Asked by the SEO community during a recent question and answer session, John Mueller, webmaster trends analyst at Google, came back on a sea serpent according to which the search engine would devalue the hidden content of a web page.
Some sites tend to offer a system of tabs or accordions to avoid concentrating a large volume of text on the same page, which could discourage a user and encourage him to leave a site, especially in the context of mobile browsing, where the screen size makes it more difficult to read content that is too long.
Google takes into account content “which could be visible to users at a given time”
During the Hangout which took place on March 31, 2020 via the Google Webmasters YouTube channel, John Mueller was asked if, with mobile-first indexing, the text and content hidden behind tabs and accordions were devalued, as they are less likely to be seen by users.
John Mueller’s response was clear: ” no “. Google’s webmaster trends analyst clarified the philosophy of the search engine on this subject:
More specifically, with regard to the content of mobile pages, we take into account everything that is in the HTML code. So if there is something that could be seen by users at some point, we will include it .
According to him, even if a part is hidden by CSS for a better user experience, it is well taken into account by Google, from the moment when it can be visible to users.
A position that has evolved since the launch of the mobile-first index
Until now, Google’s position has not been very clear on the subject, leaving part of the SEO community to believe that content, if not immediately visible to the naked eye, could have less of weight in the eyes of the search engine.
This position seems to have changed, especially since the introduction of the mobile-first index. Gary Illyes tweeted in 2016 : ” In the mobile-first world, the hidden content for the UX should have its full weight “. John Mueller’s statement during the recent Hangout thus confirms Google’s position on content that is not visible directly when a web page loads.
Comments are closed.