Martin Splitt

★★ Should you abandon onclick to avoid being penalized for cloaking?

Having a link with href and an onclick handler that prevents the default action and updates the current page's content is not considered cloaking, as long as the displayed content meets expectations a...

Jun 23, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really see the HTML you think is optimized?

Google's testing tools (URL Inspection Tool, Rich Results Test, Mobile-Friendly Test) display the rendered HTML as seen by Googlebot. If an element appears in this rendered HTML, Google sees it. If it...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does late JavaScript really hurt your Google indexing?

For scripts that modify elements like title tags or headings, it is recommended to load them as early as possible in the page rendering. Google uses heuristics to determine when the page is complete; ...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really rewrite your title tags and meta descriptions: should you still optimize them?

Google can rewrite the title tags and meta descriptions displayed in search results, even if they have been correctly rendered by JavaScript. The appearance in the SERPs is not a good indicator to tes...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ What’s the key difference between DOMContentLoaded and the load event that could reshape Google’s rendering approach?

DOMContentLoaded fires when the HTML DOM has been fully parsed, before all external resources (images, iframes) are completely loaded. The load event waits for all resources referenced in the initial ...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you prioritize hybrid server/client rendering without harming your SEO?

For a hybrid rendering approach (server-side + client-side), prioritize critical content server-side: title, meta description, canonical, and the main content expected by the user (product description...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you avoid using the canonical tag on the server side if it’s incorrect at the first render?

Having an incorrect canonical tag on the server side and then correcting it on the client side can, in rare cases, cause confusion for Google, which may choose the wrong canonical. It is preferable no...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How can you find out which canonical Google has actually retained for your pages?

The URL Inspection tool in Search Console can be used to check if there is confusion regarding the canonical tag retained by Google, particularly in cases of mobile-first indexing or conflicting canon...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really ignore noindex settings for your JS and CSS files?

Adding a noindex directive in the HTTP headers of JavaScript or CSS files is generally unnecessary as they are not usually indexed. However, you must not block their crawl via robots.txt, as this can ...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can you really rely on Google's cache: to diagnose an SEO issue?

Google's cache: feature in Search is not a testing tool and should not be used to diagnose SEO issues. If the rendering appears incorrect, it means nothing. Official testing tools like Search Console ...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really worry about the screenshot in Search Console?

In Search Console, if the rendered HTML contains the expected images and content, that’s sufficient. Screenshot generation failures or headless Chromium errors are not indexing issues. Only the render...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it true that native lazy loading is crawled by Googlebot?

The headless Chromium-based Googlebot supports native lazy loading for images (loading='lazy' attribute)....

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it really essential to split your JavaScript by page to optimize crawling?

It is possible and recommended to load scripts (like reCAPTCHA) only on the pages where they are necessary, using code splitting techniques to optimize performance....

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why are your mobile Lighthouse scores consistently lower than on desktop?

Lighthouse scores are always lower on mobile than on desktop because mobile processors are throttled to simulate real-world conditions. Mobile devices are generally less powerful than computers. Mobil...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is your lazy loading preventing Google from detecting your images?

If lazy loading shows placeholder URLs in the rendered HTML instead of the real image URLs, Google will only see the placeholders. This indicates an incorrect lazy loading implementation that needs to...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does client-side rendering really work with Googlebot?

With Evergreen Googlebot using a recent version of Chrome, JavaScript-rendered content on the client side (widgets, AJAX components) will likely be seen and utilized by Google if it appears in the ren...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really align desktop, mobile, and AMP behaviors to avoid SEO pitfalls?

Using different approaches or user behaviors between desktop, mobile, and AMP (for example, layers on mobile vs full pages on desktop) is not recommended. This complexity invites more potential proble...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really fix a JavaScript-heavy WordPress theme if Google indexes it correctly?

A WordPress site using a JavaScript-dependent theme (where almost no content appears without JS) can be a SEO issue, but only if there are indexing or visibility problems. If the site works properly i...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it possible to have great Core Web Vitals while running a technically flawed site?

It is possible to have an excellent First Input Delay but poor Time to Interactive and Total Blocking Time, probably due to JavaScript blocks that do not affect the FID. If the actual user experience ...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does FOUC really ruin your Core Web Vitals performance?

FOUC (Flash of Unstyled Content) occurs because the browser can render content before downloading the CSS, using its default stylesheet. To prevent this, critical styles should be inlined directly in ...

Jun 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available