In a conversation during a Webmaster Hangout, someone informed Google’s John Mueller that they followed Google’s guidelines and achieved a perfect score of 100 on the Web.dev tool. Despite implementing Google’s recommendations, they questioned why there was no improvement in their rankings. John Mueller clarified that ranking involves more than just excelling in Web.Dev tests.
Mueller explained it as follows:
“Web.dev is an excellent tool for identifying numerous known issues and comparing your site against established best practices. However, merely scoring well does not guarantee a significant rise in rankings above others.
…achieving good scores is not the ultimate method for SEO success and high rankings. It’s a compilation of best practices, presenting various aspects we can check and highlight for you. While it’s important to consider these insights, interpreting the results is crucial, and recognizing that ranking first involves more than fulfilling technical requirements.”
Web.dev is More than a Tool
Although Mueller describes Web.dev as a tool for evaluating best practices, it is more than just that. Web.dev is an educational platform offering foundational knowledge on site discoverability and content best practices.
According to Web.dev’s self-description:
“Web.dev aids developers in learning and applying modern web capabilities to their sites and apps.”
This is a brief overview of areas it can help improve:
“Discover ways to enhance your site:
- Fast load times
- Safety and security
- Easy discoverability (Ensuring users can easily find your site through search.)
- Universally accessible”
A particularly useful feature of Web.dev is the Easily Discoverable section.
Here’s what it includes:
“Ensuring search engines can locate and comprehend your content improves your site’s visibility for relevant searches.”
This serves as a reminder to make your site easy to crawl, ensure that the server is responsive and not bogged down by scrapers and hackers, to avoid large file sizes, and eliminate technical errors such as those created by an improperly configured shopping site generating numerous duplicate pages.
Web.dev Teaches How to Write Content
On Web.dev, you’ll find practical advice on writing content, including one of the best descriptions of creating a webpage with ranking potential. The section is titled, Write Descriptive Titles, Descriptions, and Link Text for Every Page.
Web.dev offers valuable insights into making a page appealing, useful, and discoverable.
As John highlighted, we must be realistic regarding the limits of Google’s advice, which is why the SEO industry exists to address additional needs.
Here’s Google’s Web.dev definition of SEO:
“By ensuring search engines can locate and automatically interpret your content, you improve your site’s visibility in relevant searches. This can increase visits from interested users.”
This is a limited and strictly literal interpretation of Search Engine Optimization.
In reality, SEO involves best practices in content, marketing, and promotion to achieve better rankings and sales. In practice, making a site "discoverable" is merely the starting point of the SEO journey.
The individual shared with John that their site’s rankings remained unchanged despite following Google’s advice. John Mueller’s response emphasized that fulfilling technical benchmarks on the Web.dev site is only part of the process.
Based on my professional experience, I concur with Google’s John Mueller. Achieving top rankings requires more than just meeting technical criteria for site discoverability.
