Search Off the Record takes you behind the scenes of Google Search and its inner workings! In each episode, the folks from the Search Relations team will give you background info on the decision-making behind launches, feature prioritization in Search Console, and the projects Google Search teams are working on. They will share fun stories from the many conferences they attend as well as from their day-to-day working life at Google.
Transcript for Crawling smarter, not harder
8/8/2024 • 0
Internationalization & hreflang
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
7/25/2024 • 38 minutes, 30 seconds
Rendering JavaScript for Google Search
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
7/11/2024 • 25 minutes, 20 seconds
Transcript for Inside Search Quality: Using metrics and data science to improve Search
6/27/2024 • 0
Inside Search Quality: Using metrics and data science to improve Search
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
6/27/2024 • 36 minutes, 23 seconds
Cosmic Rays & Crawlers: When Google Search is under the weather
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
6/6/2024 • 27 minutes, 24 seconds
Transcript for Cosmic Rays & Crawlers: When Google Search is under the weather
6/6/2024 • 0
Building SEO community with office hours
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
5/23/2024 • 32 minutes, 22 seconds
Transcript for Building SEO community with office hours
5/23/2024 • 0
Let’s talk Content Decay
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.
5/9/2024 • 33 minutes, 27 seconds
Transcript for Let’s talk Content Decay
5/9/2024 • 0
Gemini for Social Posts: Game Edition
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
4/25/2024 • 32 minutes, 24 seconds
Transcript for Gemini for Social Posts: Game Edition
4/25/2024 • 0
Deciphering INP and Core Web Vitals
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,
3/28/2024 • 35 minutes, 49 seconds
Transcript for Deciphering INP and Core Web Vitals
3/28/2024 • 0
What is a web crawler, really?
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
3/14/2024 • 30 minutes, 5 seconds
Transcript for What is a web crawler, really?
3/14/2024 • 0
Search Central Product Experts
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;
2/21/2024 • 23 minutes, 57 seconds
Transcript for Search Central Product Experts
2/21/2024 • 0
Rewriting the SEO Starter Guide
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;,
1/25/2024 • 25 minutes, 24 seconds
Transcript for Rewriting the SEO Starter Guide
1/25/2024 • 0
2023: Year in review
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