Notes from the Google Webmaster Hangout on the 20th of February 2018.
Structured Data Shouldn’t be Duplicated Across Your Site
Structured data should be specific to a particular page and its primary topic and shouldn’t be duplicated across a site. For example, you shouldn’t have the same marked up review across multiple pages.
Link Equity Can Pass in Any Direction in Site Architecture as it Follows Links Themselves
Link equity flows through the links that are there on a page and goes any direction that these links take it, so it is possible for link equity to pass up the architecture as well as down.
4xx Errors Don’t Mean Your Crawl Budget is Being Wasted
Seeing Googlebot crawling old 404/410 pages doesn’t mean your crawl budget is being wasted. Google will revisit these when there is nothing else on the site to be crawled, which is a sign of capacity to crawl more.
Google Doesn’t Treat Links Differently According to Positioning on Page
From an SEO perspective for Google there is no difference between links at the top of a category page and links in the navigation.
Crawl Rate & Sitemaps Are Key for Quick Indexing
Perceived server capacity may result in a site being crawled less. If you know your server can handle more, submit Googlebot feedback in the help center to request a higher crawl rate. Pinging Google with an updated Sitemap containing new URLs and a last modified date for updated pages will help Google to crawl them as quickly as they can.
AMP Can be Used For Desktop Pages
You can make desktop-friendly sites using AMP because it is a responsive website design framework which can be used for different types of content and pages.
AMP Pages Need to Have Canonical Tags
AMP pages without a canonical tag run the risk of not being considered to be valid, as well as creating duplicate content issues.
All Existing Reports Will be Improved or Consolidated in the New Search Console
There are no plans to remove any existing reports from the old Search Console, but instead reports will be improved or combined in the new version.
Google Changed the Submit to Index Quota Due to It Being Abused
The Submit to Index feature in Search Console was being abused so Google reduced the quota to ensure regular users aren’t being affected.
The Old Search Console Will be Available Until All Reports Have Been Moved Across
The old GSC will remain active and available to use for the time being until all the reports are moved across.
Remove Hacked Content Quickly to Remove Any Confusion for Google on Site’s Natural Topic
You can request a reconsideration for hacked content in GSC where Google will manually check the website and remove any manual action. If hacked content is left on a site for too long though Google may think that’s the site’s focus topic area.
Image Credit Links Are Treated as Regular Backlinks
Image credit links carry the same weight as any other links and are seen as regular backlinks by Google.
Allow Users to Choose Different Language Sites Through Javascript Banners
John recommends using a Javascript banner which recognises the user’s location or settings and suggests a different language version of a page. This leaves the choice with the user and allows Googlebot to crawl other versions of the site without being forced to country sites through redirects.
