The use of hashtags has become quite prominent because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up exposing your content to people who might end up taking a genuine interest in it. In spite of the fact that this is the case, a recent announcement that was made by Google’s content chief John Muller might end up changing the way people think about hashtags in the context of SEO.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Mueller commented on how hashtags are not perceived all that differently by its web crawlers. Instead, Google seems to just read hashtags as regular text, which seems to make them appear a lot less useful than might have been the case otherwise.
A lot of SEO professionals add a bunch of hashtags in the hopes that they will provide more exposure to the content that they are putting up online. However, Mueller’s revelations have shown that this doesn’t necessarily end up being the case with all things having been considered and taken into account.
Despite the prevalence of hashtags, it is quite apparent that they are not going to do your SEO strategy much good. Instead, SEO professionals will need to take greater care to fulfil the requirements that Google has outlined when it comes to reaching the first page of its SERP.
Hashtags can still be useful in the world of social media. After all, people often use hashtags to search for content that they would really prefer, but that doesn’t always translate into any major benefits from Google’s point of view.
Mueller’s statements expand on a few things he has said previously. The Google exec mentioned that using hashtags in meta descriptions was perfectly adequate. However, he has now elaborated that this is not going to give your content an SEO boost. The only thing that can do that is ensuring that your content is factual, high in quality and caters to a particular niche that users might actually be interested in.
Read next: Are AI Tools Useful For Small Businesses? This New Study Has The Answer
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Mueller commented on how hashtags are not perceived all that differently by its web crawlers. Instead, Google seems to just read hashtags as regular text, which seems to make them appear a lot less useful than might have been the case otherwise.
A lot of SEO professionals add a bunch of hashtags in the hopes that they will provide more exposure to the content that they are putting up online. However, Mueller’s revelations have shown that this doesn’t necessarily end up being the case with all things having been considered and taken into account.
I'm not sure where you mean; when it comes to web pages in Google Search, hashtags are just words, they have no special meaning or effect.
— johnmu is not a chatbot yet 🐀 (@JohnMu) February 20, 2023
Despite the prevalence of hashtags, it is quite apparent that they are not going to do your SEO strategy much good. Instead, SEO professionals will need to take greater care to fulfil the requirements that Google has outlined when it comes to reaching the first page of its SERP.
Hashtags can still be useful in the world of social media. After all, people often use hashtags to search for content that they would really prefer, but that doesn’t always translate into any major benefits from Google’s point of view.
Mueller’s statements expand on a few things he has said previously. The Google exec mentioned that using hashtags in meta descriptions was perfectly adequate. However, he has now elaborated that this is not going to give your content an SEO boost. The only thing that can do that is ensuring that your content is factual, high in quality and caters to a particular niche that users might actually be interested in.
Read next: Are AI Tools Useful For Small Businesses? This New Study Has The Answer
