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So here we have Google's Gary Illyes again defending what Google has said in the past, when SEOs say what he said is not true. This is around Google giving full weight to content on mobile within accordions or tabs. Some reports say Google does not do this but Google is saying they do give this content full weight.
Google first told us this back in 2016, that when on mobile, content hidden in accordions, tabs, etc for user experience purposes will be given full weight and not demoted like did in the past. Google has confirmed this messaging many times but needs to do so again.
There are some studies, such as one at Dejan that say it isn't true. Google is not treating content within tabs or accordions fully.
Well, Gary Illyes from Google says the studies are not true. He said on Twitter "AFAIK, nothing's changed here, Bill: we index the content, its weight is fully considered for ranking, but it might not get bolded in the snippets. It's another, more technical question how that content is surfaced by the site. Indexing does have limitations."
Here is the tweet:
AFAIK, nothing's changed here, Bill: we index the content, its weight is fully considered for ranking, but it might not get bolded in the snippets. It's another, more technical question how that content is surfaced by the site. Indexing does have limitations.
— Gary "鯨理" Illyes (@methode) September 14, 2018
Gary is implying that maybe the way the hidden content was technically implemented prevented Google from indexing it. It was not done in a search engine friendly manner?
He even mocked one of them:
"authoritative"
— Gary "鯨理" Illyes (@methode) September 14, 2018
Dejan replied:
"authoritative" tester here, please tell everyone that my tests are wrong because I'd love nothing more than to be wrong. I love tabs and accordions.
— DEJAN (@dejanseo) September 15, 2018
This goes back to many SEOs not trusting Googlers and concerns about lies.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
