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0:04JOHN: Hello, and welcome to another episode
0:07of Google’s “SEO Office Hours.”
0:09In these videos, we aim to answer your questions
0:12about SEO and Google Search.
0:14These questions were submitted using the form link
0:17below over the past month.
0:19To answer them, we have folks from Google’s Search Quality
0:22Team.
0:23Joining us today are Martin, Gary, and me, John.
0:28So without further ado, let’s dive right in.
0:33Beth asks, “We allow our content to be syndicated.Our syndicated version appears in Google Discover despite using canonical links. Why?
0:37However, many times, the syndicated version
0:40appears in Google Discover despite using canonical links.
0:44How can we avoid this?”
0:46Well, this is timely.
0:48We just recently expanded our guidance for syndicated content
0:52to help cover this.
0:53The link rel canonical is a signal
0:56which helps us with canonicalization as a hint.
0:59If your content is being syndicated
1:02and you don’t want the syndicated versions to appear
1:04at all in Search, we recommend making sure
1:07that the syndicated versions also include a noindex robots
1:11meta tag.
1:12This blocks them from appearing in Search
1:15while still allowing users to access the page normally.
1:19GARY: Hi, I’m Gary from the Search Team.Is it OK for 2 domains with different TLDs to target the same country for the same keywords?
1:22[? Sagar ?] is asking, “Is it OK for two
1:24domains with different TLDs to target the same country
1:28for the same keywords?”
1:29Well, my gut reaction is whether this would
1:32be confusing for your users.
1:34Two domains each having presumably the same content
1:37might be pretty confusing.
1:39From a policies perspective, this might also
1:42seem like search result manipulation,
1:45and maybe you don’t want to go there.
1:48I’d check out our spam policies for that too.
1:53MARTIN: [? Arnt ?] is asking “If Lighthouse JavaScript warningsDo Lighthouse JavaScript warnings have any influence on page rating or ranking?
1:57for libraries with known security vulnerabilities
2:00do have any influence on page rating or ranking?”
2:04Hi, [? Arnt, ?] thanks for the question.
2:06No, generally, that doesn’t have any input on ranking.
2:09However, it is a really bad idea to ignore security warnings
2:13and issues.
2:14I highly recommend you fix these as soon as possible.
2:18JOHN: Sean asks, how do I block GooglebotHow do I block Googlebot from crawling a specific section of a webpage?
2:21from crawling a specific section of a web page?
2:25On the product pages, we have an [? Also ?] Bot section.
2:29This often features small add-ons that are not
2:32a big part of our website.
2:35The short version is that you can’t
2:37block crawling of a specific section on an HTML page.
2:43There are, however, two similar things.
2:46You can use the data-nosnippet HTML
2:50attribute to prevent text from appearing in the search
2:53snippet.
2:54Or you could use an iframe or a JavaScript piece of content
2:59whose source is blocked by robots.txt.
3:02Using a roboted iframe or JavaScript file
3:05is usually not a good idea, since it can cause problems
3:09in crawling and indexing that are
3:11hard to diagnose and resolve.
3:13If this is just for content that’s
3:15reused across your pages, I wouldn’t worry about it.
3:19There is no need to block Googlebot
3:21from seeing that kind of duplication.
3:24GARY: Someone’s asking, “I submitted a sitemap,I submitted a sitemap but it’s not showing in search results. Why?
3:27but it’s not showing in Search results.”
3:30I’m assuming that you are talking
3:31about the URLs, in which case, I would remind you that sitemaps
3:35are a way to tell search engines where your content is,
3:38but that’s pretty much all.
3:41It won’t guarantee that the URLs you supplied will be crawled,
3:45and it definitely doesn’t guarantee
3:48they will be indexed, both of which
3:51depend on the quality of the content
3:53and its relative popularity on the internet.
3:56MARTIN: [? Corey ?] is asking, “Why does structured
3:59data show errors on Google but not on schema.org?Why does structured data show errors on Google but not schema.org?
4:03Google’s Search Console is showing errors
4:04for an invalid enum value in field Return Fees,
4:08but our schema.org test says No Error.
4:11Please advise.”
4:13Thanks for the question, [? Corey. ?] Schema.org
4:16is an open and vendor-independent entity
4:18that defines the data types and attributes for structured data.
4:22Google, as a vendor, however, might
4:25have specific requirements for some attributes and types
4:28in order to use the structured data in product features,
4:31such as our rich results in Google Search.
4:34So while just leaving out some attributes
4:37or using some type of values for an attribute
4:39is perfectly fine with schema.org,
4:41vendors, such as Google and others,
4:44might have more specific requirements
4:46in order to use the structured data you provide to actually
4:50enhance features and products.
4:52JOHN: [? Arnt ?] asks, “Does the integration
4:55of security headers, such as for HSTS,Does the integration of security headers such as for HSTS have a ranking influence?
4:59have a ranking influence?”
5:01No.
5:02The HSTS headers do not affect Search.
5:06This header is used to tell users to access the HTTPS
5:10version directly and is commonly used, together with a redirect,
5:15to the HTTPS versions.
5:17Google uses a process called canonicalization
5:20to pick the most appropriate version of a page
5:23to crawl and index.
5:25It does not rely on headers like the ones used for HSTS.
5:29Using these headers is, of course, great for users,
5:32though.
5:33GARY: Bill is asking, “Does Google
5:35do any kind of comparisons between current and previous
5:39XML sitemap versions to see what’s newDoes Google do any kind of comparisons between current and previous XML sitemap versions?
5:42or what’s being removed from a site?”
5:44Well, the absolute answer is yes.
5:47We will not reprocess a sitemap that hasn’t changed
5:50since it was last crawled.
5:51But that’s just a software optimization
5:54not to waste resources like computing resources.
5:57As soon as you change something in your sitemap,
6:01be that a URL element or [? LS ?] mod,
6:04the sitemap will be parsed again and generally reprocessed.
6:07That doesn’t mean that the URLs will be surely crawled,
6:10of course.
6:11They are still subject to the quality evaluations
6:13like any other URL.
6:15It’s also worth to mention that, if you remove
6:18a URL from the sitemap, because perhaps it doesn’t exist
6:21anymore, that doesn’t mean it’s automatically
6:24going to be dropped from the index
6:26or even prioritized for crawling so it can be dropped sooner.
6:30JOHN: [? Morosami ?] asks, “What is
6:33the difference between an XML sitemap and HTML?
6:38And what is the resolution of this case in Search ConsoleWhat is the difference between an XML sitemap and HTML? I have an error message in Search Console.
6:42when it says your sitemap appears to be an HTML page;
6:46please use a supported sitemap format instead?”
6:50This is an unfortunate consequence
6:52of using pretty much the same name for both the XML file
6:58as well as for the HTML page.
7:00A HTML sitemap can be helpful for users.
7:04It’s more like a higher-level map.
7:07An XML sitemap is only for crawlers.
7:10It’s a file made for robots.
7:13To add my personal opinion, an HTML sitemap
7:16is often a sign that your website’s navigation
7:19is too confusing.
7:21So I might try to fix that instead
7:23of creating a sitemap page.
7:25GARY: [? Animash ?] is asking, “How does GoogleHow does Google treat structured data with parsing errors?
7:28treat structure data with parsing errors?”
7:30Well, it doesn’t.
7:32If some structure data doesn’t parse,
7:35we can’t extract the information that it may contain,
7:38so it’s just ignored.
7:40MARTIN: “Are numbers in the URL bad for SEO?
7:43Are they a bad idea to include in the URL?”
7:47No, numbers in URLs are not bad.
7:51Use numbers, use letters, use non-Latin letters,
7:55or even use Unicode symbols, if you want to.
7:58The only thing I’d avoid in URLs is temporary identifiers
8:03that change every time you visit a page,
8:05since this makes crawling very hard and confusing.
8:09GARY: Claudio is asking, “Why is my website URL blocked?”Why is my website URL blocked?
8:13Well, it is not.
8:15It’s well and happy.
8:17It’s just not ranking.
8:19Check out our SEO Starter Guide to get
8:21an idea of what you will need to do to get liftoff, and then
8:26get more tips from other reputable SEO-focused sites
8:29and people like, [INAUDIBLE] and Aleyda Solis, respectively.
8:34JOHN: “Index Bloat– is that a real thing that impacts“Index Bloat” – is that a real thing that impacts Google crawling and indexing?
8:37Google crawling and indexing?”
8:39I’m not aware of any concept of index bloat at Google.
8:43Our systems don’t artificially limit the number
8:46of pages indexed per site.
8:48I just make sure that the pages which
8:51you’re providing for indexing are actually useful pages.
8:54But that’s independent of the number of pages your site has.
8:59GARY: Someone’s asking, “How do I
9:01block Googlebot from even touching my site reliablyHow do I block Googlebot from even touching my site reliably and permanently?
9:04and permanently?
9:05Not for a few months or something
9:07like that, but forever.”
9:09Well, the simplest way is robots.txt.
9:12If you add a disallow forward slash for the Googlebot user
9:17agent, Googlebot will leave your site alone for as long
9:20as you keep that rule there.
9:22If you want to block even network access of Googlebot,
9:26you’ll need to create perhaps a firewall rule that loads our IP
9:32ranges into a deny rule.
9:34You can get the list of our IP addresses
9:36following our docs about verifying Googlebot.
9:41MARTIN: Michael asks, “Can an SEO companyCan an SEO company get a Google approved badge?
9:44get a Google-approved badge?”
9:47I’m not aware of any Google SEO certification.
9:51There are certain certifications for certain products,
9:54such as for Google Ads, but I’m not aware of one for SEO.
9:58For official certifications, I’d double
10:01check the source directly rather than
10:02take someone’s word for it.
10:05GARY: Anonymous is asking, “Can having multiple navigationCan having multiple navigation menus hurt SEO performance?
10:08menus hurt SEO performance– a main menu
10:11with all the most important categories of the site
10:14and the secondary menu to enhance categories
10:18related to brand extensions?”
10:20It’s highly unlikely that having multiple navigation menus
10:24will have any effect whatsoever on your site’s SEO performance.
10:29JOHN: “I tried to get HTML and ASPX pages to index,I tried to get HTML and ASPX pages to index and only a few HTML pages got indexed. Help!
10:34and only a few of the pages got indexed and the rest of them
10:37are not.
10:38I need help.”
10:39From our side, there is nothing special with these file
10:43endings.
10:43URLs with these endings can be normal HTML pages,
10:47and we can index them.
10:49Hiding the ending does not change anything
10:52for Google systems.
10:53For general questions about crawling and indexing,
10:56I’d recommend checking out our Help community.
10:59The folks there can be super helpful.
11:02GARY: [? Shin ?] is asking, “I see two resultsI see two results from the same domain but different webpages, the second one is slightly indented. Why?
11:05from the same domain but different web pages,
11:07and the second one is slightly indented.
11:10What is that?”
11:11Well, good question.
11:13Those are called host groups.
11:16You can’t really influence them with markup or anything,
11:19but it’s a telltale that you have
11:22more than one page that can rank well for a certain query.
11:26You might want to consolidate those two pages, perhaps,
11:29if it’s possible at all.
11:31You can learn more about host groups in our Visual Element
11:34Gallery.
11:35JOHN: [? Arnt ?] asks, “Is a fake Googlebot allowed?
11:39It mentions the official URL but is on a different IP address.”Is a fake Googlebot allowed? It mentions the official URL but is on a different IP address?
11:45Unfortunately, anyone can specify any user agent name,
11:49and it happens that scripts use a Googlebot user agent
11:53name in an attempt to appear legitimate.
11:57We publish the IP ranges that Googlebot uses, as well,
12:01as a way to confirm that the requests are
12:03legitimate in our documentation.
12:05In your particular case, the IP address
12:08that you mentioned maps back to Hetzner
12:11Online, a hoster in Germany.
12:14If you’re seeing many requests like this,
12:16it might be worth contacting their abuse department.
12:20GARY: Mohammad is asking, “Is there a way to disavow IPIs there a way to disavow IP addresses instead of domain names?
12:23addresses instead of domain names?”
12:26No, there isn’t.
12:28JOHN: “What is the purpose of using NOODP, generally foundWhat is the purpose of using NOODP generally found in Blogger?
12:32in Blogger?”
12:34Well, that’s a blast from the past.
12:36Google has not used this robots meta tag in ages.
12:41It goes back to the DMOZ Open Directory Project,
12:45where sites were listed with a short description.
12:48The meta tag told search engines to ignore that description.
12:52The Open Directory Project, or ODP, does not exit anymore,
12:56and this meta tag has no effect.
12:59It also doesn’t cause any problems, so leaving it
13:02is fine as well.
13:04GARY: [? Frederick ?] is asking, “Since April 13,
13:08a video has to be the main content of a page
13:10if a thumbnail should show in [? SERPs. ?] Does main contentDoes “main content” mean that the video has to be the absolute first element on the page?
13:14mean that the video has to be the absolute first element
13:17on the page?”
13:19Well, no.
13:20Think about the user’s perspective.
13:23They end up on your page, and then they
13:25have to actively look for the video instead of having it
13:29basically in their face right away.
13:32The former is pretty confusing, and that’s
13:35why we are looking for videos that are the main content,
13:38basically, in your face.
13:41If you look at the large video sites,
13:44such as Vimeo or YouTube, then you
13:47can get a sense of what our algorithms are looking for.
13:52JOHN: And that was it for this episode.
13:55I hope you found the questions and answers useful.
13:58If there is anything you submitted
13:59which didn’t get covered here, I’d
14:01recommend posting in the Search Central Help Community.
14:05There are lots of passionate experts active there
14:07who can help you to narrow things down.
14:10And of course, if there’s anything more on your mind,
14:13please submit those questions with the form link below.
14:16Your questions here are useful to us and to those who
14:20catch up on these recordings.
14:22So please keep them coming.
14:24If you have general feedback about these episodes,
14:26let us know in the comments or ping us on social media.
14:29In the meantime, may your site’s traffic go up
14:32and your crawl errors go down.
14:34Thank you, and see you soon.
14:36Bye.
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