Google’s John Mueller stated that a significant increase in content can lead to a website being perceived as a new site, prompting a re-evaluation. In response to a question about expanding a website’s size tenfold, Mueller’s answer highlighted that such dramatic growth would cause Google to treat the site as entirely new, leading to a fresh assessment. This insight is a caution for anyone contemplating substantially expanding their site’s content.

Impact of Making a Site Bigger

A site migration or adding many new products can significantly increase a website’s size. This topic was addressed in the SEO Office Hours podcast with the question:

“What’s the impact of a huge expansion of our product portfolio, for example, going from 10,000 to 100,000 products, on SEO performance?”

John Mueller’s response highlights the potential consequences of such a dramatic growth:

“If you grow a website significantly, like by a factor of 10, it will be fundamentally different. The old site would only be 10% of the new one, so it’s logical to expect search engines to re-evaluate how they present your website. Essentially, it’s like a new website.”

Mueller suggests that such changes should be approached strategically rather than solely on SEO. While he implies it might be viewed as a strategic issue, many SEOs argue that any factor affecting how a search engine displays a site is indeed an SEO concern.

John Mueller’s statement indicates that exponential growth could lead Google to re-evaluate the site as if it were entirely new. This re-evaluation process could be lengthy; Mueller has previously noted that it can take months for Google to fully understand and recognize significant changes in a site’s quality.

The implication is that phased content growth might be a more optimal approach to avoid the potential pitfalls of a sudden, large-scale expansion.

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