Activity
14K followers
-
Gary Illyes shared thisI have a hat. Its name is Kevin. Chicken is missing.Gary Illyes shared thisBooooooo… It’s Halloweeeeeeen. 🎃 Be scared of 404 pages! 👻 Actually, should you be? Episode 3 of The Non-Canonical Cabinet is out! Are 404 digital ghosts draining your crawl budget? Are you scaring your users away with your digital graveyard? 🪦 Also. Where is Chicken? 🐔 In this episode: 👻 The 404 horror story: Are your dead pages actively haunting your healthy pages on Search? 🧟 Managing your digital graveyard: Is it a good idea to redirect all broken links to your homepage? 🤠 The 3-step framework: When to let dead URLs pass on peacefully with a 404 or 410 status code (cue: "Let it go") and when to redirect? 🕷️ Crawl budget: Do 404 errors drain your crawl budget? Come for the HTTP status codes, stay to find out if we ever find Chicken again: https://lnkd.in/eQqyANJV Starring Cherry (suiting up for business frameworks) and Gary (grieving the chicken). #SEO #GoogleSearchCentral #NonCanonicalCabinet #TechnicalSEO #404Error #Halloween
-
Gary Illyes shared thisYou know what would be a damn shame? If someone handed Cherry and me a budget and relatively free rein to start a video series. It definitely wouldn't dissolve into chaos, and we certainly wouldn't blow it on an absurd mountain of emotional support rubber chickens. https://lnkd.in/eK9faYJ4
-
Gary Illyes shared thisAnd they STILL let me post on the GSC account \o/ We received so, so many great community speaker pitches, it feels great to finally have the agenda done and all the speakers lined up. Two weeks...Gary Illyes shared this🎉 We are officially just two weeks away from Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 in Barcelona! 🎉 We're incredibly hyped to share our stellar lineup of the industry-leading 🎤 community speakers 🎤 who will be taking the stage for fast-paced Lightning Talks or hosting interactive, 1:1 Poster Sessions. Check out the newly published blog post to meet the real stars of our event and connect with them wherever you get high quality social connections! 👇 👉 https://lnkd.in/dMSvQHpz 👈 👆 PS: that ought to be enough emojis. Gary should be safeSearch Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026: Meet the community speakers | Google Search Central Blog | Google for DevelopersSearch Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026: Meet the community speakers | Google Search Central Blog | Google for Developers
-
Gary Illyes shared thisMaking a slide deck about the history of search made me realize I'm old. And I like it. I've been on the web long enough to witness its absolute peaks (Archie, Gopher, manual Boolean operators) and its absolute lowest (that goat-related horror that rhymes with footsie). SEO dies every year, the open web dies every 5 years, Google dies every... 10 years? Nothing changes, yet everything changes, all the time, everywhere. The UI evolves, the panic stays the same, and the underlying job remains finding actual value in the noise. Just differently. Anyway, the next couple weeks I'll be in Seoul for Search SEOul, in Tokyo for an event by Kenichi Suzuki, and finally in Shenzhen for Shenzhen SEO. If you're at any of those events, let's have coffee.
-
Gary Illyes shared thisIf you're wondering what *proper* escaping is in JSON, I have good news for you! It's very, very well defined in RFC 8259, specifically section 7 https://lnkd.in/emTf2Vm4Gary Illyes shared thisTo bring our parser up to JSON and other standards, we changed our JSON-LD extraction and are now only applying a single pass of HTML unescaping. Practically speaking, this means that double-escaped entities (like & or ✔) will no longer be unrolled. If you're using JSON-LD for structured data, be sure to update your code to standard JSON escapes or Unicode hexadecimal escapes (like \u0026).
-
Gary Illyes shared thisI figured out why people were pinging me about more exotic HTTP verbs the past few weeks: HTTP has a new method called QUERY. We generally pick between two trade-offs when developing for the internets: - use GET, which packs every parameter into the URL string. It is safe and cacheable, but URLs break when search filters grow complex, or - use POST, which accepts a request body of any size, but intermediaries do not cache it by default. QUERY combines the missing pieces. It is safe, idempotent (which is a word I learned from Martin but have no idea what it means), and cacheable like GET, while sending a structured payload body like POST. Why care? Because faceted navigation and heavy search filters, that's why. Instead of generating ridiculous query strings or using ugly POST routes that break edge/CDN caching and sometimes crawlability, servers can process rich filter payloads cleanly. So are we there yet? Widespread adoption will take time. Web servers, CDNs, reverse proxies, and browsers must update their networking stacks first over the next couple of years. Even HTML has to get an update first, not to mention CORS. And yes, Google Search will support it eventually as the ecosystem catches up. Till then, keep your regular URLs tidy.
-
Gary Illyes posted thisFor some reason I got a few questions the past few weeks about whether Google's crawlers send HTTP requests other than GET and POST. The short answer is yes, they do, but HEAD, OPTIONS, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE account for less than 1.5% of the total number of requests all Google's crawlers send. And why do we send these types of HTTP requests? JavaScript, that's why. Basically it seems that some javascript nonsense is initiating these requests and rendering does its rendering things.
-
Gary Illyes posted thisAI agents and LLMs in general would have had an easy life on Web 1.0. Reading through a bunch of LinkedIn posts about what you "need" to do for LLMs and LLM enhanced automations that can handle ambiguity (which ai agents are and I'll die on that hill), if sites used relatively good HTML and no JavaScript (or SSR), both base model training, and web and agentic RAG would be a piece of cake from raw data processing perspective.
-
Gary Illyes shared thisI need more feedback on the internet draft "A JSON-Based Format for Publishing IP Ranges of Automated HTTP Clients (JAFAR)." The draft proposes a standard for how automated clients publish their IP address ranges. It aims to help website operators manage allow-lists more efficiently. It's very similar to the current formats used for distributing IP address ranges, but with additional metadata. If you consume files like Google's common-crawlers.json to manage firewalls or bot traffic, your feedback is useful. I want to ensure the draft works for real-world infrastructure requirements. Please review the document and share your thoughts on GitHub. Please and thank you. Read the draft: https://lnkd.in/esDVg7Af File feedback: https://lnkd.in/eTF8UKWw #IETF #JAFAR #WebCrawling #SRE #DevOps #BotManagementA JSON-Based Format for Publishing IP Ranges of Automated HTTP ClientsA JSON-Based Format for Publishing IP Ranges of Automated HTTP Clients
Gary Illyes replied to a comment
4d
don't mind if I am!
Gary Illyes replied to a comment
4d
this is... disturbing
-
Gary Illyes reacted on thisGary Illyes reacted on this“Is SEO dead?” Someone first claimed search engines were dying in a forum post in November 1997. Gary Illyes had fun pointing that out. A note before the rest: nothing at the GSCL is unannounced, and little of it will surprise anyone who works in search. But it is good to hear it from the people who speak for Search, ask a follow-up, and spend a day with others who do this for a living. That’s the value, and it was worth it. The numbers Google shared (their figures): - Over 5 trillion searches a year. - Search volume hit an all-time high two quarters ago. - AI Overviews reach 2.5 billion people in 200+ countries. - 94% of heavy chatbot users are also heavy Google Search users. Why SEO still works in all that, in one line from Cherry Prommawin’s slide: if you know how Search works, you know how the AI features work. AI Overviews and AI Mode use the same crawler, the same index and the same ranking as normal search. A long question is broken into smaller searches, and each part of the answer links to the page that explains that part best. Ranking first gets you looked at. The best passage gets the citation. Two things people had wrong, corrected from stage: blocking Google-Extended does not remove you from AI Overviews, only from Gemini training. And they emphasised that serving Markdown to bots does nothing; Google reads normal HTML. What they asked us to do: - Write for people, not bots. - Say something only you can say. - Keep your site easy to crawl and fast. - Measure what matters to your business. - No llms.txt. No AI-style phrasing. And of course, Google says: “Good SEO is good GEO”. Their words, not mine. So no, SEO is not dead. #gsclblr2026 #googlesearchcentrallive
-
Gary Illyes reacted on thisGary Illyes reacted on this𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿! Good SEO is good GEO. Good SEO is good AEO. One of my key takeaways from Google Search Central Live Bengaluru 2026! The conversation around SEO is evolving with AI Overviews, AI Mode and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). But the fundamentals of good SEO still matter. It's not about chasing a new acronym. It's about: • Creating helpful, high-quality content. • Making content easy for search engines to discover and understand. • Building a technically sound, crawlable and indexable website. • Providing relevant information that genuinely helps users. A big thank you to Gary Illyes for explaining these concepts in such a simple and easy-to-understand way. The session was informative, engaging and, above all, fun! As search evolves, our approach needs to evolve too. But strong SEO fundamentals remain the foundation for visibility across traditional search and AI-powered experiences. Don't worry about what to call it. Good SEO is good GEO, AEO. #SEO #GEO #AEO #GoogleSearch #AIOverviews #GoogleSearchCentral
-
Gary Illyes reacted on thisGary Illyes reacted on this¿Qué harías si Googlebot encontrara tu entorno de staging y rastreara 50.000 URLs? Es uno de los casos que Gary Illyes y John Mueller, de Search Relations en Google, tuvieron que resolver cara a cara en «What would you do?: Crawling Edition», con Cherry Prommawin de moderadora, en el Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 de Google Search Central en Barcelona. Diez casos, cada uno en una diapositiva. Algunos eran emergencias: • El equipo de marketing actualiza 500.000 fichas de producto, pero la caché del CDN dura 30 días, se ha agotado el límite de purgado de la API y Googlebot sigue rastreando las versiones antiguas. • En plena venta flash, el WAF malinterpreta el tráfico de rastreo, responde a Googlebot con 429 y 503, y el rastreo cae un 90 % en todo el dominio. • Un subdominio de staging sin autenticación, descubierto a través de un enlace olvidado dentro de un bundle JS de producción. • Un calendario con enlaces «Next Month» rastreables sin fin: Googlebot ya va 800 meses por delante. Otros eran dilemas: 301 o 302 para un test A/B de tres semanas, URLs absolutas o relativas en el enlazado interno, con barra final o sin ella. Lo más revelador: sus respuestas casi nunca coincidieron. Y aunque a John le habían prohibido decir «it depends», el «depende» apareció más de una vez. Mi lectura: si dos personas que conocen el rastreo de Google por dentro no responden igual ante el mismo caso, no hay receta universal. Antes de tocar nada, conviene entender qué está pasando en tu web: logs, estadísticas de rastreo y contexto. #SCLDD26 #SearchCentralLive #SEO #SEOTecnico #Rastreo
-
Gary Illyes reacted on thisGary Illyes reacted on thisHad a great experience attending #SearchCentralLive in Bangalore on 30th October 2026. It was a great opportunity to meet Google experts, connect with people from the SEO community, and have some interesting conversations about Google Search and the future of SEO. A special thanks to Gary Illyes, Cherry Prommawin, Aaseesh Marina, and Sushant Sinha and others for sharing their knowledge, insights, and answering our questions. It was also really nice meeting Ghoshit Bhelawe, Amit Saha, Arjun Pansare and everyone else who made the event memorable. While some of the discussions were familiar, what I enjoyed most was meeting new people, exchanging experiences, and building connections within the SEO community. One of the biggest takeaways for me was hearing directly from Google experts that SEO IS NOT DEAD, AND IT'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE! 😊 The way people search for information is changing, and SEO is evolving along with it. As SEO professionals, we also need to adapt to these changes, understand how people are searching today, and keep learning new ways to improve search visibility. It was great to hear this directly from the people at Google. A good reminder that SEO isn't dead. It's simply evolving, and we need to evolve with it. Looking forward to more events like this and connecting with everyone again 😊 #searchcentrallive #sclblr26 #SEO #GoogleSearch #Bangalore #google
-
Gary Illyes reacted on thisGary Illyes reacted on thisWhat a great place to be with awesome people at Google Search Central Live event I mean, great place, great host, great panel, and great insights Some of the notable points for starters 📝 -Palak Paneer (Gary's) and Chicken Tikka Masala (Cherry’s) go-to Indian dishes! -If you want backlinks, buy only from Gary When someone's going to mention Palak Paneer, Chicken Tikka Masala, I'm gonna remember you people for sure 😆 Gary Illyes, Cherry Prommawin and One more thing...... Hey John Mueller (aka fastest knees alive⚡), on behalf of the Search Central community, we'd love to see more YouTube videos featuring Gary and Cherry great energy and rapport Great event missed you too there John Mueller #sclblr26 #searchcentrallive
-
Gary Illyes reacted on thisGary Illyes reacted on thisSome experiences leave you with more than just memories. They leave you with new perspectives, fresh insights and a whole lot of inspiration. And Google Search Central Live Bengaluru 2026 was one such experience for me! I feel incredibly happy and fortunate to have been part of this event, especially since it was my first ever Google event. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn directly from Google's experts about what goes into creating good content, how Google understands and ranks content, the crawling and indexing process, and how its AI models are shaping the future of Search. As someone working in the content and SEO space, getting to hear these insights directly from industry experts Gary Illyes Cherry Prommawin Bhavana Motwani Abhimanyu Pebbati Aaseesh Marina Joyshree Sarmah and Nitin Sharmas, Sushant Sinha, and Anuj Duggal was even more valuable. It was equally exciting to meet and interact with experienced professionals and fellow enthusiasts from different parts of India, each bringing their own perspectives and experiences. One takeaway that really stood out: SEO isn't dead. It's evolving. The way people search for information is changing, and so is the way search engines understand, discover and present content. With AI becoming an increasingly important part of Search, creating genuinely useful, relevant and people-first content matters more than ever. This experience was a great reminder that staying relevant in this industry means never stopping learning, questioning and adapting. A big thank you to Google for creating this platform and bringing together such a wonderful community of search and content professionals. Here's to learning, unlearning and evolving! #GoogleSearchCentralLive #SEO #ContentMarketing #GoogleSearch #AIinSearch #DigitalMarketing
-
Gary Illyes reacted on thisGary Illyes reacted on thisHello Connections!! I am thrilled to share that I had the incredible opportunity to attend Google Search Central Live on October 30th. Attending a Google event on SEO was an incredible experience that offered deep insights into how search and optimization are evolving today. Getting the chance to connect directly with Googlers provided a clearer perspective on the current updates shaping the search landscape and where digital discovery is headed. Beyond discussing high-level strategy, the sessions broke down SEO from the fundamentals to the mechanics demystifying how search tools function and how algorithms evaluate content. As AI-driven search features and semantic intent continue to reshape how user queries are fulfilled, mastering technical foundations, maintaining structured data, and prioritizing user-first content remain essential. Thrilled to take these learnings and apply them to drive higher visibility, stronger engagement, and sustainable organic growth. Google Gary Illyes Cherry Prommawin #sclblr26 #Googlesearch #seocommunity #googlescl #googlesearch #seo #searchcentrallive #insights LinkedIn Sana Afreen Moina Ersad
-
Gary Illyes reacted on thisGary Illyes reacted on thisA day full of learning, meaningful conversations, and great connections! Had a wonderful time attending Google Search Central Live Bengaluru 2026. It was a great opportunity to connect with so many passionate SEO professionals, exchange ideas, discuss industry trends, and gain fresh perspectives on the ever-evolving world of search. It was especially lovely catching up with my former Simplilearn colleagues - Arun Kumar Ramaswamy, Kiran Kumar R, P Rajesh Kumar Patro, Karandeep Singh Matharoo, & Ayesha R. and meeting new faces like Moina Ersad and G.V.N Unmeela. It’s always special to reconnect with familiar faces while building new professional relationships. A big thank you to Gary Illyes and Cherry Prommawin for sharing their valuable insights and guidance. Hearing directly from Google experts and learning about the evolving search landscape made the experience even more enriching. Events like these remind us that SEO is not just about algorithms, rankings, and traffic; it's also about continuous learning, sharing knowledge, and growing together as a community. Looking forward to more such interactions, collaborations, and learning opportunities! #SearchCentralLive #SCLBLR26 #GoogleSearch #SEO #TechnicalSEO #SECommunity #DigitalMarketing
-
Gary Illyes reacted on thisGary Illyes reacted on thisSome events are about learning. Some are about networking. And then there are events that remind you why you fell in love with what you do! ❤️ Google Search Central Live 2026 was one of those events! ✨ I still remember attending the previous edition in Bengaluru. I walked in feeling a little nervous, a little intimidated, and honestly, quite unsure about how to approach people or start conversations. Fast forward to this year, and what a difference! ❤️ The same city, the same excitement, but a completely different feeling. This time, it wasn't about figuring out how to start a conversation. It was about spotting familiar faces across the room, catching up like no time had passed, and somehow having a hundred things to talk about! 😄 And of course, making new connections along the way! A room full of people who can talk about Search for hours and still have more to say? That's my kind of crazy! 🤪 There was learning, laughter, endless conversations, unexpected jokes, and those little moments that make an event memorable long after it's over. What I love most about Google Search Central Live is that it never feels like just another industry event. It's the people who make it special. The ones who share their experiences, challenge your thinking, make you laugh, and remind you that behind all the algorithms, updates, and technical discussions, there's an incredible community of people who genuinely love what they do. And somewhere between all the conversations, laughter, and catching up, I realized how much I've grown since that first event. From being nervous about saying hello to genuinely looking forward to seeing everyone again. That's a pretty special feeling. ❤️ Google Search Central Live is one event I would happily attend again and again. Not just for the knowledge, but for the people, the energy, the madness, and the memories. Already looking forward to the next one! Preeti Gupta Anuja Bhasin Himani Kankaria Manikandan N we still have a lot to talk!! Gary Illyes I'm glad that you recognized me from the past conferences!! Thank you and hope to connect again with you. P.S. We did click a picture together, but it's somewhere on someone else's phone! 😂 If anyone has it, please send it my way! Until next time! 🚀 #GoogleSearchCentralLive #GoogleSearchCentral #SEOCommunity #SEOLife #Networking #SearchCommunity #GoogleSearch #SCLBLR2026
Experience & Education
Publications
Projects
-
Google Search: HTTPS ranking boost
-
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal
Explore more posts
Explore top content on LinkedIn
Find curated posts and insights for relevant topics all in one place.
View top content