Millions of individuals now use Google as their primary search engine, which is hardly surprising given its wealth of information and resources. However, it is understandably easy to forget the importance of controlling what Google indexes. In this article, we will examine Google’s stance on staging sites and how they prevent accidental indexing. We will also discuss the benefits of staging sites and explain some best practices for keeping your content from being prematurely indexed by Google.
Navigating The Challenges Of Launching Websites And Keeping Staging Sites Private
Anyone seeking to establish a website must listen to Google’s Search Off The Record podcast’s most recent episode. The episode explores difficulties with a website launch and how to keep test pages from being found by Google.
Google employees Gary Illyes, Martin Splitt, and John Mueller are featured in the program. They discuss the technicalities of keeping staging sites private while still testing them out.
They also touch on how developers can avoid unintentionally letting crawling occur on their staging site, which can cause issues with SEO rankings once the final site goes live.
Contents
It’s Quite Difficult To Detect You If You’re Not Linked To Anything Online
It’s quite difficult to detect if you’re not linked to anything online. This is according to Gary Illyes. He emphasized the importance of links and mentioned when it comes to search engine optimization. These two elements, according to him, are essential to getting Google to take notice of your website.
Illyes went on to explain that if you’re not linking or mentioning something on your website or social media platforms, then it’s unlikely that others will take notice of it either.
Illyes explained that robots.txt is usually enough to stop search engines from crawling staging sites. This means that you can easily prevent your unfinished website from appearing in search results and protect your SEO efforts.
See Also: 5 Ways Links Help In Increasing Ranking In SEO
But what if you choose to employ a different strategy? According to Illyes, there are other options, such as using the noindex tag, using passwords, and whitelisting IPs.
Launching 7,000 Articles Simultaneously – Is It Possible, And What Are The Challenges?
John Mueller and Gary Illyes have recently confirmed that launching 7,000 articles simultaneously is definitely possible. This stands true only as long as a server has sufficient resources.
Illyes also acknowledged that ensuring quality assurance (QA) would be challenging with the launch of so many articles at once. However, implementing a proper QA process before publishing the articles can easily overcome this challenge.
See Also: Hard To Call A Site Authoritative After 30 Articles, Says Google
Gary Illyes On Free Hostnames Vs Custom Domain Names
Choosing a domain name for your website is an exciting process. But what about using free hostnames?
Illyes shared his insight on the choice between free hostnames and custom domain names. Basically, he stated that it ultimately depends on your needs.
According to Illyes, using a free hostname is a good option if you have a personal blog or hobby site. It’s quick and easy to set up, and there’s no cost involved.
However, investing in a custom domain name is key for businesses or websites looking to establish their brand identity online. A customized domain name looks more professional and gives you full control over your website’s branding and SEO.