Canonicalization
Canonicalization: Choosing One URL Among Duplicates
When the same content is reachable from several addresses, Google picks one. Here is how that choice is made and…
- Todos
- Getting Started 4
- Search Essentials 3
- Discover and Other Surfaces 3
- Structured Data 3
- URL Structure and Links 3
- Site Moves and Changes 3
- Page and Content Metadata 3
- Canonicalization 3
- Sitemaps 3 Crawler Management 3 robots.txt 2 JavaScript SEO 2 Ecommerce 2 Removals 2 Generative AI in Search 2 International and Multilingual 2 Preventing Abuse 2 How Search Works 2 Title Links and Snippets 2 Images in Search 2 Search Console 2 Page Experience 2 Ranking Systems and Updates 2 Sensitive and Explicit Content 1 Debugging Traffic Drops 1 Search Operators 1 Site Identity in Results 1 Videos in Search 1 Mobile-First Indexing 1 Helpful, People-First Content 1 Monitoring and Debugging 0 Ranking and Search Appearance 0 Site-Specific Guides 0 Crawling and Indexing 0 SEO Fundamentals 0
Page Experience
Core Web Vitals and Page Experience
Three measurements of how a page feels to use, what counts as good, and how much they actually matter.
Helpful, People-First Content
Creating Helpful, People-First Content
What Google means by content made for people, the self-assessment questions it publishes, and how to use them honestly.
Debugging Traffic Drops
Debugging a Drop in Search Traffic
A structured sequence that separates the five very different causes of a decline.
Ecommerce
Ecommerce in Google Search
Where product information appears, and what a shop must publish for it to work.
Images in Search
Getting Images Found in Google
Placement, filenames, alt text and the technical details that decide whether images are indexed.
Search Console
Getting Started with Search Console
Verification, property types, and the reports worth checking regularly.
Crawler Management
Google Crawlers and How to Verify Them
Which user agents Google operates, and how to confirm a request claiming to be Googlebot really is.
Discover and Other Surfaces
Google Discover
A feed rather than a search surface, different rules, different content, different volatility.
Generative AI in Search
Google Guidance on AI-Generated Content
The position is about quality, not production method, and what that means in practice for teams using AI.
Ranking Systems and Updates
Google Ranking Systems
The named systems that order results, and what each responds to.
How Search Works
How Google Search Works: Crawling, Indexing, Serving
The three stages every page passes through, and what can go wrong at each one.
International and Multilingual
International and Multilingual Sites
hreflang, URL structure choices, and the mistakes that make them backfire.
Structured Data
Introduction to Structured Data
Machine-readable markup that lets Google understand what a page is about, and sometimes show it differently.
JavaScript SEO
JavaScript SEO Basics
How Google processes JavaScript, why rendering is deferred, and the patterns that keep content invisible.
Page and Content Metadata
Meta Tags Google Actually Uses
The short list that has an effect, and the long list that does not.
Mobile-First Indexing
Mobile-First Indexing
Google indexes the mobile version. What that means for content parity and markup.
Preventing Abuse
Preventing User-Generated Spam and Hacked Content
Protecting a site that accepts contributions, and recognising a compromise early.
Site Moves and Changes
Redirects: Which Type, and What Google Does With It
Server-side, meta refresh and JavaScript redirects, and why one is clearly better than the others.
Removals
Removing Content from Google Search
Four mechanisms with very different speeds and permanence, picking the wrong one wastes weeks.
robots.txt
robots.txt: What It Controls and What It Does Not
The single most misunderstood file in SEO. It controls crawling, not indexing, and the difference matters.
Search Essentials
Search Essentials: The Three Things Google Asks For
Technical requirements, spam policies and best practices, the baseline every site must meet before ranking is even a question.
Search Operators
Search Operators for Diagnosis
Using Google itself to inspect what is indexed, and reading the results correctly.
Sensitive and Explicit Content
Sensitive Content and SafeSearch
How Google classifies adult content, and what to do about incorrect flags.
Getting Started
SEO Starter Guide: The Short Version
If you do only a handful of things, do these, the shortlist Google itself puts in front of new site…
Site Identity in Results
Site Names, Favicons and Sitelinks
The small elements that make a result recognisable, and the markup behind them.
Sitemaps
Sitemaps: What They Do and What They Do Not
A sitemap tells Google which URLs exist and when they changed. It does not force indexing, and it does not…
Title Links and Snippets
Title Links: Where Google Gets Your Headline
Google generates the clickable headline from several sources. Here is how to make yours the one it picks.
URL Structure and Links
URL Structure That Helps Rather Than Hurts
Readable URLs, parameter handling, and the encoding details that break links.
Videos in Search
Videos in Google Search
Getting videos indexed, key moments, and the markup video results depend on.
Crawler Management
Asking Google to Recrawl a URL
The two mechanisms available, their realistic limits, and why patience is usually the right answer.
Sitemaps
Building and Submitting a Sitemap
Formats, the submission methods that exist, and why one of them is no longer worth using.
Ranking Systems and Updates
Core Updates and How to Respond
What a core update is, why "fixing" it usually fails, and what actually helps.
How Search Works
Crawl Budget: When It Matters and When It Does Not
Crawl rate and crawl demand, why most sites can ignore both, and what to do when yours cannot.
Getting Started
Do You Need an SEO?
When hiring makes sense, what a good consultant does, and the warning signs Google itself lists.
Ecommerce
Ecommerce Site Structure and Pagination
Category depth, faceted navigation and loading patterns that keep a catalogue crawlable.
JavaScript SEO
Fixing JavaScript Indexing Problems
A diagnostic order that finds the cause quickly instead of guessing.
robots.txt
How Google Interprets robots.txt
Matching rules, wildcards, precedence and the size limit, the details that decide whether your file does what you think.
Canonicalization
How to Specify a Canonical URL
Four methods, when each is appropriate, and the mistakes that make them backfire.
Images in Search
Image Metadata, Licensing and Attribution
IPTC metadata, licensable image results and keeping credit attached to your work.
URL Structure and Links
Internal Linking and Link Text
The most underused ranking lever most sites already have.
Page Experience
Interstitials and Pop-ups
Which overlays cause problems and which are expected.
International and Multilingual
Localised Versions and Locale-Adaptive Pages
Serving the right language without hiding the alternatives from Google.
Preventing Abuse
Malware, Unwanted Software and Social Engineering
What triggers a security warning, and the order in which to clean up.
Generative AI in Search
Optimising for AI Features in Search
What actually changes when answers are generated rather than listed, and what does not change at all.
Removals
Removing Outdated Content You Do Not Control
When the page has changed or gone but Google still shows the old version.
Site Moves and Changes
Site Moves With URL Changes
The sequence that preserves rankings when the address structure changes.
Title Links and Snippets
Snippets and Featured Snippets
The description under the headline, how it is chosen, and the controls you have over it.
Structured Data
Structured Data Guidelines
The technical, quality and content rules that keep a site eligible for rich results.
Search Essentials
Technical Requirements in Detail
The minimum a page must do to be eligible for Google Search, and the common ways sites accidentally fail them.