Google’s Search Relations team has explained why their SEO advice often sounds vague or comes with conditions, such as “it depends.”
In a recent Search Off the Record podcast, team members Martin Splitt and Gary Illyes shared the challenges that prevent them from providing clear-cut answers.
The discussion was part of what the team referred to as a “more human episode.”
The Googlers acknowledged they sometimes come across as robotic and used this episode to show a more human side.
The Context Problem
Splitt works as Google’s bridge between developers and SEO professionals. He provided an example of how good advice can be distorted when people overlook the broader context.
At a Tech SEO Summit, he presented a slide with a bold statement about JavaScript performance. To prevent confusion, he added a note stating that the slide lacked context and provided a full explanation during the talk.
But even with that, he said the statement still got pulled out and repeated on its own.
“I had a remark on that slide saying there’s context missing here, and then I gave all that context… The problem with me saying that in general is that people will just take that one sentence and ignore everything else I said before or after.”
He clarified that JavaScript plays an important role in many web experiences, like enabling offline support. But that nuance often gets lost when single lines are quoted in isolation.
Why Google Doesn’t Share Slides
This loss of context is one reason why Google teams don’t typically share their presentation slides.
Illyes confirmed that slides on their own can be misleading:
He stated:
“Our slides without context, they are useless.”
The team sees what happens when advice meant for one specific situation gets used everywhere. This can hurt websites that have different needs.
For example, advice that works for a small local business might be wrong for a global company with websites in multiple languages.
The “It Depends” Situation
Both Google reps know the SEO community gets frustrated with “it depends” answers.
Splitt even called it his “pet peeve.” But they explained why they can’t give simple yes-or-no answers.
Splitt noted:
“Someone who is serving a very specific niche with highly regulated content in a single country in a single language might have very different requirements than a multilanguage multinational brand that sells everything to everyone.”
They try to give more complete answers by explaining what factors matter. But this makes their advice longer and more complex.
The Google team also worries about how people use their quotes. Splitt said people often pick one statement while ignoring other important information.
Splitt explained:
“It often makes things tricky because people might cherry pick and might pick one thing you said, take that out of context and use it as an example why people should follow their agenda rather than ours.”
While they know public statements can be quoted freely, both reps feel bad when selective quoting gets out of control.
What This Means
The Google team’s openness about their struggles affirms the experience of many SEO professionals.
Google’s guidance often feels cautious because it needs to account for a wide range of use cases.
Instead of seeking simple answers, focus on the factors that influence Google’s recommendations.
Understanding the “why” behind Google’s advice is more useful than chasing one-size-fits-all solutions.
Listen to the full podcast episode below:
Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock
