Search Off the Record

A discussion of UX for SEO Nov 21, 2024

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Lizzi and John are joined by Rio Ichikawa, a product manager working on UX, CRO, and SEO, to discuss the intersection of SEO and UX. They explore how user experience impacts SEO, emphasizing the shared goals of attracting and converting users. Tune in for a discussion on common UX mistakes - like carousels - and how heatmaps can be a valuable tool for understanding user behavior and optimizing web pages for better engagement and conversion rates.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr086-transcript

Rio on X/Twitter → https://goo.gle/4eAOjJz

Rio on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3OnaHuY

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Understanding how users experience your website Oct 31, 2024

Sometimes talking to your users is the best way to figure out why that pesky bounce rate is high. But how do you actually do that, especially if you're on a budget?

In this episode of Search Off the Record, we're learning all about user experience research (UXR) and how getting a better understanding of how your users interact with your website can help when you're looking for ways to improve it. Tune in as Iva Barisic Hafner, a user experience researcher on the Google Shopping team, explains how to use UXR methods to get to the bottom of the "why" behind user behavior.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr085-transcript

Nielsen Norman Group → https://goo.gle/3YI3xrq

List of UXR methods → https://goo.gle/40sI6Ma

Iva on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3A7Te6E

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Designing Google Doodles and delightful experiences Oct 17, 2024

What does recursion, Weather Frog, and Momo the Magic Cat have in common?

In this episode of SOTR, Lizzi and John go behind the scenes of a Google Doodle with Jessica Yu, the lead for Doodles and delight on Google Search, about designing experiences that resonate with your audience. Listen along as we learn more about what's involved in getting an easter egg into Google Search, from hatching the idea to designing (and deploying) the experience and measuring success.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr084-transcript

Jessica Yu on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3BKgSq1

Momo's first appearance → https://goo.gle/3UbGgeC

Submitting an idea for the Google Doodle → https://goo.gle/3A04stC

AVIF is now supported by Google → https://goo.gle/3NrwhhK

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Google Search Reliability Oct 03, 2024

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Ben Walton and David Yule from the Google Search Site Reliability Team (SRE) walk us through their day to day work, which surprisingly is not just about putting out fires! Learn what Search SREs really do, how they handle incidents that occasionally occur, and what it takes to be an SRE for Google Search.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr083

SRE handbook → https://goo.gle/3XSbVUF

David on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3XQKavR

Ben on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/4ewAkEX

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

How do I know if my SEO is doing a good job? Sep 19, 2024

It's been a few months since you hired an SEO; how can you tell if things are headed in the right direction?

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Lizzi and John interview Erika Varangouli, head of Branded Content at Riverside.fm, about all things hiring and working with SEOs. Just because uplift isn't happening doesn't mean they're not doing work; we walk through practical things to check throughout the process, such as how things are prioritized, is there regular reporting, and proactive communication around things that don't go as planned.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr082-transcript

John's initial LinkedIn Post → https://goo.gle/3XNOqfI

Erika Varangouli on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3ZukgiH

Erika on X → https://goo.gle/3XXGBUR

Do I Need an SEO? → https://goo.gle/4dabZUb

SEO Starter Guide → https://goo.gle/42alrmy

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Let's talk shopping markup Sep 05, 2024

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Irina Tuduce from the shopping team joins John Mueller and Lizzi Sassman to chat all things shopping data, from schema.org to feeds spec. Listen along as we chat about how shopping infrastructure gets its data, why pricing data can be tricky, and what the Shopping team has been working on this year.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr081-transcript

Irina Tuduce on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3Xuiywf

Product structured data → https://goo.gle/4eaPJus

Feed spec in Merchant Center → https://goo.gle/3Tdl2MU

How to set up Merchant Center account → https://goo.gle/4gcSPjq

Merchant-level organization markup → https://goo.gle/47fvmd2

Schema.org community on GitHub → https://goo.gle/4e7A6E3

Variants in Google Search → https://goo.gle/4dU4BOc

Merchant Listings report in Search Console → https://goo.gle/47hlNuu

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Working With Search Console API Aug 22, 2024

We sat down with Mihai Aperghis, a Google Product Expert (PE) for Search, when he visited the Zurich office for the PE Summit this year. In this episode we talk about how he started his SEO agency, the tools he built, and his role as a Product Expert in the Search Central Help Community.

Mihai explains how he built tooling to get data from Search Console into Google Sheets and how he automated this process as well as what features he'd like to see coming to the Search Console API.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr 080-transcript

Mihai on X → https://goo.gle/4dUzL7I

Mihai's tools → https://goo.gle/4dW3yNj

Mihai's recap of the PE Summit → https://goo.gle/4cAKhQ4

Search Central Help Community → https://goo.gle/4dUzOAq

Intro to Search Console API → https://goo.gle/3AzkJ8P

Crawling smarter, not harder Aug 08, 2024

In this episode of SOTR, John Mueller, Lizzi Sassman, and Gary Illyes talk about misconceptions around crawl frequency and site quality, what's challenging about crawling the web nowadays, and how search engines could crawl more efficiently.

Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr079-transcript Gary's post on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3YAT55q Crawling episode with Dave Smart → https://goo.gle/3WShUsf If-Modified-Since → https://goo.gle/3ywXvja About the IETF → https://goo.gle/3SGVVlo Robots Exclusion Protocol → https://goo.gle/4dgmBSg Proposal for new kind of chunked transfer → https://goo.gle/3AgMF1c

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Crawling smarter, not harder Aug 08, 2024

Internationalization & hreflang Jul 25, 2024

Managing websites that use different languages and serve different countries is no easy task. That's why Lizzi, Gary and Martin sat down to talk about all things internationalization, hreflang and what's making managing international, multi-language websites easier.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr078-transcript

Docs for international and multilingual sites → https://goo.gle/3WtolAL

How x-default can help you → https://goo.gle/3Y8AdKB

Web Almanac hreflang usage in 2022 → https://goo.gle/4bKX2Hv

Hreflang tags generator by Aleyda Solis → https://goo.gle/4bVRVEI

Merkle Hreflang testing tool → https://goo.gle/3WaWbKj

Hreflang Builder → https://goo.gle/4cW8fGi

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Rendering JavaScript for Google Search Jul 11, 2024

In this episode, Zoe Clifford from the rendering team joins Martin and John from Search Relations to talk about how Google Search deals with JavaScript sites, how rendering works and what the mysterious "iteratorect" was. They also discuss what's the DOM, if all pages get rendered, how long it takes and what website owners should look out for when building JavaScript-driven websites.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr077-transcript

JavaScript SEO basics → https://goo.gle/3W0XnjB

Fixing search-related JavaScript issues → https://goo.gle/3S2bMdY

Google I/O 2019 presentation → https://goo.gle/4bCdZ6M

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Inside Search Quality: Using metrics and data science to improve Search Jun 27, 2024

Inside Search Quality: Using metrics and data science to improve Search Jun 27, 2024

In this episode of SOTR, Lizzi and John sit down with Elizabeth Tucker to go behind the scenes of Search Quality product management. Listen along as they discuss using data science to measure quality and make improvements, how search behavior is changing over time, and how to think about E-E-A-T and the Search Quality Rater Guidelines.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr076-transcript

BERT paper → https://goo.gle/3XroKpe

E-E-A-T for site owners → https://goo.gle/4c5E0fQ

Search Quality Rater Guidelines → https://goo.gle/3z07OvN

Improving Search with Rigorous Testing → https://goo.gle/45x7OQ0

Day in a life of a Search Quality Product Manager → https://goo.gle/3z087GX

Meet Data Scientists at Google → https://goo.gle/3xzZ67c

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Cosmic Rays & Crawlers: When Google Search is under the weather Jun 06, 2024

How does Google address incidents that affect Search results, like indexing problems or crawling issues? Join John, Lizzi, and Gary in this episode of Search off the Record as the team discusses internal processes Google uses to detect, investigate, and communicate these incidents to users and website owners.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr075-transcript

Google Search Status Dashboard → https://goo.gle/3Vcs9pi

Lifecycle of an issue → https://goo.gle/3KsgjCe

SRE Playbook's chapter on troubleshooting → https://goo.gle/3V9NPCj

Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Speaker: John Mueller, Lizzi Sassman, Gary Illyes

Products Mentioned: Search Console - General

Transcript for Cosmic Rays & Crawlers: When Google Search is under the weather Jun 06, 2024

Building SEO community with office hours May 23, 2024

In this episode of Search off the Record, John and Lizzi invite Michael Chidzey and “Jo” Juliana Turnbull to talk all things SEO Office Hours. Listen along as they discuss why they picked this format, whether community building has an impact on SEO, and how you can get involved in this growing community of SEO practitioners.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr074-transcript

Join the next Good Signals SEO Office Hours → https://goo.gle/4avilfM

Good Signals SEO Office Hours announcements on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/450vo7F

Jo Juliana Turnbull on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/4bISYbP

Jo Juliana Turnbull on X → https://goo.gle/44V8xKF

Mike Chidzey on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/4dSJg7Q

Submit a question for Google SEO Office hours → https://goo.gle/3K93A7A

Watch more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Central Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Speaker: John Mueller, Lizzi Sassman, Michael Chidzey, Juliana Turnbull

Products Mentioned: Search Console - General

Transcript for Building SEO community with office hours May 23, 2024

Let’s talk Content Decay May 09, 2024

What's the best way to handle outdated content? Does old content affect SEO? In this episode of Search Off the Record, Lizzi Sassman and John Mueller discuss the importance of addressing old content and updating it to continue being useful to users today. Listen along as Lizzi and John discuss content decay’s effect on Google Search results and practical steps to tackle it.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr073-transcript

Crypto redirects → https://goo.gle/4dq7Ywe

Outdated blog post on traffic drops → https://goo.gle/3y8UNQd

Mobile-Testing Tool blog post → https://goo.gle/4bsCJ1Q

Structured Data Tool landing page → https://goo.gle/4bvZ8Lw

Watch more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt

Subscribe to Google Search Central Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for Let’s talk Content Decay May 09, 2024

Gemini for Social Posts: Game Edition Apr 25, 2024

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Gary Illyes, Lizzi Sassman, and John Mueller put Large Language Models (LLMs) to the test and compete to create the best social post using generative AI. Listen along as they weigh the pros and cons, assess how accurate the posts are, stumble on some owl facts, and see how Google’s own GenAI tool, Gemini, can be used as a creativity tool.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr072-transcript

SEO Starter Guide → https://goo.gle/42alrmy

rel=prev/next isn't a signal → https://goo.gle/4aIWz8F

Managing Multi-Regional Sites → https://goo.gle/3J3u5e9

Bubble chart analysis → https://goo.gle/49q9VW8

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Gemini for Social Posts: Game Edition Apr 25, 2024

Deciphering INP and Core Web Vitals Mar 28, 2024

In this episode of Search Off the Record, John Mueller and Lizzi Sassman are joined by Rick Viscomi from the Chrome Web Performance team to discuss the importance of understanding what users seek to accomplish and optimizing accordingly, rather than focusing solely on metric scores. Listen along as the Search team touches on metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and the latest Interaction to Next Paint (INP) as pieces of the pie for a better user experience.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr071-transcript

Introducing INP to Core Web Vitals → https://goo.gle/4ar2UW6

Page Experience & Google Search → https://goo.gle/49cEWgm

Rick on X (formerly Twitter)→ https://goo.gle/3PCe4ze

Core Web Vitals on Stack Overflow → https://goo.gle/4awMqvw

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Speaker: John Mueller, Lizzi Sassman, Rick Viscomi,

Products Mentioned: Search Off The Record,

Transcript for Deciphering INP and Core Web Vitals Mar 28, 2024

What is a web crawler, really? Mar 14, 2024

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman take a deep dive into crawling the web: what is a web crawler, and how does it really work? Listen along as the Search team is joined by an expert web developer in the SEO community, Dave Smart, for an in-depth and technical discussion of all things crawling, and maybe dispel some myths along the way.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr070-transcript

Managing your crawl budget → https://goo.gle/3IzRZxl

Dave Smart on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3wPSuRA

Tame the Bots → https://goo.gle/4cfCQ1P

Search Central Help Forum → https://goo.gle/sc-forum

Indexing API docs → https://goo.gle/3v8yVU0

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Speaker: Gary Illyes, Lizzi Sassman

Products Mentioned: Search Off The Record

Transcript for What is a web crawler, really? Mar 14, 2024

Search Central Product Experts Feb 21, 2024

In this episode of Search Off the Record, John Mueller and Lizzi Sassman sit down with Aaseesh Marina, Product Support Manager, to discuss the Search Central community forums. Did you know there is a group of Product Experts and community members that can help you navigate your SEO questions? Listen along as the Search Team takes a deep dive into the Search Central help community forum and discover why it should be your go-to guide for any SEO help.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr069-transcript

Search Central help community → https://goo.gle/3sViTv3

Product Expert program → https://goo.gle/3SL6jrI

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Speaker: John Mueller; Lizzi Sassman;

Products Mentioned: Search Off The Record;

Transcript for Search Central Product Experts Feb 21, 2024

Rewriting the SEO Starter Guide Jan 25, 2024

The SEO Starter Guide is getting a refresh! Have you ever wondered how the Search team plans and writes such a document? In this episode of Search Off the Record, John Mueller, Gary Illyes, and Lizzi Sassman discuss which topics are still relevant, the right level of detail for a starter guide, and whether or not including anti-patterns in documentation is a good idea.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr068-transcript

SEO Starter Guide → https://goo.gle/42alrmy

SEO Starter Guide: What’s all the drama? → https://goo.gle/4b6ZLMq

Let’s pick a domain name → https://goo.gle/3tezc6t

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Speaker: John Mueller; Gary Illyes; Lizzi Sassman;,

Products Mentioned: Search Console;,

Transcript for Rewriting the SEO Starter Guide Jan 25, 2024

2023: Year in review Dec 21, 2023

In this episode of Search, Martin, John, and Gary look back at 2023 and reminisce on some of this year’s Search announcements. From updates to Core Web Vitals to going back to basics of website titling, the team covers a wide range of announcements and updates in the world of SEO.

Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr067-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team. #SOTRpodcast

Transcript for 2023: Year in review Dec 21, 2023

Which aspect of my site should I focus on? Nov 21, 2023

In this episode of Search, Martin, Gary, and John discuss aspects of SEO that website owners often overlook. From overall quality to more technical aspects, The Search team talks about where they focus on their SEO work and why the details add up to a better SEO experience. Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr066-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team. #SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Which aspect of my site should I focus on? Nov 21, 2023

Features and deprecations on Steve Nov 07, 2023

In this episode of Search, John, Gary, and Martin discuss why the search team adds and removes features on their search engine, Steve. From creating a better user experience to surfacing relevant answers for search queries, maintaining an organized webspace requires continual retooling. Tune into this episode of Search Off the Record to learn about what the team considers when updating their search engine itself! Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr065-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team. #SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Features and deprecations on Steve Nov 07, 2023

The effect of quality on Search Sep 19, 2023

In this episode of Search, John and Gary discuss the impact of quality on search results. From sitemaps to scheduling and more, the Google Search team talks about how the quality of the page and site plays a role in crawling and indexing, besides ranking. Do you need to update your site often or add many links? Tune in and find out on this episode of Search Off the Record! Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr064-transcript Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team. #SOTRpodcast

Transcript for The effect of quality on Search Sep 19, 2023

Let's talk ranking updates Aug 22, 2023

The Google Search algorithm has been updated and panic quickly sets in. In this episode of Search, Martin, John, and Danny help content creators everywhere focus on the value they bring into the digital world. From changing ranking systems to updated documentation, the Google Search team discusses their holistic approach to SEO, ranking, and more! Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr063-transcript Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team. #SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Let's talk ranking updates Aug 22, 2023

Let’s pick a domain name Jul 20, 2023

A top-level domain (TLD) is the last part of a domain name, after the dot, and identifies the type of organization the domain belongs to, or the country the domain is targeting. Some examples include .com, .org, .ai, .ch, .xyz. In this episode of Search, John, Gary, and Martin help you choose the best top-level domain for you and your website, including price, popularity, and if a custom one makes a difference in search engines. They also touch upon second-level domains, dashes, keywords, their effect on SEO, and more! Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr062-transcript Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team. #SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Let’s pick a domain name Jul 20, 2023

Why is my site not indexed? Jun 22, 2023

Martin, John, and Gary discuss the potential reasons why your website or page is not indexed, both from a technical and quality perspective. Learn about the tools and reports available in Google Search Console to help determine why your website is not indexed.

Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr061-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team. #SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Why is my site not indexed? Jun 22, 2023

Q&A: You asked on Linkedin, we answered in here May 30, 2023

In this episode of Search Off the Record, John, Gary, and Martin answer highly sought-after questions left on Gary’s Linkedin post. They share the drawbacks of client-side rendering, how Web3 would affect SEO, and more. Why do 410 response codes show the same as 404s in Search Console? Is it treated differently in the backend? Find out that, and more from how the Search team would rebuild a search engine differently from Google’s to what the team has learned from the billions of search queries it’s received over the years.

Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr060-transcript Check out the Google Search Centra YouTube channel → https://goo.gle/43lCh1h

Check out the Google Search Central blog → https://goo.gle/3CJW3sH

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team. #SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Q&A: You asked on Linkedin, we answered in here May 30, 2023

Staging and launching a site Apr 05, 2023

In this episode of Search Off the Record, John, Gary, and Lizzi chat about launching websites. Launching a website can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially staging your website for launch, or if you’re a seasoned website owner and want to stage a new feature. How can you prevent a staging site from becoming indexed? Who are the people having the problem with the staging servers? What is the difference between a site launch and migration? Listen to this podcast episode to find out!

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr059-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Staging and launching a site Apr 05, 2023

JavaScript at Google Mar 23, 2023

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Googlers Edu Pereda and Pascal Birchler join Martin Splitt to chat in-depth about programming languages, JavaScript and TypeScript. Learn more about the projects they use JavaScript with, why people have strong emotions towards JavaScript, what they like and dislike about the controversial programming language, and more! Has Javascript improved? Is there such a thing as modern JavaScript? Is it possible WebAssembly could replace TypeScript? Listen to find out!

Transcript →

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast #JavaScript

Transcript for JavaScript at Google Mar 23, 2023

Search and Open Source Mar 08, 2023

On this episode of Search Off the Record, guest Edu Pereda, Engineer at Google joins Martin Splitt and Gary Illyes to chat about Search Open Sourcing projects. Open source is a source code made available for the public to modify and distribute. Learn about the Search open source library projects, requirements in mind when creating open source libraries, why not every library can be open source, and more in this podcast episode!

Resources:

Episode transcript →https://goo.gle/sotr057-transcript Find us on Twitter → https://goo.gle/3JgUSEB Edu Pereda on Twitter → https://goo.gle/3ZntryE

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast #Opensource

Transcript for Search and Open Source Mar 08, 2023

Site moves: Are they getting any easier? Feb 23, 2023

With the right resources, site moves or domain changes don’t have to be as hard as we once remember. In this episode of Search Off the Record, join Lizzi, Gary, and John for a chat about site moves. Learn about the different types of site moves, common issues, and how to move your site without harming search ranking results. Find out how site moves affect users and Search, how there could be a drop in traffic, and more.

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr056-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for Site moves: Are they getting any easier? Feb 23, 2023

Search Console Help Center Jan 12, 2023

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Josh Cohen, a Tech Writer on the Search Console Team, joins John and Lizzi to chat about the Search Console Help Center. They dive into who drives changes in Search Console, tips for writing feedback, and questions to ask when deciding the right level of information to give in a document. Learn the differences between product and doc issues, not being able to remove content from a website you don't own, and more!

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr053-transcript

Search Console Help Center → https://goo.gle/3k34NU5

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Search Console Help Center Jan 12, 2023

Year in review 2022 Dec 22, 2022

John, Gary, and Lizzi wrap up 2022 by reflecting on projects, events, and past episodes of Search Off the Record. They discuss the most surprising aspect of 2022, updating Search documentation, and much more!

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr055-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Year in review 2022 Dec 22, 2022

Search Status Dashboard Dec 14, 2022

On this episode of Search Off the Record, John, Gary, and Lizzi chat about the Google Search Status Dashboard for incident reporting. They discuss what prompted the dashboard, how this compares to reporting Search incidents on Twitter, and more! Learn how the dashboard can streamline communication between Google and those reporting incidents.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr054-transcript

Status Dashboard → https://goo.gle/3Wt80KL

How To Use the Dashboard → https://goo.gle/3HvwHls

Blog: When indexing goes wrong (2019) → https://goo.gle/3HvwHls

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Search Status Dashboard Dec 14, 2022

From journalism to SEO with Jennifer Slegg Nov 30, 2022

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Gary and Lizzi talk with a guest from the larger Search Marketing Community, Jennifer Slegg - an expert on all things Search Engine Marketing, specializing in the Quality Rater's Guidelines and E-A-T. Reminisce about the internet in the early 2000s, hand-coded websites, minimal search results, no ads, and straight-to-the-point content. Jennifer shares her experience transitioning from journalist to Search Marketer, the writing process for her well-known detailed analysis on changes in the Quality Rater's Guidelines, and more! Was there any data available about what people searched for in the early 2000s? What does E-A-T stand for? Listen to find out!

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr051-transcript

Jennifer on Twitter → https://goo.gle/3OKwNad

Jennifer's 2022 guide to understanding Quality Rater Guidelines updates → https://goo.gle/3OKwNad

The SEM Post → https://goo.gle/3UjqMm9

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for From journalism to SEO with Jennifer Slegg Nov 30, 2022

Let’s talk redirects Nov 17, 2022

Redirects are a genuine approach to moving something from one place to another. In this episode of Search Off the Record, John and Martin talk about the different types of redirects and which one you may want to use. They share the differences between 301 and 302 redirects, what type of redirects 308 and 307 are, why someone may want to use a JavaScript redirect over a meta refresh-type redirect, and more. They also cover merging and splitting domains, frustrating geo-targeting redirects, and redirects for mobile and desktop.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr052-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Let’s talk redirects Nov 17, 2022

LIVE Q&A from brightonSEO Nov 03, 2022

Join John, Lizzi, and guest, Myriam Jessier, SEO Trainer, for a live recording of SOTR from brightonSEO: a conference where SEOs gather to chat, network, and learn about search marketing. In this episode, they answer a bunch of questions hand-picked before the event. They cover topics like which is better: subdomain or subdirectory, to criteria for penalizing backlinks, and the pros and cons to templated content outlines. Learn about adding schema types, image alt, and more!

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr050-transcript

brightonSEO website → https://goo.gle/3TVlfm0 Mryiams Jessier’s website → https://goo.gle/3W6iUGU

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for LIVE Q&A from brightonSEO Nov 03, 2022

Search Central docs and SEO Oct 20, 2022

Find out if Google Search Central implements its SEO best practices and guidelines on its own website and documentation! Hosts John and Lizzi discuss SEO tools, sitemaps, hreflang links, robots.txt, click-through rates, and more. They cover what they’ve implemented, what they are thinking of updating, and what they are passing on. Hear all things link related, categorizing, and working with an external SEO agency during rebranding.

Episode transcript → http://goo.gle/sor049-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for Search Central docs and SEO Oct 20, 2022

Let's talk image SEO Oct 06, 2022

Do you want to know how to increase traffic to your website with images? What about making your website more accessible for screen readers with alt text for an image? Our hosts John and Lizzi chat about optimizing for image search. They cover everything from naming your image file, how often Googlebot crawls images, increasing visibility of your page through image search, to improving alt text and image accessibility.

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr048-transcript

Google images best practices → https://goo.gle/3CAevUD

SEO for Google Images | Search Central Lightning Talks → https://goo.gle/3e76PQo

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Let's talk image SEO Oct 06, 2022

The early days of Google Search Central Sep 22, 2022

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Vanessa Fox, a former Google employee, joins hosts John and Lizzi to talk about the early days of Google Search Central (or shall we say, Webmaster Tools). She shares the beginnings of the Sitemaps tool, Webmaster Help group, Webmaster Tools, and more!

Resources:Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr047-transcript Our very first blog post, authored by Vanessa Fox → https://goo.gle/3qEM6WM URL Structure guidelines → https://goo.gle/3U3T8BU SEO Compendium → https://goo.gle/3C0RsCn Keylime Toolbox → https://goo.gle/3xIipIn Vanessa Fox on twitter → https://goo.gle/3xJmOLa

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for The early days of Google Search Central Sep 22, 2022

Non-HTML files on the web Sep 08, 2022

Join hosts Gary and Lizzi for a chat about file types on the web beyond HTML, like PDFs, PowerPoints, and images. We cover issues with all sorts of file types, if you should convert your weird file into HTML, what file types are indexed, and more on non-HTML files.

Resources: PDFs in Google search results → https://goo.gle/3RZ16dV

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr046-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Non-HTML files on the web Sep 08, 2022

PODCAST TRAILER: Welcome to Search Off the Record Sep 01, 2022

What is Search Off the Record? Listen to our podcast trailer! Do you geek out about SEO? Are you interested in exploring on-going projects with the people that work on Google Search? Well, look no further! Listen to the Search Off the Record podcast to go behind the scenes of SEO and Google Search, all while having fun and mischief with our hosts from the Search Relations team from Google: Gary Illyes, Lizzi Sassman, John Mueller, and Martin Splitt.

Watch the Search Off the Record podcast trailer on YouTube → https://goo.gle/3RmjuNe

Listen to Search Off the Record on YouTube → https://goo.gle/3PShrA2

Listen to Search Off the Record on Libsyn → https://goo.gle/3am6jMx

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Should I worry about crawl budget? Aug 25, 2022

There is a lot of confusion around crawl budget so Martin, Lizzi, and Gary from Search Relations are here to bring clarity for everyone unsure about it. Are you worried about your website not being crawled quickly? Not sure what consumes and wastes your crawl budget? Learn when you should and shouldn’t be worried about your crawl budget. This episode covers misconceptions and frequently asked questions concerning crawl budget.

Resources:

What Crawl Budget Means for Googlebot → https://goo.gle/3pIwXTM

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr045-transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Transcript for Should I worry about crawl budget? Aug 25, 2022

Let’s talk accessibility Aug 11, 2022

In this episode of Search Off The Record, guest Danny Farra, UX Interaction Designer at Google, joins Lizzi Sassman to chat about accessibility of websites. We explore how to get started with accessibility, from using a screen reader for the first time to assessing contrast ratio and cognitive accessibility. Listen to this podcast to learn about assisted technology tools like screen readers and more!

Resources:

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr044-Transcript

Google Accessibility → https://goo.gle/3A5C6LG

Danny Farra on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3A6OJX6

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for Let’s talk accessibility Aug 11, 2022

Transcript for How do removals work in Google Search, really? Aug 04, 2022

How do removals work in Google Search, really? Aug 04, 2022

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Lizzi Sassman, John Mueller, and Gary Illyes have an insightful conversation around how removals work in Google Search. Specifically, they chat about how Google Search operates when removals are in the mix. How does crawling, indexing, and blocking work in the backend? What really happens at each of these stages when it comes to removals? Listen to this podcast to get a behind-the-scenes look at Google Search

Resources:

Check out our episode about blocking → https://goo.gle/3P1UWYq

Control what you share with Google → https://goo.gle/3oUyoym

In-depth guide to how Google Search works → https://goo.gle/3bx2CV2

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr043-Transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

How Barry Schwartz Created RustyBrick Jul 14, 2022

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Lizzi Sassman and Gary Illyes sit down with Barry Schwartz - a search engine connoisseur. Specifically, they explore how Barry runs his online career, balancing RustyBrick and Search Engine Roundtable. We even talk about website development, and the origin story behind RustyBrick - a web construction firm specializing in website development, web page design, SEO optimization, and more!

Check out and subscribe to Barry Schwartz’s YouTube channel → https://goo.gle/3z3FCWw

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr042-Transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for How Barry Schwartz Created RustyBrick Jul 14, 2022

Transcript for How can you block content from Google Search? Jun 30, 2022

How can you block content from Google Search? Jun 30, 2022

In this episode of Search Off the Record, we take a look at what it takes to block content from Google Search. Lizzi Sassman, Gary Illyes, and John Mueller chat about the role of robots.txt files and robots meta tags. What roles do they play in crawling and indexing? What other practices can you employ to remove unwanted content from Google Search? Listen to this podcast to discover some useful Search tips and tricks when it comes to barring content.

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr041-Transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Let’s talk about UX and SEO Jun 21, 2022

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Martin Splitt, Gary Illyes, and Lizzi Sassman sit down to talk about user experience and SEO. What is UX? Besides Core Web Vitals, what other things could we try to automatically infer about the user experience of a site? From interstitials to site structure, our team of Search experts sit down and chat about the relationship between UX and SEO.

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr040-Transcript

Let’s talk Core Web Vitals video → https://goo.gle/3xyX0k9

Let’s talk Core Web Vitals podcast → https://goo.gle/3xWcQGJ

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for Let’s talk about UX and SEO Jun 21, 2022

Transcript for A spotlight on SEO and data with Michelle Robbins Jun 02, 2022

A spotlight on SEO and data with Michelle Robbins Jun 02, 2022

In this episode of Search Off the Record, we talk with Michelle Robbins - a software engineer by trade and member of the Search Marketing community. Lizzi Sassman and Gary Illyes sit down with Michelle to discuss how she got interested in SEO and even talk about data’s relation to SEO. How can data improve your SEO? Moreover, they explore common issues with data: bias, misrepresentation, and correlation vs. causation. Listen to this episode to see where the worlds of data and SEO overlap.

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr039-Transcript

Michelle Robbins on Twitter → https://goo.gle/3Nd8jVE

Michelle Robbins on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3PWnpAM

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for Let's talk about Web 3.0 May 19, 2022

Let’s talk about Web 3.0 May 19, 2022

With Web 3.0 on the horizon, it’s hard to not talk about the next evolution of the internet. In this episode of Search Off The Record, Martin Splitt, Gary Illyes, and Alan Kent offer up their thoughts about the World Wide Web’s next iteration, and fondly recollect their experiences with older versions of the web. They ponder what people think Web 3.0 is and what it might become. Is it decentralized? Is it crypto? Both or none of that?

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr038-Transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for Let’s talk sitemaps May 05, 2022

Let’s talk sitemaps May 05, 2022

A sitemap is a file where you provide information about the pages, videos, and other files on your site, and the relationships between them. In this episode of Search Off the Record, we sit down with Gary Illyes, John Mueller, and Lizzi Sassman to discuss all things sitemaps. How do they help with website SEO? What is the future of sitemaps? Listen to this episode to find out!

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr037-Transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for The Story of Kenichi Suzuki Apr 26, 2022

The Story of Kenichi Suzuki Apr 26, 2022

In this episode of Search Off The Record, we talk with Kenichi Suzuki, a member of the larger search marketing community. Lizzi Sassman and Gary Illyes talk with Kenichi about his career in SEO, how he got started, and what advice he would give to those just starting out. Listen to this episode to gain valuable insight into the SEO world, and SEO in Japan!

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr036-Transcript

Follow Kenichi on Twitter → https://goo.gle/3Li7BoX

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Structured data: What's it all about? Apr 07, 2022

In this episode of Search Off The Record, we take a deep dive into structured data. Our hosts Martin Splitt and Lizzi Sassman talk with Ryan Levering, a software engineer at Google, about the importance of structured data, impactful things you can do with it, how Google uses it, and more! If you’re wanting to know the in’s and out’s of structured data, this episode is for you. Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr035-Transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

fullname: Lizzi Sassman, Martin Splitt;

Transcript for Structured data: What's it all about? Apr 07, 2022

De-SEOing: ants vs π Mar 24, 2022

You did a great job optimizing your site for search; however, it's attracting the wrong traffic from search engines. What are your options to correct this unexpected behavior? In this podcast, Martin Splitt, Gary Illyes, and Lizzi Sassman take a deep dive on how to determine if the search traffic is the correct audience, de-SEOing, and why it's such an interesting subject. Remove a page hosted on your site from Google → https://goo.gle/3JxlGhJ

Get videos on Google with schema markup → https://goo.gle/3JwayBn

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr034-Transcript

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for De-SEOing: ants vs π Mar 24, 2022

Cats, muffins and more: Videos in Search Mar 10, 2022

Let’s talk about the fascinating and surprising ways search engines index video content. In this podcast, Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman chat with Danielle Marshak - Product Manager for Search - about how images, structured data, content protections, and more influence the way search engines surface content. Learn some best practices for surfacing your videos in search!

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr033-Transcript

Video indexing best practices → https://goo.gle/3vFuAWg

Google's Artificial Brain Learns to Find Cat Videos blog post → https://goo.gle/3Moy4T2

Try out Muffin Films → https://goo.gle/3CdodKZ

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Transcript for Cats, muffins and more: Videos in Search Mar 10, 2022