What does Google say about SEO?

Should you really customize the structured data for each page?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2019 ★★★

Structured data must be specific to the main subject of each page. Using the same set of structured data for all pages on the site can be incorrect and could lead to the disabling of rich results by the Google team.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Are expired domains really useless for SEO?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2019 ★★★

Google does not favor expired domains. Practices of purchasing expired domains for their backlinks may not provide any advantages, as Google tends to ignore irrelevant links.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name

Is it really necessary to add self-referential canonicals on every page?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2019 ★★★

Self-referential canonical tags are useful, especially on static HTML sites to indicate which URL should be primarily indexed, particularly helpful for managing variable URL parameters.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name

Should you really eliminate all redirect chains to optimize crawling?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2019 ★★★

It's best to set up redirects to point directly to the final URL without any intermediaries. Too many steps in a redirect chain can lead to delays in crawling.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Redirects

How can you demonstrate your expertise to Google during Core Updates?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2019 ★★★

Google's Core Updates aim to assess the relevance of pages for user queries. Websites must clarify their expertise to be considered reliable sources on a given topic.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO

Should you avoid domains with a spam past, or can they be salvaged?

John Mueller Apr 16, 2019 ★★★

When transferring to a new domain, if its history is linked to spammy activities, it can affect its ranking. An assessment of the history and backlinks, followed by a possible disavowal, is recommended.

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

Does More Frequent Crawling Really Improve Your Site's SEO Rankings?

John Mueller Apr 15, 2019 ★★★

John Mueller explained once again on Reddit that if a site is crawled more often at a given time, this is not necessarily a sign that other things (such as the ranking of its pages on the search engine) will change. It simply means that the bot will ...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Web Performance

Why Should Your Homepage Be Optimized Differently from Your Internal Pages?

John Mueller Apr 15, 2019 ★★★

John Mueller explained in a recent webmaster hangout that a homepage should primarily be optimized to describe what the site will be about in general, not for more specific queries, even though the homepage receives the most backlinks and therefore h...

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

Should You Really Trust Google's Cache Date to Monitor Your Page Indexation?

John Mueller Apr 15, 2019 ★★★

When viewing a page in its "cached" version (via the appropriate link in the SERP or through the "cache:" query), Google displays a phrase like this: "This is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on March 31, 2019 at 20:56:33 GMT." The date indicate...

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Web Performance Local Search Social Media

Are title tags and meta descriptions really crucial for your visibility on Google?

Martin Splitt Apr 10, 2019 ★★★

To make your pages more findable and relevant in search results, it is advisable to give each page a descriptive and helpful title and description. These elements will appear in search results and help users identify the best result for their query.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Why has initial HTML rendering become the key to your Google indexing?

Martin Splitt Apr 10, 2019 ★★★

To optimize SEO, it is crucial that your site's content arrives with an initial HTML sent to the client without waiting for JavaScript execution. Googlebot goes through two waves of indexing, the first without executing any JavaScript. The absence of...

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

Should you always pre-render your JavaScript for Googlebot to index correctly?

Martin Splitt Apr 10, 2019 ★★★

To address the indexing limitations due to the initial non-execution of JavaScript, it is recommended to use server-side pre-rendering or dynamic rendering. Vue.js offers documentation and tools for these approaches, which can be beneficial for large...

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files

Are Blog Comments Really a Tangible SEO Lever?

John Mueller Apr 05, 2019 ★★★

Google sees blog comments as valuable content for a page. Comments can enhance a page's content and encourage users to return to read replies, thus creating a community. While managing comments can require significant effort, they can indirectly infl...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Do comments really affect Google rankings?

John Mueller Apr 05, 2019 ★★

Comments do not constitute a direct ranking factor, but they provide additional content with text and keywords, which can help a page rank for certain search terms. It's not a magical factor, but it can contribute to ranking through the content they ...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO

Does Google really ignore voice queries in Search Console?

John Mueller Apr 05, 2019 ★★

Currently, Google does not offer a specific way in Search Console to see how many voice queries a site receives. Voice queries are often simple and comparable to keyboard entries. Pages optimized for voice can include short, direct answers to typical...

Domain Age & History Search Console

Does quality really outweigh volume in SEO?

John Mueller Apr 05, 2019 ★★★

Google evaluates the quality of a page's content rather than the quantity of articles published. Even a blog with few posts can rank well if it contains high-quality content. It's more relevant to provide useful information than to focus on the numbe...

Domain Age & History Content Discover & News

Are rich snippets signaling the end of traditional organic traffic?

John Mueller Apr 05, 2019 ★★★

Google sees features like rich snippets as helping users access important information more directly. The role of SEO is evolving with this, focusing more on the value the site offers to users rather than just on page views.

Domain Age & History Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

How does hreflang help handle duplicate content across countries?

John Mueller Apr 05, 2019 ★★★

Google can manage duplicate content across different TLDs for different countries via hreflang. Similar content is seen as duplicates, but hreflang allows them to be distinguished by country and language in search results.

Content AI & SEO Domain Name International SEO

How does Google really index your images for Google Images?

John Mueller Apr 05, 2019 ★★★

For images to be effectively referenced by Google Images, the image URL and the landing page must be accessible for indexing. Visual elements like alt texts and captions are essential for describing what the image represents.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Images & Videos Domain Name

Is Dynamic Rendering Killing Your Google Crawl Budget?

John Mueller Apr 05, 2019 ★★

If dynamic rendering takes 5 to 10 seconds to respond to Googlebot, it could limit the number of pages Google can regularly crawl. It is important to optimize and speed up response time so as not to hinder Google’s crawling.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO