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Tag Archives: meta robots
Can Technical SEO Issues Trigger HCU Penalties? Here’s What You Should Know
When Google rolls out a major algorithm update like the Helpful Content Update (HCU), many websites see fluctuations in their rankings. While HCU is mostly designed to reward content that is written for humans, not for search engines, some technical SEO issues can inadvertently make your site look less helpful to users - and that could get you caught in the crossfire.
After analyzing several SEO case studies and forums, and from personal experience fixing penalized sites,
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Posted in Ask David!, Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Tagged .htaccess, 301 redirect, 404 errors, broken pages, core web vitals, crawl, crawl errors, crawl traps, crawlability, defer js, duplicate content, fast loading times, free ssl, hcu, hcu penalties, helpful content update, high-quality content, htaccess, htaccess redirects, internal links, javascript, meta robots, mobile-friendly test, noindex, outbound links, redirect loops, rich results test, robots.txt, screaming frog, search engine optimization, search engine ranking, seo, seo issues, speed, ssl, technical seo, thin content, trust, user experience, webp, webp converter
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Should you block bots and crawlers from your website?
“Ask David!” question: "Is it a bad idea for SEO and search engine indexing and ranking to block bots and crawlers from accessing your website?"
Short Answer: Yes.
Blocking search engine bots and crawlers from accessing your website is generally a bad idea if your goal is to achieve good SEO rankings and search engine indexing. Here's why:
- Invisibility to Search Engines: When you block bots and crawlers, your website becomes invisible to search engines like Google. They won't be
Posted in Ask David!, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Website Traffic
Tagged backlinks, bots, cloaking, crawlers, fast website, fast-loading times, high-quality content, invisibility, keyword ranking, meta robots, mobile optimization, organic traffic, responsive app, search engine crawl, search engine optimization, search engine ranking, seo, sitemap generator, target keywords, webpage indexing, website speed, xml sitemap
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