What does Google say about SEO?

Does Google really evaluate canonicals the same way it does noindex tags?

John Mueller Oct 18, 2018 ★★★

Canonicals are not treated the same way as noindex tags. Only indexed pages impact a site’s quality score.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Do you really need to optimize all your images for Google Images?

John Mueller Oct 18, 2018 ★★

When using lazy loading, if the images are purely decorative and not crucial for indexing, there is no need to make them visible for Google Images.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos Web Performance

Should you consolidate your small sites into a single domain to enhance your SEO?

John Mueller Oct 18, 2018 ★★

Consolidating multiple small sites into a single main site can strengthen a site's quality signal and improve its overall ranking.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Does Google really index all the pages it crawls?

John Mueller Oct 18, 2018 ★★★

Google will not index all found pages, especially if a site uses infinite parameter combinations. This can be normal, and it is often wise to restrict crawling with well-defined rules.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Should you really fix all 404 errors in Search Console?

John Mueller Oct 18, 2018 ★★★

The new version of Search Console emphasizes URLs likely to be indexed. For example, 404 errors do not always require fixing if they concern irrelevant URLs.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Domain Name Search Console

Should You Avoid Quotation Marks and Citations to Optimize Your SEO?

John Mueller Oct 15, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that quoting someone or putting quotation marks around a word or phrase did not change the treatment that Google used in its analysis.

Algorithms Content AI & SEO Social Media

Does Google Use Physical Store Traffic to Rank Websites?

John Mueller Oct 15, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller responded on Twitter to a question about whether Google might use IRL (In Real Life) data as relevance criteria. For example, whether there would be more people at a given time in a store (peak hours information often indicated in the Kn...

Content Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Pagination & Structure Social Media

Is Mobile First Indexing Really Behind Google's Recent Search Result Fluctuations?

John Mueller Oct 15, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller explained on Twitter that the latest major changes and Google algorithm updates we've seen over the past several months, even weeks, were not related to Mobile First Indexing.

Algorithms Content Crawl & Indexing Discover & News AI & SEO Mobile SEO Social Media

Are Quantitative Metrics Really Useless for Evaluating Content Quality in SEO?

John Mueller Oct 15, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller responded to a tweet to indicate that none of these criteria were used by Google to define content quality: word count, number of backlinks, text-to-anchor link ratio, number of outbound links, anchor text percentage.

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

How Does Google Detect Links Created Solely for SEO Purposes?

John Mueller Oct 08, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller reminded forum users that Google considers a link to be low quality and in violation of its webmaster guidelines from the moment it was created solely for SEO purposes, even if the link may otherwise appear to be of good quality (decent ...

Algorithms Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Should You Delete Low-Traffic Pages to Improve Your SEO?

John Mueller Oct 08, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller responded to a question about "content cannibalization" (low-traffic pages on a site receiving no SEO traffic). One approach proposed by an internet user was to delete this content, considered a priori by Google as low quality. John prop...

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Does robots.txt really prevent your pages from being indexed?

John Mueller Oct 05, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller explains that the robots.txt file and the noindex tag serve different functions: robots.txt prevents crawling, but not indexing, while the noindex tag allows you to prevent the indexing of a crawled page.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files

Can alt tags prevent your images from being indexed in mobile-first?

John Mueller Oct 05, 2018 ★★★

Alt tags are crucial for Google's image indexing, especially in mobile-first indexing where mobile versions of a site may omit these tags.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Images & Videos Mobile SEO

How does Google really decide on the canonical version when your signals contradict each other?

John Mueller Oct 05, 2018 ★★★

To determine canonical content, Google uses various signals including the rel=canonical tag, internal links, and URLs in sitemaps. In case of conflicting signals, Google can make its own choice.

Content Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Domain Name Search Console

How long could a 503 code jeopardize your indexing?

John Mueller Oct 05, 2018 ★★★

An HTTP 503 response can be temporarily used for technical issues, but Google will eventually remove the pages after several days if the error persists. It's advisable to handle any site migration consistently for Google and users to facilitate track...

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

Does JavaScript really block the indexing of your content?

John Mueller Oct 05, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller recommends evaluating whether the crucial content of a page heavily relies on JavaScript to decide on using dynamic rendering. If the main content is loaded via JavaScript, this may require dynamic rendering for effective indexing.

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

Does shared hosting really harm your website's SEO?

John Mueller Oct 05, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller states that sharing a hosting or platform, like WordPress or Blogger, does not negatively impact SEO. It does not result in any manual or algorithmic penalties from Google.

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content Social Media

Should you remove noindex tags from hreflang pages to make it work?

John Mueller Oct 05, 2018 ★★

When pages in a hreflang set are noindex, Google simply focuses on those that are indexable. The hreflang links between indexed pages remain functional.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks International SEO

Can a site rollback harm your Google ranking?

John Mueller Oct 05, 2018 ★★

If Google crawls an older version of a page after a rollback, it does not send negative signals. Google updates its index based on the newly served version without prejudice.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Web Performance

How does Google really recrawl soft 404 pages after they're fixed?

John Mueller Oct 05, 2018 ★★★

Google recrawls and reindexes pages flagged as soft 404 after the content is available again, and using a sitemap with a realistic last modified date can accelerate this recovery.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Search Console