Notes from the Google Webmaster Hangout on the 29th of May 2020.
Site Query Results Don’t Have a Defined Order
The order of search results for site query is not defined, so it’s not unusual if you don’t see your home page appearing.
A Home Page Isn’t Necessarily Seen as a Websites’ Primary Page
Google decides a website’s primary page on a number of criteria so it won’t necessarily be the home page.
You Can Geographically Redirect Users Based on IP
You can redirect users to a different website based on the location of their IP address, provided that Googlebot isn’t affected.
Google Won’t Penalise Back Button Hijacking
Google won’t penalise a site which prevents a user’s browser back button from taking them back to Google.
Filtering Out Low Quality Content May Improve Site Quality Scores
Google assesses quality at both a page and site level, so it makes sense to consider noindexing low quality content.
Consider Blocking External Redirect URLs with Robots.txt
You can block URLs which redirect to an external website using robots.txt, such as social media sharing links, as they don’t need to be crawled.
Temporarily Removed Pages can Pass PageRank
The temporary removal tool doesn’t change the way a page is crawled or indexed, it just hides it from appearing in search results, so it can still pass PageRank.
Test Differences in Platform Migrations with Crawling Tools
You should use a 3rd party crawling tool to look for differences between and existing website and a new platform.
Descriptions and Structured Data are not Used for Rankings
Descriptions and structured data are not used for rankings, but may affect how a page appears in search results and how users respond to it.
Be the First to Know About the Latest Insights From Google
