English Google Webmaster Central office-hours from December 13, 2019

TL;DR

John Mueller answers SEO and webmaster questions.

Transcript

JOHN MUELLER: All right. Welcome, everyone, to today's Webmaster Central Office Hours Hangouts. My name is John Mueller. I'm a webmaster trends analyst here at Google in Switzerland. And part of what we do are these office hour hangouts where people can join in and ask their questions all around their websites and search. A bunch of things were sub... Read More

Key Insights

• Moving a blog to a subdomain can impact rankings as Google may see it as a separate site, requiring time to understand the new context.
• Using structured data for different types of content on the same page, like e-commerce and local business, is acceptable.
• Google treats blog comments as part of the main content, which can be beneficial if comments are of high quality.
• Google's robots.txt handling is domain-specific; a 503 error in robots.txt can temporarily halt crawling but may be treated as permanent if persistent.
• Redirecting thin content to a consolidated page is a good practice, but old URLs may still appear in search due to user-specific queries.
• Significant site improvements can take time to reflect in search rankings, especially for larger sites, but starting fresh with a new domain has its own challenges.
• Google uses multiple signals for canonicalization, including redirects, rel canonical, and internal links, but a different canonical doesn't affect ranking.
• Machine learning aids Google in search algorithms, but it's not a black box; engineers can debug and understand its workings.

Questions & Answers

Q: What impact does moving a blog to a subdomain have?

Moving a blog to a subdomain can lead to a drop in rankings as Google might perceive it as a separate site. This requires time for Google to understand the new context and integrate the subdomain into its indexing and ranking system. It's essential to be patient and monitor performance over time.

Q: Can structured data be used for multiple content types on a single page?

Yes, structured data can be used for multiple content types, such as e-commerce and local business, on a single page. Google can process multiple structured data types, allowing you to provide detailed information about different aspects of your content, which can enhance search visibility.

Q: How does Google treat blog comments in terms of content?

Google considers blog comments as part of the main content of a page. This means that high-quality comments can positively impact the perception of a page's content. Comments are not seen as boilerplate content and can contribute to the page's relevance and usefulness in search results.

Q: What happens if the robots.txt file returns a 503 error?

If the robots.txt file returns a 503 error, Google will interpret it as a temporary issue and will not crawl the site until the error is resolved. However, if the 503 persists, Google might eventually treat it as a permanent error, potentially leading to a fallback crawling strategy.

Q: Why might old URLs still appear in search after redirection?

Old URLs might still appear in search results even after being redirected because Google tries to be helpful by showing results for queries that resemble old URLs. This can happen in site queries or when users search for terms closely related to the old URL structure.

Q: How long does it take for website improvements to reflect in search rankings?

The time it takes for website improvements to reflect in search rankings can vary. For larger sites, it might take over six months due to the volume of content that needs reprocessing. Smaller sites may see changes more quickly, but there is no fixed timeline for ranking improvements.

Q: What factors does Google consider for canonicalization?

Google considers multiple factors for canonicalization, including 301 redirects, rel canonical tags, internal linking, external links, sitemaps, and hreflang attributes. Discrepancies among these signals can lead to Google guessing the canonical, but this doesn't affect the page's ranking.

Q: Does Google use machine learning in its search algorithms?

Yes, Google uses machine learning in its search algorithms to optimize processes like canonicalization. However, it's not a black box; engineers can understand and debug the algorithm's decisions. Machine learning helps automate and refine decision-making processes but is guided by human input.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• John Mueller discusses the impact of moving a blog to a subdomain, explaining that it can be seen as a separate site by Google, affecting rankings. He advises patience as Google needs time to understand the new site context.

• Structured data can be used for different content types on the same page, such as e-commerce and local business. Google treats blog comments as part of the main content, which can be advantageous if they are of good quality.

• Google's handling of robots.txt is domain-specific. A 503 error in robots.txt can temporarily stop crawling, but if persistent, it may be treated as a permanent error. Redirecting thin content to a consolidated page is recommended, but old URLs might still appear in search.