What does Google say about SEO?

Why does focusing too much on ranking factors risk missing the bigger picture?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller points out that concentrating solely on ranking factors can lead to losing sight of the ultimate goal of providing something that answers users' questions. Ranking factors can change quickly based on current events.

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO

Are Google My Business and traditional SEO really two separate worlds?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★

Google My Business and Google Search are separate. The ranking factors for Google My Business can be very different from those of web search and are not influenced by customer recommendations.

AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Local Search

Should you really combine canonical and hreflang to manage multilingual duplicate content?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

To manage duplicate content from authoritative sources, it is recommended to use the rel=canonical tag to reinforce the canonical source. Hreflang should be used if the content is specifically translated for different language markets.

Content Crawl & Indexing International SEO

Do 301 redirects really transfer 100% of PageRank and SEO signals?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

When redirecting one URL to another, Google strives to transfer as many signals as possible, including backlinks, to the new URL. However, some signals can remain attached to the old URL.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Redirects

Does the canonical tag really work like a 301 redirect?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

The use of the canonical tag is similar to redirects in designating a primary page, but clear signals must be provided to Google to avoid any ambiguity regarding which page to canonize.

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

Can you really reactivate disavowed links without facing penalties?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

When a site disavows links and later reactivates them, Google processes the current disavow files and reintegrates the links removed from the file with each update.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO Links & Backlinks PDF & Files

Does mobile-first indexing really change the snippets visible to all mobile users?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

During the transition to mobile-first indexing, all users coming from mobile search should see a snippet that closely matches the mobile content of the site.

Content Crawl & Indexing Featured Snippets & SERP AI & SEO Mobile SEO

Can the robots.txt really block the indexing of your pages?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

A noindex directive in the robots.txt file is not officially supported and may not work anymore. It is recommended not to rely on this method to prevent the indexing of pages.

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

Is using the disavow tool still effective against negative SEO attacks?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

Google generally recognizes low-quality links from BlackHat tools and tends to ignore them. Using the disavow file remains a reasonable precaution but should not be the sole method of protection.

AI & SEO Links & Backlinks PDF & Files

How can you speed up your e-commerce site's crawl without wasting Google’s budget?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★

For large e-commerce sites, optimizing crawling is crucial by identifying unnecessary URLs or optimizing URL parameters to reduce unnecessary crawl requests.

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

HTTPS and Mobile Indexing: Why Does Google Treat HTTP and HTTPS as Two Different Sites?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★

Migrating a HTTP version to mobile indexing does not guarantee that the HTTPS version has also transitioned to mobile indexing. Google treats HTTP and HTTPS separately.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing HTTPS & Security AI & SEO Mobile SEO

How can you remove an entire section of your website from Google in under 24 hours?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

To quickly remove an entire section of a website, using Google's URL removal tool for specific directories allows for removal in less than one day. More fragmentary removals require the use of 404 codes or noindex tags.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Is there a truly effective way to implement hreflang for international SEO?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

Whether through subdomains, subdirectories, or URL parameters, different methods can be used to implement hreflang. Choose the method that best meets your tracking and management needs.

AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name International SEO

Are hidden mobile links really counted by Google in mobile-first indexing?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

Google counts links in HTML even if they are hidden on mobile. If a link is only in the desktop template and not present in mobile HTML, it will not be considered with mobile-first indexing.

Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Mobile SEO

Can similar domain names really harm your SEO?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

Sites with similar domain names have no algorithmic overlap that would affect your domain, even if they link to you.

Algorithms AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name

Should you fix all the 404 and 500 errors flagged in Search Console?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

The performance reports in the new Search Console show site performance, while the Crawl Errors section displays errors encountered while attempting to crawl your site. Errors like 500 and 404 can be ignored if they appear to be temporary. In this ca...

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console

Do semantic tags H2/H3 really impact Google rankings?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★

It is advised to use structuring tags (H2, H3) to organize content. This can help search engines and users (such as those using screen readers) better understand the structure of the text.

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Does Google really keep a page indexed after a 500 or 404 error?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

Google is resilient to 500 and 404 errors. If the page is important, Google may retain its indexed status until the page becomes accessible again.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks

Can a new page rank right after indexing?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

Once a new page is indexed, it may be ranked immediately. However, the ranking improves as Google gathers signals indicating where this page fits in the context of the site and the rest of the web.

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO

Is it true that Google has a sandbox for new sites?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★★

The idea that new sites are artificially limited (sandbox) is a myth. Google does not use a sandbox and does not affect the initial ranking for new pages.

Domain Age & History AI & SEO