Google Search Console Crawl Stats Report Data Fixed
Google seems to have fixed the stalled data in the crawl stats report within Google Search Console. A couple of days ago we reported that it was stuck at December 30th, but as of this morning, it has now been updated to show data as recent as a few day…
Google: FAQ Schema Must Be On Page, Not In External PDF
Google’s John Mueller said you really cannot use FAQ schema for PDF documents. John said on Twitter “It needs to be visible on the page, and reflect the primary object on the page” when he was asked if a PDF can be used.
Google On Reconsideration Requests Backlogs Or Timing
Yesterday I reported that it seems there is a backlog or longer wait times to hear back on reconsideration requests related to manual actions. So I asked John Mueller from Google about that in yesterday’s hangout and he didn’t seem to confirm there was…
Google: Crawling At Large Scale Is Complicated; Don’t Oversimplify It
Google’s John Mueller responded to a question related to crawl budget around large scale web sites saying “crawling at a large scale is much more complicated.” This was when he proposed two ideas for improving crawl budget but John “both of those are t…
Google Search Console URL Parameter Data Issues
John Mueller from Google has confirmed an issue with the data being displayed in the URL parameter tool within the old Google Search Console. In short, the tool is showing sometimes zero and often less than it should, URL parameter settings for the si…
Google Search Console Crawl Stats Report Stuck
We have another Google Search Console bug to report, this one is with the crawl stats report. Yes, another legacy tool and report. The crawl stats report is a bit out of date, only having data as fresh as December 30, 2019. That is over a week old, an…
Google Reconsideration Requests Responses With Longer Wait Times?
There have been numerous reports within the SEO community that Google has been really slow recently to respond to some reconsideration requests. Some are taking months but most are taking many weeks. I believe at some point, responses use to take day…
Google Mocks SEO Strategy To Update Stories With “2020” Titles & Headlines
I see a lot of SEOs over the years push out new stories, repurposed, with a new headline for the new year. So this year you’d see articles on “how to optimize for Google BERT in 2020” whereas last year it would be “how to optimize for Google BERT in 2…
Medium Google Organic Traffic Takes A Beating
It seems that Medium, the popular publishing platform, hasn’t been doing too well in Google over the past couple of months – especially since December. And it seems like it is getting worse. Some are saying the site has 40% declines in organic visibil…
Google: Put Voice Search Optimization Fad To Sleep Already
Gary Illyes from Google posted on Twitter “It’s a new year, maybe we can put the voice search optimization fad to sleep finally…” What does he mean by this? I don’t think he means that voice searches aren’t growing but rather that SEOs can optimize…
Google: Fewer Page Types Is Easier
Google’s John Mueller was asked by a webmaster if he should remove the mobile alternative pages since the site is now responsive. John Mueller said yes, saying “Fewer page types make things easier, so if you can migrate away from m-dot that seems like…
Google: Persistent 5xx Result In Slower Crawling But Won’t Say How Many URLs Required
Google’s John Mueller said that persistent 5xx error responses to Google’s requests by your server would result in Google slowing its crawl of your web site. John wouldn’t say if there is a specific percentage of your site’s URLs that are required or …
A Cheesy Video On Google’s URL Inspection Tool
John Mueller and Martin Splitt from Google released a cheesy video, literally cheesy in many ways, around questions around the URL inspection tool. These are FAQs that you probably know the answers to already but the video is so funny to watch that you…
Google: Not Cloaking When Content In NoScript Missing Due To A Blocked Endpoint
Mike King asked John Mueller of Google an interesting question around issues that come up with the web rendering engine and blocked endpoints with JavaScript rendering issues. Mike asked if it would be considered cloaking if Google does not end us seei…
Google: XML Sitemaps Are Mixed Up & Used As An Energy Drink
Google’s John Mueller said on Reddit that Google uses XML Sitemaps like an energy drink. John said “All sitemap files of a site are imported into a common, big mixing cup, lightly shaken, and then given to Googlebot by URL in the form of an energy drin…
Google Again: Linking Out To High Authority Sites Does Not Help With Your Rankings
Google’s John Mueller said again that linking out to high authority web sites does not help you rank better in Google. He said “no” when asked if it is true based on what this graphic says, which is “multiple SEO experiments and studies show that link…
Google Search Console Coverage Report Now Delayed 10 Days
There is currently a ten-day delay with the Google Search Console coverage report. It is not uncommon for these reports to experience delays but often the delay is about three-days. We are now showing data as late as December 20, 2019, which is ten-day…
Google: You Always Need Textual Content On-Page
Let’s say you have a web site that just serves audio or video or images or other forms of multimedia – will Google be able to understand it all? John Mueller of Google said on Reddit “You always need textual content on-page, regardless of what other k…
Google Removes Live Coverage Help Docs
Google has removed the Google search help documents for the live coverage carousel, which was something Google launched in 2016 as a pilot launch. John Mueller from Google said “It’s currently still in very limited availability, so it doesn’t make sen…