Martin Splitt

★★★ Should You Drop the prerender-status-code Tag to Avoid Soft-404s on Your Site?

In the December 2023 SEO Office Hours, Martin Splitt explained that Googlebot ignores the Prerender-Status-Code meta tag, stating: "I assume this comes from a single-page application that is rendered ...

Jan 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Google really replacing First Input Delay with Interaction to Next Paint in Core Web Vitals, and what does that mean for your SEO?

Google will replace First Input Delay with Interaction to Next Paint in Core Web Vitals in March 2024. This new metric measures the delay between all user interactions and the page's response, not jus...

Dec 21, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are Google's AI principles really shaping how search results rank?

Google applies its artificial intelligence principles to all its AI-related products, including SGE and Bard. The gradual rollout across different countries allows it to comply with local regulations ...

Dec 21, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How does Google really want to regulate AI usage in content creation?

Google will continue to emphasize content quality in 2024. The objective is to help content creators learn how to use AI responsibly and reasonably, rather than allowing it to harm the quality of the ...

Dec 21, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really ignore Core Updates during the holiday season?

There's no need to worry about core updates during the end-of-year period. Google recommends taking a few days off and relaxing, as core updates don't require constant monitoring during this time....

Dec 20, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is blocking crawl via robots.txt really the miracle solution against toxic links?

To prevent Googlebot from crawling URLs you don't want explored, use the robots.txt file to block them. If Googlebot doesn't make a request to these URLs, it won't see the content or the URLs it might...

Dec 18, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Googlebot really ignore the meta prerender-status-code 404 tag in JavaScript applications?

Googlebot currently ignores the 'prerender-status-code content 404' meta tag. To avoid soft 404s in client-side rendered single-page applications, use a meta robots noindex tag instead or redirect to ...

Dec 18, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is your video being penalized by Google for appearing below the fold, and how can you fix it?

The 'Video outside viewport' error means that a user searching for a video must scroll to find it after landing on your page. The simplest solution is to move the video to the top of the page so it's ...

Dec 18, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really worry about 404 errors on your website?

404 errors are part of the web and are normal on a website. You shouldn't fear them. The only thing to monitor is whether a page considered important suddenly becomes a 404, in which case you need to ...

Dec 18, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you worry when Googlebot crawls your API endpoints and generates 404 errors?

If Googlebot finds API path URLs in your raw JSON, it can crawl them and generate 404 errors. This is not a concern. If you want to avoid this, use robots.txt to forbid crawling of these URLs. When Go...

Dec 18, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is web accessibility really a Google ranking factor or just a smoke screen?

Accessibility isn't exactly important for rankings, but it is for users. Some accessibility features like image alt attributes are useful for Googlebot. Generally speaking, building a useful website m...

Dec 18, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does blocking crawl via robots.txt prevent Google from seeing your noindex directive?

If you block the crawling of URLs via robots.txt, Googlebot cannot make a request to those URLs and therefore does not see the noindex directive. To prevent indexation, you must allow crawling so that...

Dec 18, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google actually recommend against using cache and site: for debugging indexation issues?

Don't use cache or site: search operators and functions to debug indexation issues because they are not intended for debugging and could give you false results if you use them for this purpose....

Dec 07, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is the URL Inspection Tool really the ultimate weapon for debugging your indexing problems?

In Google Search Console, use the URL Inspection tool on the problematic URL to debug indexing issues. This is the recommended tool to quickly verify why a URL isn't displaying as intended....

Dec 07, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can the URL inspection tool really diagnose all your indexation problems?

The URL inspection tool allows you to see if a page is indexed and indexable, if and when it was last crawled. If it has never been crawled, it will not be indexed and will not appear in search result...

Dec 07, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really request manual crawling via the URL inspection tool in Search Console?

If a page hasn't been crawled yet, you can request crawling via the URL inspection tool. Sometimes, it's simply a matter of patience as the robot reaches that URL....

Dec 07, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Google indexing a different URL than the one you actually set as canonical?

Check whether the page was ignored as a duplicate after crawling and whether the canonical URL points to another URL. For example, the HTTP URL may be ignored in favor of the HTTPS URL. Even if it's n...

Dec 07, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Could invisible errors in your rendered HTML be silently destroying your Google rankings?

If problems persist, check the rendered HTML and HTTP response to identify unexpected elements like stray error messages or missing content, caused by technical issues from the server or application c...

Dec 07, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can the URL Inspection Tool really diagnose all your indexation problems?

The URL Inspection Tool can help identify why a web page isn't appearing in Google Search. It's a diagnostic tool for technical issues....

Dec 01, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is the URL Inspection Tool Really Enough to Diagnose Your Crawl and Indexation Problems?

The URL Inspection Tool allows you to diagnose issues related to crawling (exploration) and indexability of web pages in Google Search....

Dec 01, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available