Search Essentials

Technical Requirements

To appear in Google Search results, your pages must meet these fundamental requirements:

Googlebot Access

Ensure Google can access your content:

# robots.txt - Allow Googlebot
User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /

# Sitemap location
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Critical Checks:

• Pages return 200 OK status
• No noindex meta tag (unless intended)
• Not blocked in robots.txt
• Canonical tag points to preferred URL
• Content is in the HTML (not JavaScript-only)

HTTP Status Codes

Use correct status codes to communicate with Google:

| Code | Meaning | SEO Impact | |------|---------|------------| | 200 | OK | Page is indexable | | 301 | Permanent Redirect | Passes ~90-99% link equity | | 302 | Temporary Redirect | May not pass equity | | 404 | Not Found | Page removed from index | | 410 | Gone | Faster removal than 404 | | 503 | Service Unavailable | Temporary, will retry |

Spam Policies

Google penalizes these practices—avoid them completely:

Content Spam

• Keyword Stuffing — Unnatural keyword repetition
• Cloaking — Showing different content to Google vs users
• Doorway Pages — Low-quality pages targeting specific queries
• Scraped Content — Copying content from other sites
• Auto-Generated Content — Low-quality AI content without value

Link Spam

• Paid Links — Buying links for PageRank
• Link Schemes — Excessive link exchanges
• Hidden Links — Links users can't see
• Widget Links — Embedded links in widgets
• Forum/Comment Spam — Links in low-quality comments

Warning: Violating spam policies can result in manual actions that remove your site from search results entirely.

Key Best Practices

Create Quality Content

✓ Original research and insights
✓ Comprehensive coverage of topic
✓ Written by subject matter experts
✓ Regularly updated for accuracy
✓ Properly cited sources
✓ Clear, scannable formatting

Optimize Page Experience

// Core Web Vitals targets
const coreWebVitals = {
  LCP: '< 2.5s',   // Largest Contentful Paint
  INP: '< 200ms', // Interaction to Next Paint
  CLS: '< 0.1',   // Cumulative Layout Shift
};

Mobile-First Indexing

Google primarily uses your mobile site for indexing:

• Responsive design is strongly recommended
• Same content on mobile and desktop
• Images and videos accessible on mobile
• Fast loading on mobile networks

Crawl Budget Optimization

For large sites, optimize how Google allocates crawling resources:

1. Reduce Low-Value Pages — Noindex thin content
2. Fix Crawl Errors — Eliminate 404s and redirect chains
3. Improve Server Response — Keep TTFB under 200ms
4. Use Internal Linking — Guide crawlers to important pages
5. Update Sitemap — Include only indexable URLs

Common Mistakes to Avoid

| Mistake | Impact | Solution | |---------|--------|----------| | Blocking CSS/JS | Poor rendering | Allow in robots.txt | | Duplicate content | Diluted rankings | Use canonical tags | | Slow page speed | Lower rankings | Optimize performance | | Missing meta tags | Poor CTR | Add title/description | | Broken internal links | Wasted crawl budget | Regular audits | | No HTTPS | Security warnings | Install SSL certificate |