What does Google say about SEO?

Does mobile-first indexing really enhance your Google ranking?

John Mueller Jan 23, 2019 ★★★

Transitioning to mobile-first indexing does not provide a ranking bonus. Google moves sites to mobile-first indexing when it believes they are ready. There is no direct ranking reward for this change.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Mobile SEO

Is HTTPS really a key ranking factor for SEO?

John Mueller Jan 23, 2019 ★★★

HTTPS is considered a ranking factor described as a soft signal. While it can slightly impact ranking, it isn't a decisive factor, and well-established content on HTTP can still rank well.

Content HTTPS & Security Pagination & Structure

Can Google's quality guidelines really guide the algorithm without precise technical metrics?

John Mueller Jan 23, 2019 ★★★

Google's quality guidelines aim to guide the algorithm towards a better understanding of content quality. Although there are no precise technical measures to implement, following these guidelines contributes to improving the overall quality of a site...

Algorithms Content

Should you really avoid robots.txt to manage facets and filters on e-commerce sites?

John Mueller Jan 23, 2019 ★★★

For large e-commerce sites with many filters and facets, it's recommended to use attributes like noindex or canonical rather than employing robots.txt to guide Google on which pages to index.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing E-commerce

Does the order of URLs and priority in XML sitemaps really affect Google's crawling?

John Mueller Jan 23, 2019 ★★★

The order of URLs in an XML sitemap does not matter to Google. Likewise, the priority setting for sitemaps is not used by Google to determine crawl frequency.

Crawl & Indexing Structured Data JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name PDF & Files Search Console

Is mobile performance really a direct ranking signal or just a factor of user experience?

Martin Splitt Jan 23, 2019 ★★★

Mobile performance is crucial for user experience. Google utilizes real-world data, such as the Chrome UX Report, to evaluate a site's performance. It is recommended to continuously improve site speed to satisfy mobile users.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Mobile SEO Web Performance Search Console

Should you really use the canonical tag across subdomains for similar pages?

John Mueller Jan 23, 2019 ★★★

If you have very similar pages across different subdomains, it is advisable to use the canonical tag to designate the main version of the pages. This helps consolidate content and avoid dilution between the pages.

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

How Do You Create Quality Content That Truly Stands the Test of Time According to Google?

John Mueller Jan 14, 2019 ★★★

John Mueller "destroyed" a webmaster on a Google forum after analyzing his site. The publisher took quite a beating. Here's the translation of John's post: We don't index all the content on your site, that's perfectly normal. However, looking at the ...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Pagination & Structure Penalties & Spam International SEO

Can Quality Content Compensate for Poor Technical SEO?

John Mueller Jan 14, 2019 ★★★

John Mueller reminded us during a hangout that a technically flawless site (tags, UX, loading time, etc.) cannot rank on Google if it doesn't offer quality content above all else.

Content AI & SEO Web Performance

Should You Really Avoid Changing Your Image URLs to Preserve Their Rankings?

John Mueller Jan 14, 2019 ★★★

John Mueller also indicated during a hangout that changing an image's URL can affect its ranking in the dedicated Google Images tool, particularly on sites receiving a lot of traffic from this search engine. If the URL changes, even if the image rema...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos Domain Name PDF & Files

What should you do about the feature shutdowns in Search Console?

John Mueller Jan 11, 2019 ★★★

Google plans to implement several changes to Search Console, including the shutting down of certain features from the old version and migrating others to the new one. Some sections could be permanently closed without immediate replacements.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Redirects Search Console

Should you really fix all the crawl errors in Google Search Console?

John Mueller Jan 11, 2019 ★★★

Google suggests focusing on crawling errors that really affect the site, instead of getting bogged down with an extensive and possibly less relevant list of all crawling errors.

Crawl & Indexing

Can switching a website's theme really kill your organic visibility?

John Mueller Jan 11, 2019 ★★★

Completely changing a website's theme can affect its visibility in Google's search results, either positively or negatively. It depends on how the new theme is structured for SEO.

Does a CDN really enhance your organic search rankings?

John Mueller Jan 11, 2019 ★★★

For Google, a CDN is merely a means of site hosting and is not treated differently in the ranking algorithm. The key is to ensure that the site is fast and available for its audience.

Algorithms AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Could dynamic rendering actually hurt your website if Google detects content discrepancies?

John Mueller Jan 11, 2019 ★★★

When using dynamic rendering, Google tries to see equivalent content provided in a different form. It is crucial that the content and features are equivalent, not that the content is significantly different or spammy.

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Penalties & Spam

Can XML sitemaps actually show up in Google search results?

John Mueller Jan 11, 2019 ★★★

An XML sitemap file is processed differently than a standard HTML page. It is designed to be read by machines and is not meant to appear in search results.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Is cloaking ever acceptable for Googlebot?

John Mueller Jan 11, 2019 ★★★

It is considered cloaking to show different content to Googlebot compared to a user, unless the content is equivalent and the differences are justified.

Content Crawl & Indexing Penalties & Spam Search Console

Does mobile-first indexing really demand a mobile-friendly site?

John Mueller Jan 11, 2019 ★★★

The shift to mobile-first indexing is distinct from assessing mobile-friendliness. Even if a site is not mobile-friendly, it can still be indexed under mobile-first indexing as long as all content is present.

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

Should you really redirect the old versions of your CSS and JavaScript files?

John Mueller Jan 11, 2019 ★★★

Google recommends redirecting old resources to new ones when versioning resource URLs (CSS, JavaScript) to facilitate page rendering.

Domain Age & History JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Should you really merge all your local sites into a single main domain?

John Mueller Jan 11, 2019 ★★★

For businesses with multiple locations, it is often better to have a main site with dedicated pages for each local location and to use schema markup to support local SEO.

Domain Age & History Local Search