Marketing 2 min read

Mueller Says Don't Make Assumptions Based on Site: Search

Archiwiz / Shutterstock.com

Archiwiz / Shutterstock.com

In a recent tweet, Google‘s John Mueller warned against making assumptions based on Site: Search.

The Google Site: search is an advanced search operator that’s people use for diagnostic purposes. These include diagnosing ranking issues and trying to understand the Google algorithm.

The arrival of the allintitle, allinurl, and link search operators caused some excitement in the SEO community when it first arrived. At the time, experts believed it would provide insight into the search algorithm and spent hours trying to deconstruct it.

However, it soon raised some issues. For example, publishers wanted to know why their site ranked first in allintitle SERPs but not in the regular SERPs.

After about 16 or 17 years, the correlation between advanced search operators and ranking remains hazy. This implies that the operators may be separate from the core algorithm.

So, a publisher decided to confirm this suspicion.

Why You Should Not Depend on Google’s Site: Search

In a recent tweet, a publisher asked the Google webmaster trend analyst:

If I search for “site:domain.com keyword,” am I right to affirm the first result is the one G’ algo picked as the best page for that query? Or the “site:” string is just random without any influence of Pagerank/etc.?”

Responding to the tweet, Mueller pointed out that site-queries are always artificial. So, there’s no point in making too many assumptions here.

In other words, it’s not a good idea to depend on Google’s site: search to gain insights into site ranking, indexing, or even Google algorithm. Here’s why.

Like all search operators, the advanced site is not connected with the Google algorithm. As a result, it’s doesn’t offer any insight related to the search algorithm.

Also, the site search operator shows random and incomplete search results as you switch browsers. The Google Search Console, on the other hand, offers more detailed and accurate information about indexing.

Read More: Google now Shows Source of Websites’ Embedded YouTube Videos

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EDGY is an SEO incubator, forecaster, and support center for deep learning, technological advancement, and enterprise-level end-to-end search programs.

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