What does Google say about SEO?

Should you really fix every technical imperfection on a website that performs well in SEO?

Martin Splitt May 05, 2020 ★★

If the content is indexed, appearing in search results and generating the expected clicks and impressions, nothing should be changed even if the technical setup seems imperfect. Only fix what is really causing a measurable performance issue.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console

Does Submitting Multiple Google Reconsideration Requests Really Speed Up Manual Action Removal?

John Mueller May 04, 2020 ★★★

When a site has been targeted by a manual action from Google, John Mueller indicated on Twitter that there is no point in making several reconsideration requests in succession, as long as you have not received the response to the first one. When mult...

Content AI & SEO Penalties & Spam Social Media

Does Googlebot Still Fill Out Forms to Crawl Your Website?

John Mueller May 04, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller explained in a hangout that today, it is extremely rare for Googlebot to attempt to fill out and submit a form on a website "to see where it goes in that case". John explained that if this type of bot behavior is observed, it's because t...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

How Long Before Google Deindexes a Site That's Down?

John Mueller May 04, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller explained on Twitter that if a website is "down" due to an outage, the search engine will test access to its pages a certain number of times, then begin deindexing content (page by page and not the entire site at once) after 2 days...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO Social Media

Why Does Google Detect So Many Soft 404s in Search Console and How Can You Fix Them?

John Mueller May 04, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller explained on Twitter that if, in the Search Console ("Coverage" report), you have many "Soft 404s" (pages generating a 200 code but with 404 behavior), it's because you may have an internal linking problem with links pointing too heavily...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure Social Media Search Console

Does hreflang really protect against duplicate content?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★★

Hreflang helps Google recognize which URL to display but does not eliminate the detection of duplicate content. Google indexes a canonical version and exchanges the displayed URL based on the user's location, without the risk of manual penalties.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Local Search International SEO

Should you choose dashes or pluses in URLs for better SEO?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★

Using pluses (+) or dashes (-) in URLs has no impact on crawling or ranking. Dashes are preferred for technical convenience (to avoid spaces in tools), but both work identically for Google.

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

Does the target="_blank" attribute affect SEO rankings?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★

The fact that a link opens in a new tab or in the same tab has no SEO impact. It is an editorial decision without consequences for SEO.

AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure

Why does Google overlook your navigation and sidebars during crawling?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★★

Google focuses on the main content of the page rather than navigation, sidebars, or footers. This reflects user behavior that centers on what is unique to each page.

Domain Age & History Content Pagination & Structure

Site Architecture: Is it really necessary to choose between flat and deep?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★★

It's essential to avoid an architecture that's too flat (everything at the same level) or too deep (too many clicks). Finding a balance facilitates crawling, indexing, and ranking. There are no strict rules regarding the number of products per catego...

Crawl & Indexing E-commerce Pagination & Structure

Should you really keep your old domains to safeguard your brand?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★

Mueller strongly recommends keeping old domain names indefinitely, even without content, to avoid a third party purchasing the domain and associating your brand with undesirable content.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Do Expired Domains Really Buy Back Their SEO Past?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★

When a site goes down and then the owner renews it, Google's algorithms try to be helpful by restoring the previous state. This 'help' can persist for several months to several years. Do not rely on expired domains as a strategy.

Algorithms Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Why does Google sometimes display 5 results from the same site on the first page?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★

Google generally limits to 2-3 results per site for generic queries. If the algorithm detects that the user is looking for a specific site, more results from that site may appear. This is not necessarily a bug.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Featured Snippets & SERP

Is EAT really unnecessary for SEO if Google claims it's not a ranking factor?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★★

EAT is not a ranking factor that needs to be technically optimized. For a medical forum linked to an established medical site, the essential thing is to clearly position user-generated content for users (disclaimers, transparency). SEO will follow na...

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure

Should you really automate the generation of your XML sitemap?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★

Mueller strongly recommends automating the sitemap because every small change should reflect quickly. A sitemap generated by crawling your own site is acceptable but less optimal: Google will also crawl the site directly. Automation remains best prac...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure Search Console

Does Google really forget your past SEO mistakes?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★★

Google typically focuses on the current state of a site. Corrected past errors have no lasting effect, except in rare cases: external links (slow reprocessing), geo-targeting (slow change), heavily spammed sites that have been cleaned (algorithmic di...

Algorithms AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam

Do external links really harm your pages' rankings?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★★

Google does not consider natural, non-paid external links to harm a page's ranking. They help Google understand the context and position of a page relative to the rest of the web.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Search Console

Is Pagerank still enough to rank in SEO?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★★

Pagerank is used internally by Google, but it is only part of the many signals considered for website ranking. Therefore, it is more beneficial to focus on multiple quality signals rather than just Pagerank.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Why does Google deindex your pages and how can you fix it?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★★

If the number of indexed pages decreases, it’s generally because Google believes it’s not worth indexing all pages individually. This could indicate a site-wide quality issue rather than a specific technical problem.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing

Do mobile and desktop search results really display the same pages?

John Mueller May 01, 2020 ★★

Search results can vary between mobile and desktop, which may influence how often a page appears in results depending on the type of device. However, Google strives to maintain a certain level of consistency across devices.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Mobile SEO