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Google Clarifies Googlebot Does Not Parse JSON Files

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TLDR

Gary Illyes from Google clarified that Googlebot downloads JSON files but doesn't parse them—parsing happens in the indexing stage instead.

Optimixed Overview

Optimixed's original report on this story.

Gary Illyes reiterated on Bluesky that Google's crawler downloads JSON files rather than parsing them directly; the indexing stage handles parsing. The clarification applies across Google's infrastructure, including Merchant Center, which uses shared parsing systems rather than tool-specific implementations.

Topics:SEO News & Algorithm Updates
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