15 Key Insights from Google SEO Office Hours – August 2024

Google’s SEO office-hours have always been a goldmine of information for anyone looking to improve their understanding of search engine optimization. In the August 2024 session, John Mueller and Martin Splitt shared valuable tips and answered some interesting queries that could shape how you approach SEO for your website. Here are 15 key insights from this session that are worth noting.

Multilingual Indexing Best Practices

If your website offers content in multiple languages (like English and Swahili), it’s important to ensure that these pages are properly cross-linked and that hreflang tags are used. While Google treats all languages similarly, effective cross-linking and localization signals can help ensure all content is indexed.

Noindex and Nofollow Tags Don’t Indicate Low-Quality Content

Using a lot of nofollow and noindex tags does not signal to Google that your site contains low-quality pages. These tags simply inform Google of your intentions – for example, that you don’t endorse certain links or don’t want certain pages to be indexed.

404 Errors Are Normal and Can Be Beneficial

Having 404 errors on your website is not inherently harmful. Redirecting old pages is only beneficial if there’s a legitimate replacement. Redirecting users to irrelevant pages, like your homepage, can lead to a poor user experience and frustrate both users and search engines.

CDNs and Image Indexing

The response speed of a CDN (Content Delivery Network) alone does not determine whether an image will appear in search results. Google’s image indexing is influenced by multiple factors, including duplicates across domains. CDNs offer benefits beyond speed, such as optimized image compression and dynamic resizing.

URL Removal After Domain Expiration

If you lose access to your Search Console or your domain expires, you can prevent unwanted content from appearing in search results by submitting a temporary site removal request using domain verification. This helps prevent future owners from misusing the indexed URLs.

Handling Regional Content with Subdomains

For websites with multiple subdomains targeting different regions, using hreflang tags helps ensure the correct content is shown in the appropriate region. However, simply having subdomains for different markets won’t guarantee unique rankings unless the content varies significantly.

Rich Results and Currency Issues

If your rich results show the wrong currency, it may be due to Google seeing duplicate content across regional pages. One way to resolve this issue is by using Merchant Center feeds instead of relying solely on structured data.

Mitigating Targeted Scraping

Websites suffering from performance issues due to targeted scraping can benefit from using a CDN. CDNs can help detect and block malicious bot traffic while distributing legitimate traffic more efficiently. Additionally, identifying the network source of the traffic and sending abuse notifications can also help.

Duplicate Content Across Formats (Video and Text)

Repurposing the exact content from a YouTube video as text on a webpage does not result in duplicate content penalties. In fact, offering content in multiple formats is beneficial for accessibility and user preference.

Outdated SEO Practices

Audit tools might still suggest outdated practices like optimizing text-to-code ratios or minifying CSS/JavaScript for SEO. Google clarified that while these can enhance user experience, they do not directly impact SEO rankings.

Handling UTM Parameters for SEO

UTM parameters in URLs do not impact the SEO value of backlinks. However, it’s still recommended to canonicalize the URL to the version without UTM tags to simplify reporting and tracking.

User Comments and SEO Impact

Leaving user comments unanswered under blog posts does not negatively affect SEO. Google treats comments as text content, and whether or not they are addressed does not impact rankings.

Geo-IP Redirects and Indexing Issues

Automatically redirecting users based on their location can cause problems with indexing. Instead of using geo-IP redirects, it’s better to show a banner suggesting users switch to their local version of the site, allowing Google’s crawlers to access all variations.

Changing Meta Titles and Descriptions Can Affect Rankings

Modifying your meta titles and descriptions can impact how your site ranks and appears in search results. While this can be a strategy for improvement, it can also lead to unexpected fluctuations in rankings if not handled carefully.

Search Console Property Limits

Unfortunately, there is no way to increase the property limit in Search Console even if you’re managing a growing digital agency. Agencies will need to create multiple accounts to accommodate more properties.

The insights shared by John Mueller and Martin Splitt during this session provide actionable advice that can improve your SEO strategy. Whether you’re managing a multilingual website, dealing with duplicate content, or looking to optimize for specific regions, these key takeaways can guide your next steps.