John Mueller from Google responded to a Reddit query concerning the potential SEO impact of displaying varied content based on the IP address of site visitors. His response shed light on Google’s crawling and indexing processes.
The inquiry was raised by an individual overseeing a website aiming to feature country-specific banners on their page. They were apprehensive about the potential repercussions on rankings across different countries.
Here’s the query:
“I got one question on how content for different geoip effect for seo?
Some marketers in my company asking me about to place side banner for users of certain geo ip – for example for UK visitors they want to show banner about event that coming in UK), but main geo for website: US.
Does it affect SEO for website overall? How Google classifies that type of placement? Is this kinda sort of cloaking (without purpose to cheat on google systems)?”
John Mueller addressed the query by focusing only on the aspect concerning its impact on SEO, out of the three questions asked by the individual.
Here’s Mueller’s response:
“Google generally crawls from one location – and that’s the content which would be used for search.
To ensure the indexing of a specific element, it must be made visible (or visible globally). The subsequent outcome relies on your actions. Googlebot typically crawls from IP addresses in the United States. If access is geographically restricted by IP, it will switch to an IP from another country.
Regarding the classification of the “placement” — presumably referring to content in the sidebar — this query remained unanswered.
Here’s what was asked:
“How Google classifies that type of placement?”
Assuming the inquiry pertains to how Google categorizes sidebar content, the answer lies in Google’s recognition of the primary content of a webpage, largely disregarding non-primary content for ranking purposes.
Google’s ability to identify various sections of a webpage was elucidated in an interview with Martin Splitt from Google. Splitt discussed how Google distinguishes between main content, navigation elements, and other standard sections, allowing for differential scoring of these segments.
Google then determines the primary content of the page and condenses it into what Splitt referred to as the “Centerpiece Annotation,” essentially identifying the topic.
In the context of the Reddit query, Google would likely classify the sidebar banner as non-primary content and therefore not factor it into ranking decisions.
Is Altering Content Based on IP Address Considered Cloaking?
Cloaking typically involves a spam tactic where Googlebot is identified by its IP address, and content specifically tailored for Google is presented, while different content is displayed to other users. In essence, cloaking entails presenting distinct content exclusively for Google and all other users. However, this does not align with the scenario outlined by the Redditor.
Given that Googlebot primarily crawls from IP addresses in the United States, content swapped out for visitors from other countries generally won’t be crawled and indexed. Google will only index the content intended for the United States audience. Therefore, swapping out content based on the country of origin of the site visitor doesn’t constitute cloaking for spam purposes either.
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