What does Google say about SEO?

Should you really be optimizing titles and snippets when CTR is low?

Daniel Waisberg Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

A low click-through rate in search results indicates that if impressions are significantly higher than the number of clicks, it's advised to improve titles and snippets in search to make the site more appealing to users.

Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO

Why do some search queries disappear from the Search Console?

Daniel Waisberg Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

When expected search queries do not appear in the report, your site could be lacking relevant and useful content for those queries.

Content AI & SEO Search Console

Why do the figures in Search Console never match between graphs and tables?

Daniel Waisberg Jan 08, 2020 ★★

When you filter by queries or pages, the results on the graph may not match the total displayed in the table due to Google's anonymizations for privacy reasons and the limitation on the number of queries that can be displayed in the table.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Web Performance Search Console

Does hreflang really need to be used exclusively for identical content?

John Mueller Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

Hreflang tags should only be used for identical content across countries or languages. If the content differs, hreflang is not appropriate. The complexity of this implementation must be weighed against the benefit of having the correct URLs indexed.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Search Console International SEO

Why do scrapers index faster than your original content?

John Mueller Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

When an original site is outrun by a scraper, it is often due to technical issues that delay indexing. Ensure that the site is easy to crawl, with a clear structure and quickly updated sitemaps to assist in the swift indexing of content.

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

How is the average position in Search Console really calculated?

John Mueller Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

The average position in Search Console is calculated using a weighted average based on impressions. It’s essential to understand the nuances between positions by query and by URL when interpreting the data.

Domain Name Search Console

Should you really migrate all your nofollow links to sponsored and UGC?

John Mueller Jan 08, 2020 ★★

Using rel='sponsored' and rel='ugc' link attributes is not mandatory if nofollow is already in place. They offer more specific information if you choose to implement them, but there is no urgent need for an update.

AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Should you disavow backlinks from sites that have lost traffic?

John Mueller Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

The drop in traffic from a backlink source does not require a disavow. As long as the links are natural, they do not need to be removed, regardless of the current popularity of the source site.

AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Are blog comment links still effective for SEO?

John Mueller Jan 08, 2020 ★★

Leaving legitimate comments on blogs with links to your site is generally acceptable, unless done on a large scale. Google may ignore these links if they all appear to be self-created.

AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure

How can you effectively interpret the metrics from the Search Console performance report?

Daniel Waisberg Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

The four main metrics of the performance report in Google Search Console include impressions (the number of times your site appeared in search results), clicks (the total number of times users clicked from search results to your site), average click-...

Domain Age & History Web Performance Search Console

How can you leverage Search Console dimensions to supercharge your SEO performance analysis?

Daniel Waisberg Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

Dimensions in Google Search Console, such as countries and pages, describe the attributes of the data. For instance, the 'country' dimension indicates the country of origin for searches related to your site, such as the United States or Japan. Pages ...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO Search Console

How can you leverage Google Search Console filters to analyze performance by result type or device?

Daniel Waisberg Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

Report filters in Google Search Console allow exploration of specific scenarios, such as focusing exclusively on image search results or making comparisons between mobile and desktop results.

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

Is it true that hreflang can distinguish between US and UK content for identical pages?

John Mueller Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

It is possible to use hreflang tags to target English-speaking users in the United States and the United Kingdom with the same content. However, Google may recognize that these pages are identical and choose one as canonical while trying to display t...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Domain Name Local Search International SEO

Should you really maintain 301 redirects indefinitely after a domain change?

John Mueller Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

301 redirects are permanent and should ideally be maintained indefinitely after a domain change. At a minimum, keep them for one year to ensure that all URLs are properly crawled by Googlebot.

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

Should you really block the indexing of filter and product variation pages?

John Mueller Jan 08, 2020 ★★

For large quantities of similar URLs resulting from variations, it may be wiser to concentrate on main category pages for better SEO impact rather than indexing all URLs.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name

Should you really redirect after changing your WordPress theme?

John Mueller Jan 08, 2020 ★★★

Changing a WordPress theme or altering the HTML5 structure can be recognized by Google as a change in similar content, but for clarity and accuracy of discovery, it's advisable to use redirects.

Content AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Redirects

Should You Stop Over-Optimizing H1-H6 Tags for SEO?

John Mueller Jan 06, 2020 ★★

John Mueller indicated in a hangout that for him, the weight of Hn tags (H1-H6) was generally and often quite overestimated in an SEO strategy. He explained that H1-H6 tags are primarily used by Google to understand the content of pages and the parag...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Mobile SEO Search Console

Do 5xx Errors Really Slow Down Google's Crawling of Your Site?

John Mueller Jan 06, 2020 ★★★

John Mueller explained on Twitter that if Googlebot encounters a persistent number of 5xx errors (server errors) on a website, the crawl will be slowed down. However, he does not specify at what level (percentage) of errors this slowdown takes effect...

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

Should You Really Invest in EAT for an E-commerce Site?

John Mueller Dec 30, 2019 ★★★

John Mueller indicated in a hangout that the EAT concept is generally less important for e-commerce sites. According to John, EAT carries more weight for sites where "the information provided is critical for the user, where they really need to know t...

Domain Age & History Content E-commerce AI & SEO Local Search

Does Buying a Domain Through Google Actually Boost Your SEO Rankings?

John Mueller Dec 30, 2019 ★★★

John Mueller explained on Reddit that purchasing a domain name through Google's domain registration service does not provide any specific SEO advantage.

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