SEO UPdate #23 | 10/06/2022

Welcome to the 23rd SEO Update, written by a search engine optimization specialist (briefly scoring internal links). Today I take you through some points that I do talk about a lot, you’ll see. Have fun!

Google doesn’t like SEO figures

This is something I’ve been saying for years. Google does not like SEO metrics (created by third-party tools). The problem with that is, the SEO metrics become the end, not a means to an end (higher positions within Google).

Google’s John Mueller also points this out. For example, when you reach a DR / DA, or reduce toxic links or perhaps reach a keyword density. These are not goals that will benefit you (and they certainly don’t generate revenue). The goal should be to generate quality organic visitors.

See the full correspondence here.

Every time John Mueller sees something about this “how to improve your DA…… today” he balks at this. Wasted energy, is his conclusion.

Google, when crawling a page, grabs the first HTTP result code

When multiple HTTP result codes are issued by a page, Google often grabs the first of these. Generally, as John Mueller points out, Google then grabs the first one. There are some exceptions to that, though.

For example, if it first gives a 5xx response and then a 3xx response, Google only grabs the 5xx. But in the example of a 3xx response first, then a 4xx (or 5xx response in this case), Google reads them both.

So when an internal link with a 301 leads to a 404 page, Google therefore ends up on the 404 page.

Pretty logical to me and also the way I thought it would be.

Blocking traffic from America, but letting Google crawl it

It is currently not possible to block traffic (due to GDPR legislation, for example), but at the same time allow Google to crawl from the US. One publisher (Esben) indicates that there is no mechanism for this; John Mueller agrees at this link.

John Mueller asked about the specific case, which Esben had.

This is a bike tour with relevant content that is not allowed to be shown outside the EU due to a limited sponsorship agreement.

This was again the June 10 SEO Update. Hopefully you found it interesting and can help your clients just a little bit better with this.