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.
Quick SEO Quiz

Test your SEO knowledge in 5 questions

Less than a minute. Find out how much you really know about Google search.

🕒 ~1 min 🎯 5 questions
★★ How can you effectively manage 404 errors in a single-page application?
To handle 404 errors in single-page applications (SPAs), using a 'noindex' meta tag or redirecting to a real external 404 page are acceptable and equivalent solutions....
Mar 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really keep your old CSS and JS assets to prevent crawl errors?
When Googlebot crawls outdated assets, it is better to keep them temporarily instead of responding with a 404 error. This avoids broken renderings while Googlebot updates its indexes....
Mar 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you block title modifications via JavaScript to prevent unwanted indexing?
If a chat modifies the page title via JavaScript, it is advised to position the chat behind a user interaction to prevent Google from indexing the modified version of the title....
Mar 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really prioritize SSR and prerendering to enhance your crawl efficiency?
Prerendering and server-side rendering are useful techniques as they allow quick access to content for users and bots, thus reducing the long-term need for dynamic rendering....
Mar 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really keep old CSS/JS assets for Googlebot?
For obsolete assets when using techniques like Rails Asset Pipeline, it's best to keep them temporarily until Googlebot recrawls the new HTML content to avoid broken rendering....
Mar 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ What happens when JavaScript rewrites your title tags and jeopardizes your Google indexing?
If a site has titles altered by a JavaScript chat feature, Google could index these rewritten versions. One possible solution is to delay the appearance of the chat until user interaction, as Googlebo...
Mar 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is dynamic rendering really on its way out in SEO?
Server-side rendering and prerendering are unlikely to disappear, as they enable the rapid delivery of HTML content to users and crawlers. Dynamic rendering is temporary and may be abandoned in the lo...
Mar 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Could verifying the rendered HTML rather than the DOM actually save your indexing?
If content is important to you, ensure that it is rendered correctly. Check the rendered HTML source code as it might be present in the DOM but not appear in the Google Search Console screenshot, espe...
Dec 30, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why does the URL Inspection Tool show a 200 code for a 301 redirect?
The URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console shows a 200 code for a 301 because it displays the final result after redirection, reflecting what Googlebot sees once the redirection process is compl...
Dec 30, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Do you really need to manage two different HTTP codes for deindexing?
A 410 code informs Google that the content has been permanently removed, which can speed up its deindexing. However, the difference in effect compared to a 404 code is often minimal....
Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should You Remove Analytics and Advertising Scripts to Optimize Googlebot Crawling?
Martin Splitt (Google) announced at the SMX East event that during the crawl and "rendering" phases, Googlebot does not take into account Analytics scripts or other advertising-oriented scripts it can...
Nov 25, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How Long Does Googlebot Really Take to Render Your Pages?
Martin Splitt (Google) announced at the Chrome Dev Summit 2019 that the average time taken by Googlebot to render a page was 5 seconds. This could go up to a few minutes according to him....
Nov 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can Dynamic Rendering Hurt Your SEO Due to Timeout Issues?
Martin Splitt explained on Twitter that when a site uses dynamic rendering, it's important to ensure that the page rendering time isn't too long, to avoid a timeout on the search engine side, which wo...
Jun 11, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How Does Googlebot Actually Interpret Your Website's JavaScript?
Google's Martin Splitt indicated during a hangout that there was still a gap between how current browsers (example: Chrome version 70) parsed and displayed a web page and how Googlebot saw it (more li...
Nov 05, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
🔔

Get real-time analysis of the latest Google SEO declarations

Be the first to know every time a new official Google statement drops — with full expert analysis.

No spam. Unsubscribe in one click.