# Search Off the Record

A podcast by Google. Search Off the Record takes you behind the scenes of Google Search and its inner workings! In each episode, the folks from the Search Relations team will give you background info on the decision-making behind launches, feature prioritization in Search Console, and the projects Google Search teams are working on. They will share fun stories from the many conferences they attend as well as from their day-to-day working life at Google. They will also dive into the currently trending conversations in the SEO community at large. Have a listen!

Feed: https://search-off-the-record.libsyn.com/rss

## Latest episodes

- [PDFs in Search: Indexing, AI & Pitfalls](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/f3cc99a0f6ad) (2026-10-13, 26 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR115-final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Do sitemaps still matter?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/f77f7605b21d) (2026-10-01, 27 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR114-final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Should you block your Search result pages?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/90dc9be1b715) (2026-07-30, 29 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR113-final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [How to read the Indexing Report](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/f9784539408e) (2026-07-16, 32 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR112-final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Should I use markdown for my site?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/40cb22e26a71) (2026-06-15, 27 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR111_final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Vibe Coding - yay or nay?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/dc45400d939e) (2026-05-07, 34 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR110_final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [How AI Is Changing Google Search and SEO](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/396b44c96a87) (2026-05-01, 34 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR109_final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Analysing Robots.txt at scale with HTTP Archive and BigQuery](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/8d7585111385) (2026-04-23, 28 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR108_final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Are websites getting "fat"? Page weight, HTML size & Googlebot limits explained](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/440828824341) (2026-03-30, 33 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR106_v1.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Google crawlers behind the scenes](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/af42fc907272) (2026-03-12, 26 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR107_final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [How Browsers Really Parse HTML (and What That Means for SEO)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/e2f4d2349c07) (2026-02-26, 33 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR105_final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Do You Still Need a Website in 2026?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/a5194baedf06) (2026-02-12, 29 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR103_final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Crawling Challenges: What the 2025 Year-End Report Tells Us.](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/ec7d7747b035) (2026-02-03, 28 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR104_final.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [SEO, AIO, GEO, your site, & third-party support to optimize for LLMs](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/c650a10a90f3) (2026-01-08, 27 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR102_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Thoughts on SEO & SEO for AI, part 1](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/bfa3de620720) (2025-12-17, 38 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR101_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [How Search Off the Record tackles SEO and web development](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/9ae68ddb591c) (2025-10-30, 31 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR100_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Optimizing login-page content for Google Search](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/80d5755b4357) (2025-09-04, 27 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR099_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Lazy loading demystified](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/45e287ccb4e5) (2025-08-21, 25 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR098_v1.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [SEO for photographers: websites, social media, and Google Search](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/304e71a14c93) (2025-08-07, 32 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR097_v3.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [How does CSS affect SEO?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/020c9ba41ad9) (2025-07-24, 39 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR096_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [SEO for small businesses](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/035ee8b30373) (2025-07-10, 30 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR095_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Demystifying SEO for developers](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/af555a8edda3) (2025-06-26, 34 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR094_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [What SEOs should know about devs](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/fd3be592bee9) (2025-06-12, 32 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR093_v1.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [How Googlebot crawls the web](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/5e7a923cdd25) (2025-05-29, 33 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR092_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Debugging the Internet: HTTP, TCP, and You](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/1bee91eb2f18) (2025-05-15, 34 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR091_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Launching Search Central Live Deep Dive](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/b597f0cd7dd5) (2025-05-01, 36 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR090_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [How are web standards made?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/55ab090bd9c4) (2025-04-17, 45 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR089_v3.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Wrapping up 2024](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/1d3c6b5f94a7) (2024-12-30, 38 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR088_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Handling Dupes - Same Same or Different?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/c8d6011b425d) (2024-12-05, 33 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR087_v3.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [A discussion of UX for SEO](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/dd8c8ea7c404) (2024-11-21, 32 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR086_v3.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Understanding how users experience your website](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/ccaffaf712ba) (2024-10-31, 38 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR085_v5.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Designing Google Doodles and delightful experiences](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/f274de6ef8fb) (2024-10-17, 31 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR084_v2.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Google Search Reliability](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/455437a0b99c) (2024-10-03, 37 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR083_v3.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [How do I know if my SEO is doing a good job?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/5f2b5bbeb35a) (2024-09-19, 38 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR082_v2-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Let's talk shopping markup](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/4b7e73e141de) (2024-09-05, 29 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR081_v4-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Working With Search Console API](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/827c3f8e88a3) (2024-08-22, 30 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR080_v4.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Crawling smarter, not harder](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/09474b192ccd) (2024-08-08, 41 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR079_v3.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Internationalization & hreflang](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/c40cef126d6a) (2024-07-25, 39 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR078_v3-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Rendering JavaScript for Google Search](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/5c2455d99b54) (2024-07-11, 26 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR077_v2-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Inside Search Quality: Using metrics and data science to improve Search](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/c49808a41047) (2024-06-27, 37 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR076_v5.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Cosmic Rays & Crawlers: When Google Search is under the weather](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/6e659618c0f0) (2024-06-06, 28 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR075_v3-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Building SEO community with office hours](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/05861d448530) (2024-05-23, 33 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR074_v4-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Let's talk Content Decay](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/cbae3e8cbda0) (2024-05-09, 34 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR073_v4-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Gemini for Social Posts: Game Edition](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/5b45c3370e46) (2024-04-25, 33 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR071_v4-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Deciphering INP and Core Web Vitals](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/e67053e70d64) (2024-03-28, 36 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR072_v2-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [What is a web crawler, really?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/d914331edb44) (2024-03-14, 31 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR070_v3-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Search Central Product Experts](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/fd65ea77836e) (2024-02-21, 24 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR069_v5-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Rewriting the SEO Starter Guide](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/a6f0c3cb5a6c) (2024-01-25, 26 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR068_v4-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [2023: Year in review](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/02a8ad4e1ac0) (2023-12-21, 37 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR067_v2-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951
- [Which aspect of my site should I focus on?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1512522198/31f44eee34b1) (2023-11-21, 28 min): audio https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/search-off-the-record/SOTR066_v3-lowres.mp3?dest-id=2027951

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.