What does Google say about SEO?

Why do your JavaScript pages take weeks to get indexed?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

Pages built exclusively with JavaScript can take longer to be rendered and indexed by Google. Pre-rendering or dynamic rendering can speed up this process by providing a static HTML version directly to Googlebot.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing JavaScript & Technical SEO

Does Googlebot's crawling from the United States really hurt your loading speed?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★

Googlebot mainly crawls from IP addresses based in the United States, but the difference in loading speed due to this location is insignificant. Page speed is evaluated with both lab data and real user data.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Web Performance Local Search International SEO

Should you use removal tools during a site migration?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

When moving a site, use 301 redirects instead of removal tools, as the latter do not affect indexing and could remove pages before the new content is indexed.

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

Redirects or Canonicals: What’s the Real Difference for Category Transfers?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

When a product category is moved to a new site, 301 redirects and canonical tags are similar in terms of signal transfer. However, one should expect a ranking reassessment for the new URLs.

Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Domain Name Redirects

Does mobile-first indexing truly require strict parity between mobile and desktop?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★★

To be ready for mobile-first indexing, ensure all content, including structured data, is consistent between the mobile and desktop versions. Responsive design sites just have to wait for the mobile-first indexing transition.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Mobile SEO

How can you outperform dominant competitors in SEO without exhausting yourself on ultra-competitive queries?

John Mueller Nov 30, 2018 ★★

In the face of strong competition, consider focusing on specific variations or new questions that the dominant competitor has not yet covered, rather than directly competing on highly competitive queries.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Can blocking IPs or proxies harm your site's SEO?

John Mueller Nov 27, 2018 ★★★

Google does not view IP or proxy blocking negatively as long as Googlebot can access the pages. However, it can harm user experience if you accidentally block legitimate users.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing

Do client-side redirects really kill your Google indexing?

John Mueller Nov 27, 2018 ★★★

Client-side redirects with URL parameters can complicate Google's indexing process and create duplicate content. It's better to simplify URLs to facilitate indexing and canonicalization.

Content Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Domain Name Redirects

Why does your site lose its rankings despite years of stability?

John Mueller Nov 27, 2018 ★★★

Ranking changes can occur for various reasons. Users expect to see the most relevant content, which can affect long-established sites if their content becomes less relevant.

Content AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Why does Google keep some algorithm updates under wraps?

John Mueller Nov 27, 2018 ★★

Google does not confirm all algorithm updates, except when they have a tangible impact on webmasters and actionable measures can be taken, such as page speed updates or mobile compatibility.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Mobile SEO Web Performance

Why has Google stopped communicating about core updates?

John Mueller Nov 27, 2018 ★★

Google makes daily changes to its algorithm, including experiments. It is difficult to categorize updates as core since they often affect various aspects of ranking.

Algorithms

Do page titles really influence Google rankings?

John Mueller Nov 27, 2018 ★★★

Page titles are important for SEO because they are taken into account in rankings and are visible in search results. Changing a title can affect the ranking of the page.

Domain Age & History Content

Should you show both the publication and last updated dates on your articles?

John Mueller Nov 27, 2018 ★★

It is useful to show both the original publication date and the update date of articles, and to use structured data for this information.

Discover & News AI & SEO Local Search

Is it really necessary to publish regularly to boost your Google rankings?

John Mueller Nov 27, 2018 ★★

Blogging regularly does not automatically improve rankings. What matters is the relevance and freshness of the content in relation to what users are searching for at that time.

Content Search Console

Does Google Translate really hurt the SEO of your automatic translations?

John Mueller Nov 27, 2018 ★★

Google prefers not to index content that has been automatically translated via translation APIs, as they are often of lower quality. It is better to allow users to choose to translate the content.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO International SEO

Are your XML sitemaps cluttering your search results?

John Mueller Nov 27, 2018 ★★

Google can index XML sitemap files, and they may appear in search results. If you want to exclude them, use the HTTP X-Robots-Tag header for the XML sitemaps.

Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Search Console

Does Buying Your Domain Name for 10 Years Actually Improve Your SEO?

John Mueller Nov 26, 2018 ★★★★

John Mueller explained on Twitter for the 1,458th time 🙂 that the purchase duration or expiration date of a domain name with a registrar is not a relevance criterion taken into account by the search engine's algorithm.

Algorithms Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Social Media

Why Does Google Crawl Your Pages But Still Refuse to Index Them?

John Mueller Nov 26, 2018 ★★★

In the new Search Console and its "Index Coverage" option, many pages are sometimes indicated as "Crawled - currently not indexed". Most of the time, these are pages that have not yet been indexed (they are in the queue) due to excessive server load ...

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

Should You Abandon a Domain with a History of Spam or Hacking?

John Mueller Nov 26, 2018 ★★★

A webmaster asked John Mueller a question during a hangout about the historical value of a domain name that may have been used in the past for spam or hacking actions. Is there a reset - or something like that - possible? John Mueller responded that ...

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

Does the Alt Attribute Really Matter for Classic Web Search Rankings?

John Mueller Nov 19, 2018 ★★★★

John Mueller explained in a hangout that the Alt attribute of images plays a fairly minor role in optimizing a page for web search. Indeed, the words that this attribute contains will certainly already be present elsewhere on the page, so it doesn't ...

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos Mobile SEO