Martin Splitt

★★★ Should you overlook the Lighthouse score to optimize your SEO?

Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights are tools for developers and SEOs designed to measure the speed perceived by users. They are not specific to search. Lighthouse metrics and scores are constantly evol...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is page speed really a Google ranking factor?

Page speed is already a ranking factor, and that won't change. Google uses metrics that model user experience to determine what constitutes a good response to a query. The Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, FID) a...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it really a good idea to inject the canonical tag through JavaScript?

Using JavaScript to inject the canonical tag into the head is perfectly acceptable, as long as it appears at the right place in the rendered DOM and points to the expected URL. Check with testing tool...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google Tag Manager really slow down your site, and should you abandon it?

Google Tag Manager is a viable solution when developer resources are lacking, but it adds extra JavaScript and impacts speed. If you can implement directly on the page or with your own JavaScript, it'...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is serving a 404 to Googlebot while showing a 200 to visitors really cloaking?

In a pre-rendered React SPA, serving an HTTP 404 code to Googlebot (via pre-render) while the user sees a 200 error page is generally not considered cloaking, unless you are doing something really dub...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are 301, 302, and JavaScript redirects really equivalent for SEO?

For Googlebot, there is no practical difference between a 301, 302, or client-side JavaScript redirect. Googlebot follows JavaScript redirects and treats them as normal redirects. There is no client-s...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is server-side rendering truly essential for Google SEO?

Server-side rendering (SSR) is not required for Googlebot as Google executes JavaScript and sees the content rendered on the client-side. However, SSR is highly recommended because it improves speed f...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does serialized JSON in your JavaScript apps count as duplicate content?

During SSR, application state is often serialized in JSON on the page, which duplicates the content once in the JSON and once in the DOM. Google does not consider this problematic duplicate content be...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is Cloudflare Rocket Loader passing Googlebot's SEO test?

Martin cannot claim that services like Cloudflare Rocket Loader are SEO-compatible without testing them. The recommended method is to use Google's testing tools (Mobile-Friendly Test, Rich Results Tes...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really be concerned about the 'Other Error' status in Google's testing tools?

When testing tools (Mobile-Friendly Test, etc.) display 'Other Error' for certain resources, it usually indicates a timeout or quota limit, not a real problem. Googlebot during indexing is much more p...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you choose one JavaScript framework over another for your SEO?

There is no best JavaScript framework. The choice depends on the context: team size, skills, project type, need for TypeScript, backend integration. Angular is suitable for large teams with TypeScript...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does JavaScript really consume crawl budget?

There is no specific quota or budget for JavaScript rendering. The crawl budget only relates to HTTP requests (crawling), which include JavaScript and API files. Thanks to caching, the impact of JavaS...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you ditch dynamic rendering for better SEO results?

Google no longer actively recommends snapshot/dynamic rendering tools like Rendertron. It is a workaround, not a sustainable solution. If JavaScript is problematic for Googlebot, it likely is for user...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really abandon client-side JavaScript for indexing product links?

For an e-commerce site where product listings are loaded in JavaScript after the initial load, Google discovers the links only after rendering. However, 90% of pages are rendered in a few minutes, so ...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it really necessary to switch to a dedicated server to improve your SEO?

The choice between shared or dedicated server has no direct impact for Google. However, if the shared server is very slow (high server response time), it could affect user experience and thus indirect...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is client-side hydration really a SEO concern?

Using hydration (SSR + client-side for certain components) is acceptable as long as testing tools show that Google sees the expected content. Some components can be client-only. Lighthouse will detect...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is striving for 100 on Lighthouse really worth your time?

The Lighthouse score offers a useful overview but does not reflect all nuances. A score of 5 clearly indicates a problem to fix. A score of 95 shows that there's still fine-tuning to do but with dimin...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★ Is it true that 5G will accelerate your site, or is it just a mirage?

Historically, increases in bandwidth and network speed (like 5G) have not made sites faster because developers simply use the additional bandwidth for heavier content (video, VR, etc.). Martin expects...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Googlebot really ignore your WebP images served through Service Workers?

Googlebot does not execute Service Workers. If a site uses a Service Worker to serve WebP images instead of JPEG/PNG, Googlebot will only see the original formats (JPEG/PNG), not the WebP. This does n...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights really have no impact on rankings?

Lighthouse and Page Speed Insights are tools for developers and SEOs, not direct ranking factors. They model user experience in terms of loading speed and are constantly evolving. These tools help det...

May 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available