Official source
Do sitemaps still matter?
Do XML sitemaps still matter? Martin Splitt and John Mueller look back at their history, ask whether crawlers can work out site structure alone, and discuss why fetch warnings in Search Console worry owners.
Topic
Search Console
7 videos.
Search Console is the free tool where Google reports how it sees your site: which pages it has indexed, which searches show them and which errors it found. Only people who have verified a site, or been given access, can see its data. It is a sensible first stop when a page is missing from results.
How to read the Indexing Report suits beginners and explains why a healthy site does not need every page indexed. Do sitemaps still matter? is a podcast-style chat from the same team. For readers who already use the reports, GSC Lies argues that the data can mislead and compares it with server logs. Other videos come from software companies, including a Rank Math walkthrough of one canonical message. The traffic-drop webinar is from late 2023, so compare its steps with what the tool shows today.
Sells in this field
Sitemaps are often treated as an afterthought - Carlos Manuel Sánchez Donate
Sitemaps deserve more attention than they get, argues Carlos Manuel Sánchez Donate, who says they tell search engines and LLMs which parts of a site matter and suggests splitting them by content type.
Official source
How to read the Indexing Report
Should you worry when Search Console lists pages as not indexed? Martin Splitt and John Mueller explain how to read the Page Indexing report and whether a 404 always means a broken site.
Independent practitioner
GSC Lies: Crawled But Not Indexed, Log File Analysis, Rank Tracking & Brand Search Optimization
Crawled but not indexed does not always mean ignored, the speakers argue, as many such pages still get impressions; they compare Search Console data with server logs to find gaps in the reports.
Trade press or conference
Maybe It Isn't JavaScript - Martin Splitt at SearchNorwich 18
Is JavaScript really the cause of your SEO problem? Martin Splitt argues that SEOs are quick to blame it, and shows how to troubleshoot with Google Search Console and real examples.
Sells in this field
[Solved] Duplicate / Alternate Page with Proper Canonical Tag
Canonical errors in Google Search Console, including the alternate page status, can be fixed by following this walkthrough, which also explains how canonical tags point search engines to the preferred version of a page.
Sells in this field
How to Spot and Fix Sudden Drops in Website Traffic
Website traffic that drops suddenly needs a cause found, and Jill Caren works through Search Console, checks on the search results and recent technical changes to find it.
Older: check current guidance
