What does Google say about SEO?

Do pop-under ads really hurt your SEO rankings?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★

Google evaluates a page's quality by looking at whether the top of the page is visible. Pop-under ads are an old technique, and their impact depends on their implementation. It is advisable to first assess their usefulness to users before considering...

Domain Age & History Content

Does the FAQ schema work if the answers are hidden in an accordion?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★

For the FAQ schema, the content must be visible on the page. It is acceptable to display questions with expandable answers, but hiding the entire FAQ block would be problematic. The presence of visible questions is sufficient.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content Structured Data AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Web Performance Local Search

Has PageRank really become a negligible ranking factor for Google?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

PageRank is still used by Google, but it's just one factor among hundreds of others. Concentrating only on PageRank or links is not helpful since ranking depends on many other signals. Manipulating one tiny element will not significantly help a site.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Why does your favicon take months to get indexed on Google?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★

A favicon can take several months to appear in search results, particularly if the site uses subdomains for each language instead of being indexed at the root. Google recommends reporting persistent cases (3+ months) for review by the team.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure International SEO

Does the favicon really influence CTR in the SERPs?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★

The favicon mainly assists users who already know the site in recognizing it in the SERPs, but it likely does not influence the behavior of generic users who are unfamiliar with the brand.

Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO

Is it true that you don’t need to mark up your entities for them to appear in Google's rich results?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

For an entity to appear in rich results (e.g., mobile games), Google must recognize it as such across the entire web, not just on one site. No special markup is required; Google identifies entities by crawling and indexing the whole web.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO

Does the URL Inspection Tool really guarantee your pages will be indexed?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★

Google does not have any known crawling issues with the URL Inspection Tool, but submitting a URL does not imply automatic indexing. New sites without strong signals may not be indexed immediately; it's necessary to improve signals (sitemap, technica...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Search Console

Do negative reviews on third-party sites really penalize your Google rankings?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

The presence of an external review page (even negative) appearing in the SERPs for a brand query does not affect the ranking of the main site. Users may get lost on this page, but it does not harm the site's SEO.

Domain Age & History Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Local Search

Should you really apply noindex to all user profiles suspected of spam?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

For forums with user profiles exploited for link building, apply nofollow to links and noindex to suspicious profiles. Google can learn to ignore all links from a domain if too much spam is detected, even between subdomain and main domain.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Penalties & Spam

Should you really disavow spam backlinks pointing to your noindexed profiles?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

Low-quality backlinks pointing to user profiles do not require disavowal if these pages are noindexed. Google effectively manages this type of automated spam that has been prevalent for years. The noindex tag is enough to neutralize the impact.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam

Has PageRank really become a minor signal in Google's algorithm?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

PageRank is just a small part of Google's overall algorithm. The evaluation of backlinks takes into account the context (surrounding text, anchor, quality of the source page, content of the source page), not just the raw PageRank transmitted.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content Links & Backlinks

Does the quality of a backlink’s source content matter more than its PageRank?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

The quality and content of a source page of a link influence the evaluation of the backlink, even if that page has no backlinks itself. Google analyzes semantic context, not just inherited PageRank.

Domain Age & History Content Links & Backlinks

Does the average position in Search Console really mislead you about your true visibility?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★

The average position in GSC does not always reflect true visibility. A page may display a position of 20-50 but seem to be on the first page due to multiple elements (OneBoxes, images, side panels). Google is working to make this metric more useful.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Images & Videos Local Search Search Console

Are GSC impressions really counted if the link isn't loaded?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

An impression is recorded only if the link to the site is actually loaded on the search results page visible to the user. Clicking 'Load More' in a knowledge panel loads new links, generating new impressions with different positions.

Domain Age & History Links & Backlinks Search Console

Do you really need to transcribe your podcasts to rank on Google?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

For audio content (podcasts, etc.) to be indexed and ranked in web search, a text transcription must be provided. Google does not yet perform automatic voice recognition to index raw audio. Transcriptions remain the best practice.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Is Google really replacing the Structured Data Testing Tool with the Rich Results Test?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

Google is shifting to the Rich Results Test because it emphasizes structured data that has a visible effect in the SERPs, unlike the Structured Data Testing Tool, which validates all types of schema.org without distinguishing actual SEO utility.

Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Schema.org that's not visible: should you really markup content that doesn't generate rich results?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

Certain types of Schema.org help Google understand the context of a page without generating visible rich results. However, adding obvious high-level markup (e.g., WebPage on a webpage) does not provide any value. It's better to focus on differentiati...

Domain Age & History Content Structured Data Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Images & Videos

Should you really choose a subdirectory over a subdomain for your microsite?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

For a microsite related to the main content, Google recommends a subdirectory rather than a subdomain. The subdirectory simplifies technical maintenance (CMS, redirects, Search Console, sitemap) and strengthens the SEO signals of the overall domain. ...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Redirects Search Console

Should you really separate your site into thematic subdomains for SEO?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★

Separating a site into thematic subdomains (sports, politics, etc.) is generally not useful for SEO. The exception is adult content: SafeSearch requires a distinct subdomain to effectively filter this content without affecting the rest of the site.

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Could unmoderated comments trigger SafeSearch and penalize your entire site?

John Mueller Jul 24, 2020 ★★★

Google tries to isolate comments from main content, but if a site publishes unmoderated adult or spam comments, it can be globally treated by SafeSearch or penalized. The webmaster must moderate or noindex pages with problematic comments as they are ...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Penalties & Spam