML links?
Some developers try to do clever things with other elements like spans, divs, or buttons. But fundamentally, if something behaves like a link, it should be a proper HTML link....
Jul 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is meaningful anchor text still a decisive SEO lever in 2024?
Users and bots prefer meaningful anchor text. Each link should have meaningful words as anchor text, making it easy to spot where the link will lead. This improves user experience and helps with SEO....
Jul 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Is your internal linking strategy hurting your SEO more than it helps?
Don't create links to everything and everywhere on a page. Doing too much doesn't improve things. You need to apply critical judgment and ask yourself what the next logical steps are and how the conte...
Jul 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How do you strike the right balance with internal linking without overdoing it?
Links help users and bots understand your content structure, so they must be used thoughtfully: neither too sparingly nor excessively. The goal is finding the right equilibrium....
Jul 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Why does Google keep emphasizing internal links as the backbone of site crawlability and content discovery?
Links are important for users and bots to find related content on a page. They help identify next steps and enable navigation between different sections of a website....
Jul 23, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Are images really slowing down your site's SEO performance?
Images often constitute a significant portion of the total downloaded weight of a website and are frequently the cause of slowdowns. When used incorrectly, they can not only cost time and money during...
Jul 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How can you actually boost your website's performance by selecting the right image format?
You need to think about the image format used based on the type of images. There are classic formats like JPEG, PNG or GIF, and more recent formats like WebP or AVIF. Choosing the appropriate format i...
Jul 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really automate image compression for SEO purposes?
Images should be compressed as much as possible without losing more quality than what is acceptable. Once ideal compression parameters are found, conversion and compression can be automated, while ver...
Jul 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is your website really serving the right image size to each device?
For users on small screens, images can have a smaller size and stronger compression. Better quality and larger images are reserved for users on larger screens. This optimizes weight and performance ba...
Jul 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google really index all your responsive image variations with picture and srcset?
The picture element or srcset attribute on images allow the browser to choose the best image for the device. Google Search will use the fallback image. It is possible to add structured data to inform ...
Jul 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you systematically use lazy-loading for all images below the fold?
For images unlikely to be immediately visible when the page loads (images below the fold), loading can be deferred until they become visible. This reduces data transfers for images the user might neve...
Jul 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really avoid lazy-loading for all your images?
Lazy-loading should not be used for all images because this technique has drawbacks for images immediately visible on screen. It should be applied selectively only to images below the fold line....
Jul 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really use the HTML loading attribute to optimize lazy-loading?
The HTML loading attribute can be used to implement lazy-loading. It works in all modern browsers and older browsers simply ignore it, making it safe to use without any risk of regression....
Jul 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Are images really the main bottleneck killing your site's performance?
Images often constitute a significant portion of a website's total download weight and are frequently the cause of major slowdowns. They can negatively impact loading speed and cost time and money dur...
Jul 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Are poorly configured images really harming your SEO through layout shifts?
If images are used incorrectly, they can cause layout shifts when they appear on the site and move elements around, which degrades user experience....
Jul 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available
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