Goossips SEO: Indexing, Login Pages, Structured Data, SEO Optimizations

Low-relevance content can explain poor indexing

On Bluesky, John Mueller said that if a technically sound site is poorly indexed by Google, it often means that Google considers its quality or relevance insufficientGoogle doesn't index all content: only sites and pages judged useful, relevant and of quality are well indexed. Creating content solely for SEO, without a strong connection to your actual activity, does not help indexing or conversions. It is therefore essential to prioritize quality and the alignment of content with your real offering.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Nothing new here. John Mueller has already stated in the past that just because pages are technically indexable doesn't mean Google will necessarily index them, particularly if they are not considered useful or of sufficient quality.

Goossip #2

Google has trouble indexing login pages

John Mueller explained on Bluesky that login pages for services (such as analytics or billing interfaces) are difficult to rank well in Google or Bing search results. These pages, which require authentication, pose problems for search engines that struggle to index them correctly. He was responding to a user's comment noting that the Bing Webmaster Tools login page did not appear correctly in Google. John Mueller acknowledged that Google had encountered the same problem with Search ConsoleHe also specified that the topic will probably be discussed in an upcoming podcast with Martin Splitt.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Given their nature, it is not particularly surprising that this type of page is not among those Google finds easiest to index.

Goossip #3

Information not visible to logged-out users should not appear in structured data

On Bluesky, John Mueller explained that you should not include in structured data information that is not visible to logged-out users. If content, such as a product price, is only shown to logged-in users, it must not be marked up or communicated to GoogleMarkup must always be strictly tied to content displayed publicly; breaking this rule, which can be seen as an attempt to manipulate, risks losing rich snippets, receiving penalties, or suffering a rankings drop.

Source: Search Engine Journal

Note that the case of prices reserved for logged-in users is not comparable to paid content behind a paywall, for which Google provides specific markup. Here, the information is simply not intended for the general public, hence Google's refusal to take it into account.

Goossip #4

Google sees no problem modifying its site for SEO

In the Search Off The Record podcast, John Mueller and Martin Splitt said thatit is perfectly acceptable to modify your site in order to test or improve its SEOYou should nevertheless weigh the risk/reward ratio: testing on a small site or a single page has little consequence, but on a large site it can have a significant impact. That’s why it’s useful to run tests first in a preproduction environment. John Mueller also recommends monitoring the effect of these changes using tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

Source: Search Engine Journal

Although the two Google figures obviously have no objection to you modifying your site for SEO purposes, their comments should be qualified. Google views SEO as a generally acceptable practice, provided it remains transparent, respectful of users, and aligned with the site's content. In other words, if your main goal is to manipulate the algorithm or deceive users, the consequences for your rankings are likely to be unpleasant.