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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🕒 ~1 min 🎯 5 questions
★★ Do PWAs really affect SEO or is it just a technical myth?
For Google search, a Progressive Web App is just a website. Features like offline support are not detected during the crawl. However, a well-built PWA is generally a fast website with good Core Web Vi...
Mar 25, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really limit third-party scripts to enhance your SEO?
Reduce the number of requests needed to load critical content. For optional content, Google Tag Manager is useful. Every JavaScript holds the keys to your content and loading performance. Only use wha...
Mar 25, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does Google really factor in consecutive loading times, or just the initial visit?
Google takes into account consecutive page loads in the Core Web Vitals statistics, not just the initial load. The exact details of how they are utilized for the page experience signal are still being...
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should You Remove Links That Are Only Present in the Initial HTML?
Google extracts URLs for crawling from both the initial HTML and the rendered HTML. Links that are only present in the initial HTML but absent from the rendered HTML may work, but consistency is prefe...
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is Server-Side Rendering really essential for SEO in 2025?
Server-Side Rendering (SSR) is recommended by Google. It makes sites faster for users and more robust for crawling. The best time to implement it is at the beginning of a new project, as retrofitting ...
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does the JSON hydration at the bottom of the page harm SEO?
Having a large JSON string at the bottom of the page for hydration is not a problem for Google. Creating a different code path for bots (by removing this JSON) introduces fragility without real benefi...
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Has Googlebot really become foolproof when it comes to JavaScript?
Google has made significant progress in JavaScript rendering since 2018. The evergreen Googlebot functions very well, and issues related to JavaScript are less frequent. Most of the problems reported ...
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How does switching to Evergreen Chrome revolutionize Google's page rendering?
The transition from Chrome 41 to an evergreen Chrome in the Web Rendering Service has been a major factor in improvement. Google has developed a sustainable strategy to keep pace with Chrome updates....
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google really render ALL of your JavaScript pages?
Almost all pages are rendered by Google, regardless of the difference between the initial HTML and the rendered HTML. The heuristics for avoiding rendering are very limited and concern very few pages....
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why does Google never click on your Load More buttons, and how can you avoid this?
Google does not click on buttons. For pagination, it is better to use static links (with href) to page 2, page 3, etc. JavaScript can then override the behavior to load content without page reloading ...
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really hide cumulative content from infinite paginations from Google?
For pagination, it is recommended that each page displays only its own batch of content (e.g., page 2 shows only items 11-20) for Google, even if the user experience cumulatively loads results. This p...
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Can you really provide a different navigation experience to Google without risking a cloaking penalty?
Having a different experience between users (cumulative display in pagination) and Google (separate pages) is not considered cloaking. It’s simply a different way to navigate content....
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Googlebot really click on the JavaScript buttons and links on your site?
Googlebot does not click on any elements on the page (buttons, onclick links, etc.). Clicking is too costly in terms of CPU power for the Web Rendering Service. URLs must be discovered via standard hr...
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you create a separate page for each day of a multi-day event or canonize to a single page?
For a multi-day event, a single page with a single Event Schema markup is enough since you can define start and end dates and times. It is advisable to canonicalize to this single page....
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is it true that JavaScript is fully compatible with modern SEO?
JavaScript SEO is not a novelty but an aspect of technical SEO. It simply acknowledges that many sites use JavaScript to generate content. The claim that JavaScript and SEO are incompatible has been f...
Mar 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can user-generated content really sabotage your SEO?
Google may not always differentiate between site-created content and user-generated content on the same page. Spam in comments can therefore impact the site's overall ranking....
Mar 10, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google really evaluate all content on a page the same way for ranking purposes?
Any content published on your site, whether created by you or your users, will generally be considered as a whole for ranking purposes....
Mar 10, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really mark all user-generated content links with rel='ugc'?
Mark user-generated content links (in comments or forums) with the rel='ugc' attribute. This discourages comment spam and prevents these links from being associated with your site....
Mar 10, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really block all user-generated content by default?
By default, block the indexing of pages with user-generated content using a noindex meta robots tag, to control which pages you want to include in the index. Remove it once the content is approved....
Mar 10, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really isolate comments on a separate page to safeguard your SEO?
Instead of placing comments on the same page as your content, you can transfer comments to a separate page. At the end of your content, place a call to action like 'See Comments'....
Mar 10, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
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