SEARCHENGINES
Google Says The Quality Of Your Languages On Your Multilingual Site Can Impact Each Other

Google’s John Mueller confirmed on the December 31st SEO hangout that if you have multiple versions of your site (on the same domain name), and one version is deemed high quality by Google and the other version is deemed low quality by Google – the low quality version can negatively impact the high quality version. And yes, we should all know by now that quality is at the site level and significant portions of your site can impact other portions of that same site.
This came up at the 6:52 mark where an SEO asked “do you consider the language quality of each language version on the same domain independently or can there be some sort of negative or bad neighborhood effect so that if one language version is of poor quality, all the other language versions on the same domain suffer as well?”
John Mueller said the short answer is yes, and it is not necessarily about the site having different languages but about the site overall having sections that are low quality. John said “the main issue here is less about these being translated versions of the content but more that for some things we look at the quality of the site overall. And when we look at the quality of the site overall if you have significant portions that are lower quality, it doesn’t matter so much for us like why they would be lower quality if they’re just bad translations or if they’re terrible content or whatever. But if we see that they’re significant parts that are lower quality then we might think overall this website is not so fantastic as we thought. And that can have effects in different places across the website.”
John added “so in short, I guess if you have a very low quality translation that’s also indexed and that’s also very visible in search then that can definitely pull down the good quality translation as well or the good quality original content that you also have.”
Here is where he said this, the back and forth goes on for a lot more, so it is worth watching:
Here is how Glenn Gabe summed it up from his perspective:
Google on the importance of overall site quality -> Via @johnmu: For some things, we look at site quality *overall*. So, if you have significant portions that are low quality, then that can drag down your original, higher quality content too: https://t.co/MHrZN1P56Q pic.twitter.com/BrkGTMdCIX
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) January 2, 2022
Even more: It’s smart to think about quality through the lens of *real people* visiting the site, reading the content, etc. John recommends running user studies (w/an objective panel of users) to truly understand how real users feel about your site: https://t.co/eR34yMgGH9 pic.twitter.com/tJrytnrrtN
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) January 2, 2022
Here is the transcript:
QUESTION:
I wonder if a poor translation of a new language version can negatively affect the SEO for domains more established main language versions. So let’s go with an example, let’s assume that i have an established website in French that exists for a number of years and has reasonable SEO success. And then I want to add German language version on the same domain, so not the distinct domain but the same domain and the website owner uses automated translation unfortunately for the G user interface and the German content.
So I know that automated translation is considered as automated automated generated content and Google doesn’t like it so it would seem normal that Google probably doesn’t appreciate the new German version so much. But my question mainly targets the established French version which has done reasonably well so far.
I wonder if this poor German language version can influence negatively the success of the more established French version? So in other words do you consider the language quality of each language version on the same domain independently or can there be some sort of negative or bad neighborhood effect so that if one language version is of poor quality, all the other language versions on the same domain suffer as well?
ANSWER:
I guess the short answer is, yes.
The main issue here is less about these being translated versions of the content but more that for some things we look at the quality of the site overall. And when we look at the quality of the site overall if you have significant portions that are lower quality, it doesn’t matter so much for us like why they would be lower quality if they’re just bad translations or if they’re terrible content or whatever. But if we see that they’re significant parts that are lower quality then we might think overall this website is not so fantastic as we thought. And that can have effects in different places across the website.
So in short, I guess if you have a very low quality translation that’s also indexed and that’s also very visible in search then that can definitely pull down the good quality translation as well or the good quality original content that you also have.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Hanukkah Decorations Are Live For 2023

Hanukkah (aka Chanukah) starts this coming Thursday night, December 7th. Google has added its Hanukkah decorations to the Google Search results interface to celebrate. Google does this every year and I expect to see the same rollout in the coming weeks for Christmas and Kawanzaa but for now, since Chanukah is in the coming days, we have the Hanukkah decorations live at Google Search.
Here is a screenshot of the Chanukah decorations as they look like on the mobile search results.
You can see it yourself by searching on Google for [chanukah], [hanukkah], but not yet [חֲנוּכָּה] or other spelling variations yet but it should soon. It looks better on mobile than it does on desktop results.
To see the past, the 2023 decorations, 2021 decorations, 2020 Chanukah decorations, 2019 Google holiday decorations, the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and so on.
Happy Chanukah, everyone!
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Pay Accepted Icons In Google Search Results

Google seems to be testing a Google Pay Accepted label or icon in the Google search results. This label has the super G logo followed by the words “Pay accepted” words next to search result snippets that support Google Pay and notate such in their structured data.
This was first spotted by Khushal Bherwani who shared some screenshots of this on X – here is one:
Here are some more screenshots:
Here is test and without test window for same query. pic.twitter.com/n9cYWBOsro
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) October 20, 2023
Brodie Clark also posted some screenshots after on X:
In continuation from the test from October, Google is now testing out a new Google Pay label associated with organic results. Last month, Google was testing Pay Accepted text, with this month changing it to Pay encrypted checkout. More details: https://t.co/MvFNoPmMDR pic.twitter.com/WDVVc4RbTO
— SERPs Up 🌊 (@SERPalerts) November 30, 2023
I tried to replicate this but I came up short.
This is not the first time Google had similar icons like this in its search results.
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Discover Showing Older Content Since Follow Feature Arrived

Typically, Google Discover shows content that is less than a day old, but it can show content that is weeks, months, or even years old. However, typically, Google will show more recent content in the Discover feed. Well, that may have changed with the new Google follow feature.
Glenn Gabe, who is a very active Google Discover user, noticed that since the Follow feature rolled out, he has been seeing content that is weeks and months old way more often than before the follow feature rolled out. Glenn wrote on X that “this could also be playing a role. i.e. Google isn’t providing as much recent content, but instead, focusing on providing targeted content based on the topics you are following.”
It makes sense that if you follow a specific topic and if Google Discover only shows the most authoritative types of content, it might be hard for Google to find new content on that topic. So it does make sense that Google may show older content more often for that specific topic you follow.
Here are screenshots Glenn shared:
Have you noticed this in your Discover feed?
Forum discussion at X.
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