Martin Splitt

★★ Should you be worried about 'other error' issues with images in the Search Console?

In the URL inspection tool, 'other error' issues for images or resources like tracking pixels are normal. Google Search does not directly extract images (that's Google Images' job) and does not need t...

Apr 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you prioritize user agent or viewport detection for your separate mobile versions?

To serve separate mobile and desktop versions, the user agent is sufficient for Google. However, generally, it is preferable to use viewport detection rather than user agent for a better user experien...

Apr 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do JavaScript navigation links really affect your site's SEO?

Main navigation links added via JavaScript pose no issues in terms of transmitting ranking signals. The only difference is a slight delay in discovering these links, but their SEO value remains the sa...

Apr 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can you really lose control of your canonical by leaving the href attribute empty at load time?

An empty canonical tag in the initial HTML that is then filled by JavaScript can cause involuntary auto-canonicalization of the page. It is better to either not include the tag at all or to create it ...

Apr 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really use different crawlers for its SEO testing tools?

The Mobile-Friendly Test systematically uses the mobile crawler by definition. The URL Inspection Tool uses the corresponding crawler (mobile or desktop) based on the site's mobile-first status. The R...

Apr 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are the structured data from your mobile version also applicable to desktop?

Once a site has migrated to mobile-first indexing, Google uses the structured data from the mobile version for all rich results, including those displayed on desktop. Before migration, the data from e...

Apr 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really stop fearing JavaScript for SEO?

There is no strong reason to avoid creating, adding, inserting, removing, or changing content with JavaScript in the rendered HTML. It is perfectly acceptable, and this is precisely why Google renders...

Apr 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do JavaScript links really slow down Google's discovery process?

Links present only after JavaScript rendering can cause a delay of a few hours in their discovery by Google. Google first examines the raw HTML to discover links, then does so again after rendering. F...

Apr 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Has Google truly made JavaScript rendering reliable for indexing?

Google continuously enhances its JavaScript rendering system and receives fewer JavaScript errors than before in rendering. The most common errors include resources blocked by robots.txt or inaccessib...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really log all your JavaScript console messages for SEO?

Google collects JavaScript console logs from every website during rendering, exactly as you would see in the JavaScript console. This information is displayed in Search Console during a live test....

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that CSS layout information is really useless for SEO?

The absence of layout information (render tree, element positions) is not a major issue for Google. If the content is present, Google can at least understand what is on the page. Additional semantic i...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really block CSS in robots.txt to speed up crawling?

Excluding CSS resources to simplify rendering is a bad idea. It does not simplify things; on the contrary, it complicates them and reduces the information available to Google, particularly for signals...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does a rendering error prevent an entire domain from being indexed?

A page with a rendering error does not block other pages within the same domain. There are different queues with different priorities. Pages with errors are simply retried without holding back other p...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Could the inconsistency between your mobile and desktop link structure hinder your mobile-first indexing?

It is important to maintain a consistent link structure between the mobile (m-dot) and desktop versions. Significant differences can cause misunderstandings of the site's structure by Google, especial...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really favor any prerendering services for crawling?

Google has no special treatment for prerendering services. Google crawls normally without keeping connections open unusually long. 500 errors should be investigated server-side....

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you still rely on Google Cache to verify JavaScript rendering?

Google's cache is an old, unmaintained feature. The version displayed is random: it may be from a previous crawl, before or after JavaScript rendering. Do not use the text cache to check if JavaScript...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are Search Console tools truly enough to audit your pages' JavaScript rendering?

To check JavaScript rendering, use the live test from Search Console, the mobile compatibility test, or the rich results test. These tools utilize the same pipeline as Googlebot and display the render...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really render EVERY page using JavaScript before indexing?

Google renders every page and indexes based on the rendered version, except for very rare exceptional cases. All pages go through the JavaScript rendering process....

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is Tree Shaking for JavaScript Really Essential for SEO?

Tree shaking (via webpack or other bundlers) is highly recommended to eliminate unused JavaScript code. This allows for a reduction in bundle size by automatically removing unused functions and depend...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really load analytics trackers last to enhance your SEO?

Trackers, analytics solutions, and anything that is not essential to the primary user experience should be loaded as late as possible in the process. Only the absolutely necessary code for the main co...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available