Don't Let Search Engines Read Your Mind - Says Google

Don’t Let Search Engines Read Your Mind – Says Google

Last Updated: January 29, 2026By mesua

Google’s John Mueller posted on Twitter that SEO is all about not requiring search engines to read your mind. He said “SEO is all about not requiring search engines to read your mind” said Google’s John Mueller. The point here is that you cannot pretend that Search Engines, especially Google, will understand you and give meaning to what you have not delivered to it.

There are many things that you can do to show search engines what you want but Mueller’s comments underscore the importance of page structure. No doubt, the structural elements of a page have some impact on website ranking.

How to Help Google Better Understand Your Page

Google judges your website from the content you present and how you present them. Important parts of your content should show signs of priority with header tags like H1, H2, H3 and so on. Your page should be structured to give Google the clear signs of your website focus, preference and the keywords for which you want your website to rank.

1. Ensure the Crawlability of your Page

If search engines cannot crawl your pages, those pages definitely will lie there and no one will see them. If the search engines cannot crawl your pages, then no one actually finds your pages in the search engines and they are not indexed. Essentially, those pages are useless.

What Google is saying is that you should ensure that your website and pages are crawlable.

Common Causes of Crawling and Indexing Issues on a Website

In very simplistic terms, here is a checklist of what could cause indexing issues and cause Google not to crawl your website.

Meta Tag robots set to noindex

If the page contains the tag:

<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>

Google will not index it. This is a direct instruction to search engine bots that the page should not be indexed.

This problem often occurs when:

a) Your CMS applies the noindex tag by default.

b) A test site accidentally carries over noindex settings to the live site.

Robots.txt file blocking Google

A misconfigured robots.txt file can accidentally block Google from crawling your site.

How to fix it?

Check your robots.txt file by visiting yourdomain.com/robots.txt.
Look for this line:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

This means that all indexing bots are blocked on your site. Remove or modify this line.
Ensure that important pages are not blocked by lines such as: Disallow: /your-page/
Save and upload the updated robots.txt file.
Test it in Google Search Console under Settings → robots.txt → Open report.

X-Robots-Tag in HTTP headers

Some servers send an X-Robots-Tag: noindex directive in HTTP headers, preventing Google from indexing the page.

How to fix it?

Use the following command to check HTTP headers:

curl -I https://yourdomain.com

If X-Robots-Tag: noindex appears, edit the server configuration to remove it.
Restart the server and request indexing in Google Search Console.

Canonical tag issues

An improperly implemented canonical tag can mislead Google about which version of the page should be indexed.

How to fix it?

Ensure that your pages have the correct canonical tag format:

<link rel=”canonical” href=”https://yourdomain.com/your-page”/>

Make sure it points to the preferred version of the page.

Other technical issues

Ensure there are no long redirect chains or loops (where one page redirects to another, and that one redirects back). void excessive JavaScript that hides important content in the HTML document and loads it only later for the user. Check if your site is accessible to users without requiring login, as Google will not log in to crawl your site.

Duplicate content

Google struggles with duplicate content and may not index all versions of a page. Duplicate content occurs when:

The content is copied 1:1 from another page.
Multiple URLs serve the same or very similar content (Even if the text is not an exact copy, Google can recognize when you are covering the same topic repeatedly or have slightly reworded existing content from another source).
Pagination causes duplicated meta-description

How to fix it?

Use canonical tags to specify the preferred URL.
Merge similar pages to consolidate authority. If you do this, set 301 redirects from the removed URLs to the target article.
Ensure each page has unique, original content.

Low-Quality Content

If your content lacks valuable information, Google may not index it. Crawlers are designed to show users only meaningful content that answers their queries and can help them.

How to fix it?

Ensure each article has at least 600 words.
Add real-life examples, images, and internal links.
Provide detailed, well-researched answers to user queries.

AI-Generated or Spam Content

AI-generated content or spam is a problem in SEO because it often lacks originality and value, which Google actively discourages. According to Google’s guidelines, content created primarily for search engines rather than users may be penalized.

How to fix it?

AI should be used as an assistant, not a full content generator.
Every AI-generated piece must be reviewed and edited by a human.
Avoid keyword stuffing – write naturally and prioritize user intent.

descriptions, and structure so that users immediately see that your content is relevant to their query.
Use structured data (Schema markup) to help Google understand the purpose of your content.

Aligning with search intent not only

Getting Clues From Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is the most reliable tool for diagnosing indexing problems with search engines. GSC provides detailed reports on errors and exclusions that may prevent Google from including your pages in search results. It also allows you to take corrective actions and resubmit your pages for indexing. Here are the most likely results you will find in GSC if you do have issues with crawling and indexing issues:

Crawled – currently not indexed: Google has found and crawled the page but decided not to index it yet in search results.
Discovered – currently not indexed: Google is aware of the page but has not crawled it to determine indexing in search results.
Blocked by robots.txt: The page is blocked from crawling by your site’s robots.txt file, which likely contains an exclusion for this page. You update the settings of your robots.txt file, to appear in search results.
Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag: A noindex tag prevents Google from indexing the page in search results. This is an issue on your side and can be fixed by changing noindex tag to index in the head of your file.
Soft 404: Google considers the page to lack valuable content.

2. Improve Your Page Click Dept

Improving your website click dept can have an impact on the performance of a website in Google’s search results. The question is what can you do to ensure that your web pages aren’t buried too deep on your website? Let’s begin with understanding what is click dept.

What is click-depth?

The click-depth of a page is the number of clicks that it takes to get to a page starting from the home page of your website. The home page of your website has a click-depth of 0. Pages that can be accessed by clicking a link on the home page have a click-depth of 1. Pages that are linked from pages that have a click-depth of 1 have a click-depth of 2, etc.

Does the click-depth of a page have an impact on its rankings?

Google’s John Mueller said in a webmaster hangout that the number of clicks that are needed shows Google how relevant the pages on your website are. John Mueller said:

“From our point of view, we don’t count the slashes in the URL. So if you put it into /stores and then /location and that’s how you want to keep your website on your server, that’s perfectly fine.

What does matter for us a little bit is how easy it is to actually find the content there. So especially, if your home page is generally the strongest page on your website, and from the home page it takes multiple clicks to actually get to one of these stores, then that makes it a lot harder for us to understand that these stores are actually pretty important.

On the other hand, if it’s one click from the home page to one of these stores, then that tells us that these stores are probably pretty relevant and that, probably, we should be giving them a little bit of weight in the search results as well.

So it’s more a matter of how many links you have to click through to actually get to that content rather than what the URL structure itself looks like.”

And Mueller also warned that although the important pages of your website should be available with one click, you should not overdo it. Overdoing things as we have noted in several other posts is a sign of manipulation and Google hates actions that manipulate or attempts to manipulate how it sees a website and attempts to gain an unfair advantage over competitors in its search results. Google can actually penalize websites for actions that try to manipulate its search results to gain an undeserved ranking position.. This is how John Mueller puts it:

“But it’s still something where you have to be careful not to overdo it.

So if you link to all of your pages from the home page, then they’re all on there. So it’s not something where you’d have much value from that.

So you still need some structure, some context around those pages. But if you have a handful of pages that are really important for you, then that will be perfect to link from the home page.”

Google has limited crawl resources. The deeper a page is buried on your website, the less likely Google will crawl it. In addition, the home page of a website is usually the page that has the most links from other pages, i.e. it has the highest PageRank in Google’s algorithm.

Pages that are linked from pages with a high PageRank get better rankings than pages that are linked from pages with low PageRank.

3. Take User Experience Seriously

User experience or UX is key to how Google ranks your website. When people visit your website and cannot find answers to the questions they have in mind or simply cannot find what they seek, they become disappointed and think visiting your site is not worth it. Because search engines use UX as a ranking factor, it is important you incorporate those elements that improve UX in your page design.

Check Website Usability. Do a simple A/B test on your website usability. You can call some independent and trusted fellow to use your site, place an order and perform some tasks like filling a form and get their feedback on how easy it was to perform the tasks,, the problem they faced in some cases and what should have been their expectations.
Website Navigation. This is directly related to the first point we made on click dept. The easier it is to navigate to other pages, the better it is for your website. This underscores the importance of internal links. Internal links make it easier to access related content and can bring a lot of satisfaction to your users. So, in building your website, make sure that navigation is good and made easy.
Page Views and Average Time on Page. If people spend reasonable time on your website, it suggests that they are enjoying the content and could visit multiple pages. It also means they are likely to return to your website as repeat visitors. The results on page views and time on page also need to be reviewed for different cities and countries. If your performance in your target region and country is good, then you have less to worry about even though you could have figures that are disturbing from other countries and cities.
Improve Customer Support Performance. Your customer service team, knowledge, availability and expertise can be very helpful in improving user experience. When visitors come to your website and need help, the first consideration for help will be your support team. If you have a support team that can respond speedily and provide expert advice that addresses the issues, that is good for your website UX.
Website Speed. There are tons of information on the internet today covering a particular subject matter. People want to access as much information as possible and need it delivered speedily to help make fast decisions. Moreover, most users now access the internet via mobile devices thus they can work even while on the move and do not have the time to waste as they could just be searching for information upon which to anchor a decision. Slow websites perform poorly and Google has also stated its dislike for slow loading websites. You can test your website speed with Google.
Errors. Whether they be 404 errors, spelling errors or some server errors, they all turn off your visitor interests. You will want to learn more in this post: How to Fix Error 404 Not Found on Your WordPress Site

Improve Page Structure

What are the components of web page structure. We have briefly talked about navigation earlier but now we need to touch on some key elements you need to take seriously that are important to Google as well. You have to take these five key elements seriously:

Content. You could have stumbled on this page by virtue of what you were looking for, a question you wanted answered or you were linked from another content. Content they say is king and truly it is. Even Google in its mission statement acknowledges the role of content and places it as a primary reason for its business. The whole internet is about content and if you produce rich and quality content, it will surely pay off. Carefully craft your content to reflect professionalism, expertise and authoritativeness. They are important for user confidence and could affect how users interact with your page.
Usability. Your website must be easy to navigate, should be intuitive, accessible and mobile-friendly. It is important that you commit time and resources to get the best performance in these areas. The interesting side of it is that if your usability is excellent, users may just see it as normal but your website usability is poor, they will quickly react by leaving the page or failing to complete tasks and all these affect conversion.
Aesthetics. In this day and age, having a visually impressive website across all devices is crucial. However, you must maintain your brand image. Your website must reflect who you are as a business, and visually connect with the audience. The visual appeal of your website not only contributes to your brand awareness but also increases your credibility.
Visibility. If you had the most aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly website on the web, it would still be unsuccessful unless it could be found. Your presence and visibility through digital marketing campaigns including SEO, social media and email marketing is vital to the success of your website. It’s important that you understand how to be found, what platforms to target and how to utilize your content. Thousands of factors have an impact on where you appear within the search engines, so make sure you have a plan in place!
Interaction. Your website must engage with your audience, hold their attention, direct them through the stages of your website and finally encourage them to contact you. Your website isn’t just there for show, it is there to help you generate leads, increase sales and grow your business so ensure your website engages with your visitors in the correct way.

Final Words

Google and indeed, most other search engines rely on the information or content you provide to understand and rate your website. The easier they can access your information, the better and more user friendly your website is perceived to be. So, as much as you can, endeavor to make your website navigation easy for your visitors by improving the click dept.

Remember that your website has been built for humans and not the search engines so your content should target the human visitors and not search engines. It is important to sound this warning because you may be tempted to focus on search engines and place less emphasis on human visitors. The search engines today have become so advanced that even if you were to make it to the top of the search engines, you will most certainly not be able to show good sign positions if your website does not show good signals for UX.

So pay attention to how your visitors relate with your website, the number of pages visited in each session, the bounce rate, page speed and other critical elements.