In the Q&A portion of the 09/24/2021 hangout, John answered a question regarding sarcasm.
The webmaster asked whether or not Google is better at understanding sarcasm than it was in the past.
John explained that you should still try to avoid sarcasm, especially on sites like medical sites that fall under the YMYL concept.
If it’s critical information, then make sure that it’s as easy to understand as possible.
This conversation occurs at the 36:41 mark in the video.
John Mueller 09/24/2021 Hangout Transcript
Is Google better at understanding sarcasm in 2021? Or should you still try to avoid it? For example, the sentence, Silden, or phil…oh, gosh, I can’t pronounce it—some medical name–works for jetlag if your hamster is correct, medically, because no study has been run on humans. But is there a risk that it confuses Google semantically?
John (answer) 37:07
I would say there’s definitely a risk that we misunderstand things like that or that we don’t understand when there is sarcasm on our page. And especially if it’s something where it’s really critical for you to get the right message across to Google and to all users, then I would make sure that it’s as clear as possible. So maybe in cases where you’re talking about medical information, maybe try to avoid sarcasm. If you’re writing about, I don’t know, an entertainment topic or something like that, it’s like, that’s probably less of an issue. But especially if it’s really critical information, then really make sure that it’s as easy as possible to understand.
