What does Google say about SEO?

Should you really be worried about duplicate content in SEO?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

Having duplicate content on the web is normal and Google's systems are designed to handle this. It is advisable to focus on problematic content rather than trying to identify all existing duplicates.

Content

Can mobile-first indexing really hurt your rankings?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

Shifting a site to mobile-first indexing shouldn't negatively impact its rankings if the site is responsive and properly utilizes technologies like CSS and JavaScript for mobile access.

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

Does hidden content on mobile truly penalize your SEO?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

For Google, click-revealed hidden content on mobile is treated the same way as content that is immediately visible. This type of hiding does not negatively affect SEO as long as the content is in the HTML when the page loads.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Mobile SEO

How does Google actually handle backlinks after a domain change?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

When a domain is redirected to a new one, links pointing to the original domain are treated as pointing to the new one. The links should be checked in Search Console to see their status in the link reports.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Search Console

Is it true that Search Console is enough to disavow toxic links?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★

The link data provided by Google Search Console is usually sufficient for disavowing links, even though third-party tools can simplify the identification of problematic link patterns for very large sites.

Links & Backlinks Search Console

Should you really give up optimizing for featured snippets?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★

It is not advisable to specifically target featured snippets as they can change quickly. Focus on creating high-quality content that is relevant to users in the long term.

Content Featured Snippets & SERP JavaScript & Technical SEO

Does Google really adjust its crawling when your server is slow?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

If Google detects that the server is overloaded, it will reduce the amount of crawling to avoid causing issues. This can slow down indexing, particularly when adding new AMP pages.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Mobile SEO

Can titles and descriptions really make a difference in competitive SEO?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★

In highly competitive niches, even basic SEO elements such as titles and descriptions must be well-optimized and appealing to stand out in search results.

Content

How does Google really assess mobile speed for SEO ranking?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★

Google uses both calculated metrics and real-world data to evaluate page loading speed on mobile. Tools like Lighthouse provide useful insights, but do not precisely match the measures used for ranking.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Mobile SEO Web Performance

Should you inject your canonical tags via Google Tag Manager?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

Using Google Tag Manager to inject a canonical tag into HTML pages can be problematic because only Google will process it. This can lead to latency between the time the HTML version is indexed and the time the JavaScript version is processed, which c...

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

Does mobile-first indexing really eliminate all content that's not accessible on mobile?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

During the transition to mobile-first indexing, Google will use only the mobile version of a site for indexing and ranking. Therefore, it's crucial that relevant content is present on the mobile version, as any missing content will not be considered ...

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Mobile SEO

Why does Google block some sites from desktop indexing despite mobile-first indexing?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

Google will only move a site to mobile-first indexing if it is satisfied with the content parity between the desktop and mobile versions. If the mobile version has significantly less content, images, or structured data, the site will not yet be trans...

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

Does mobile compatibility really impact Google rankings?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

While mobile compatibility does not directly affect the index, it influences rankings because pages considered non-mobile-friendly will not receive a ranking boost in mobile search results.

Domain Age & History Mobile SEO

Should you really worry about 404 errors in Search Console?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

URLs that return a 404 status are normal, and Google gradually removes them from the index. Having 404 errors in Search Console is not problematic, and they will disappear over time.

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

Should you really stop buying links for your SEO?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

Google recommends not buying links because it goes against their quality guidelines. Purchased links can lead to penalties if detected.

Links & Backlinks

How can lyric sites avoid the pitfalls of duplicate content filters?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

Lyric sites must provide unique content or added value to differentiate themselves, as simply offering the same content as others is unlikely to lead to prominence in search results.

Content

Does JavaScript really delay the indexing of your content?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

If content is displayed only via JavaScript and takes time to load, it can delay its indexing. For sites with dynamic content, this means that new items may not be indexed immediately, which could be a drawback for sites that need quick indexing.

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

Should you really leave thousands of hacked URLs resulting in 404 errors after an attack?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

In case of a hack leading to the creation of many fake URLs, it is normal to see 404 errors in Search Console. It is recommended to ensure that the unwanted URLs return a 404 status so that Google progressively removes them from the index.

Crawl & Indexing Domain Name Search Console

Should you still disavow old toxic backlinks?

John Mueller Sep 13, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller explains that if you previously participated in dishonest link schemes, it might be useful to use the disavow tool to ensure those efforts do not affect your future rankings, even though Google is now quite effective in ignoring such lin...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks

Does Google Really Ignore Links from .edu Domains?

John Mueller Sep 10, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that, "because of the misconception that .edu sites are better taken into account by Google," the search engine was ignoring tons of links coming from pages on this type of address, because they are mostly spammy lin...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Penalties & Spam Social Media