Help documents may provide obsolete information

Google recently confirmed that help documents lack updates. They may provide obsolete recommendations. It advised everyone to do their own research.

The topic bubbled up during the latest episode of Google SEO & Devs. The episode talked about the trusting factor to help document.

The episode features Martin Splitt and Michael king. They talked about the Googles’ help documents can’t lead to trusting SEO. SEO brings back the recommendation as per the browser’s official document.

Google always intends to keep the document updated. But, the information system often lags. And, those help documents no longer stay relevant.

They cite an example of rel= “next” and rel = “prev”. Google no longer supports them. But, it was never informed to searchers. It means that developers were coding irrelevant pieces.

It made it to the search community by Search Advocate John Mueller. He received a question about the same on Twitter. The pagination works just fine without the use of those two. It is therefore required to do your own research.

Splitt also informs the negligence on the side of Google. And what difficult choice the browser makes.

As the Search engine is evolving, the company’s help document is not the truth. However, it is better to be cautious with what we know. Google’s engineers are continuously working to enhance performance.

It happens often they see that pagination works fine without some links. And, the communication gap comes into the picture. SEO and developers stay unaware of the change for months.

They know that people frequently read the documentation. Also, the recommendation cycle will make it to the other. However, communication requires time and money. Therefore, it is lost in the mid-way.

Another thing to note, the wrong document doesn’t affect it. The choice is not as simple as it seems. The engineers often let the documents un-updated. As long as the wrong codes do not hurt, it is fine.

The thing to learn here is to always research. Also, it is better to figure out the function on your own.