What does Google say about SEO?

Why is a lasting theme essential for your SEO strategy?

John Mueller Sep 14, 2021 ★★

A theme determines many technical aspects of a website, so it is important to take the time to choose a theme that truly works and can be used over the long term.

Content AI & SEO

Does Optimizing Your Lighthouse Score Really Improve Your Google SEO?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2021 ★★★

In response to a tweet from someone reporting the existence of plugins on Shopify that manipulate LightHouse scores to supposedly achieve better SEO, John Mueller was categorical: "Lighthouse scores don't affect Google Search. This type of user-agent...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos Web Performance

Should You Overload Category Pages with Content to Boost Their SEO?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2021 ★★★

John Mueller explained during a webmaster hangout that while it was good practice to provide featured text on a category page (list of products or articles), you shouldn't put too much either: "sometimes adding too much content 'dilutes' the value of...

Domain Age & History Content Discover & News E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks

Should You Create Dedicated Seasonal Event Pages to Boost Your E-commerce SEO?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2021 ★★★

John Mueller reminded us on Twitter that it was important in SEO to offer a specific page on your e-commerce site when seasonal events come around: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Valentine's Day, Christmas, Mother's Day, etc.

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Social Media

How can you make your citation site stand out to boost your SEO?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★

Sites that are solely based on citations are very competitive because they consist of short content and public domains that anyone can republish. There isn’t a simple trick to rank this type of site. It’s essential to truly differentiate rather than ...

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Should you choose subdomains or subdirectories for effective SEO geotargeting?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★★

For multi-country geotargeting, it is essential to use subdomains or subdirectories for each country. Each must be added separately in Search Console. If you are using a generic domain (.com), you can set the geographical targeting individually. With...

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Search Console International SEO

Could New CSS Properties Be an Untapped SEO Opportunity?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★★

Google does not make any special considerations for new CSS properties or HTML tags in terms of SEO. HTML content is indexed normally. Any potential impact would occur through Core Web Vitals if a CSS property enhances the perceived speed for users i...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Web Performance

How do lead forms placed at the top of the page really impact your SEO?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★

A lead generation form at the top of the page generally does not significantly affect SEO. Algorithms monitor ads above the fold that push the main content downward. A form might be considered an ad based on its relevance to the page's intent.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Does the placement of an image in an article really affect SEO?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★

The position of images within an article (whether at the top or after the introduction) does not significantly influence SEO, even for image searches.

Domain Age & History Discover & News AI & SEO Images & Videos

Do you really need to disavow affiliate links?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★

If you provide the right recommendations (nofollow, sponsored) and a significant portion of affiliates follow them, that's sufficient. There's no need to disavow links from affiliates that don't comply with the guidelines. Blocking the crawl of affil...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name

Is it true that nofollow is becoming just a hint for Google?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★★

Nofollow serves to stop the passage of signals for a link. However, Google can still discover, crawl, and index the target page independently. For example, internal nofollow links do not necessarily prevent the indexing of the target page if Google c...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Does the type of hosting really influence Google's crawling?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★★

The type of hosting (shared, VPS, etc.) does not affect the efficiency or volume of crawling by default. Only actual performance matters: a hosting can be slow regardless of its type. It's the slowness itself that poses a problem, not the type of inf...

Crawl & Indexing Pagination & Structure Web Performance Search Console

How can you enhance your link building strategy without jeopardizing your website's ranking?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★★

Creating great content is the first step, but it’s not the only one. You need to disseminate the information, find individuals who are influenced and interested in the topic who might write about it. Purchasing guest posts or links directly is proble...

Content Discover & News AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure Penalties & Spam

Should You Really Change Your Website's URL Structure?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★★

The effect of URL structure (dashes, underscores, descriptions) is so minimal that it's not worth making major modifications on an existing site. Changes create fluctuations for months for a final outcome that is the same. Keep a list for a future ma...

AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Redirects

Should you prioritize quality over quantity for multi-location sites?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★★

For a site with thousands of pages per zip code, focus first on the actual quality for users, not just a rehashing of existing data. Ensure that the 10% of indexed pages are truly important. Google will crawl and index deeper over time as it recogniz...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure Local Search International SEO

How can you thrive in an ultra-competitive SEO market?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★

In ultra-competitive markets, others who are very skilled have been working on the issue for decades. If there were a simple trick, everyone would be using it, and it would stop working. To start on the web, find something less competitive, test it, ...

AI & SEO

Is it true that Google really doesn't differentiate between filter pages and categories?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★★

Google does not differentiate between category pages, filter pages, search pages, or tag pages. What matters is the content present on the URL: information, clear titles, context, product lists. If filter pages are not indexed, first check the techni...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Pagination & Structure

How does Google view dynamic menus in terms of SEO?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★

A dynamic menu that changes according to content relevance or identified user journeys works well. For Google, the menu will be static (no cookies), but the links present will be understood normally. It's similar to related articles in blogs that dyn...

Content Crawl & Indexing Discover & News AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure

Why are your internal pages overshadowed by the homepage?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★

This is a good problem to have because it means the site is already ranking well. The issue is that Google does not understand the relative importance of internal pages for certain queries. The homepage is often very strong and also mentions targeted...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

How is passage ranking transforming our SEO approach for long pages?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2021 ★★★

Passage ranking allows Google to understand that a very long, SEO-unoptimized page contains different sections with various intents. Google can identify that a specific section at the bottom of the page is highly relevant as a standalone article and ...

Domain Age & History Discover & News Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO