What does Google say about SEO?

How long does it really take for a Google update to fully unfold its effects?

John Mueller Jul 20, 2018 ★★

It may take several days for a complete algorithm update to propagate through Google's systems, and for the changes to be fully reflected in the rankings.

Algorithms AI & SEO

Can 500 Errors Really Slow Down Google's Crawling of Your Site?

John Mueller Jul 16, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller explained on Twitter that when a server returns numerous 5xx errors (500 or similar), it can cause crawling problems. Indeed, in this case, Googlebot's crawl is slowed down and exploration is therefore less effective.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Social Media

Should You Worry If Competitors Use Domain Names Similar to Yours?

John Mueller Jul 16, 2018 ★★★

Again John Mueller who, in a hangout, explained that each website was treated uniquely and that if several sites had very similar domain names (example: abondance.com, e-abondance.com, aboundance.com and myAbondance.com), this posed no problem to any...

Algorithms Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name

Do JavaScript Links Actually Pass PageRank and SEO Value?

John Mueller Jul 16, 2018 ★★★

A user asked Google whether links placed in code using + JavaScript were recognized by the search engine. John Mueller indicated that while these links could be used to identify certain URLs, they were not considered as links for passing PageRank or...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Pagination & Structure

Should You Really Structure Your Content with H1 to H6 Tags for SEO?

John Mueller Jul 16, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller explained in a hangout that using H1 to H6 tags is a good practice. They help the search engine understand the content structure and the relationships between different blocks of information. And this can also help users when it comes to...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Pagination & Structure

Are Synonyms Really an Effective SEO Strategy to Improve Your Rankings?

John Mueller Jul 09, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller indicated during a hangout that using synonyms in a legitimate and moderate way could be a good approach to optimize content in terms of SEO, especially if the different forms were used by users during their searches.

Content AI & SEO Mobile SEO

How Does Google Really Identify Synonyms for SEO?

John Mueller Jul 09, 2018 ★★★

Still John Mueller and still the question of synonyms. On this subject, Google's SEO spokesperson indicated that the algorithm's learning of synonyms is not based on tables created beforehand by human beings that would be frozen in time for a given l...

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

Should You Really Include a Self-Referencing Hreflang Tag on Every Multilingual Page?

John Mueller Jul 09, 2018 ★★★

Google recently updated its online documentation on Hreflang tags. On this subject, John Mueller reminded on Twitter that indicating in the source code of a page - using these tags - the corresponding URLs of other international websites, as well as ...

Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Domain Name PDF & Files Social Media International SEO

Why Does Every Indexed URL Necessarily Have a Canonical URL?

John Mueller Jul 02, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller indicated on Twitter and during a hangout that every web page, therefore every URL indexed by the search engine, was associated with a canonical URL, which could be the same (if the page is itself canonical).

Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name Social Media

Does Google Analytics Really Penalize or Boost Your Organic Rankings?

John Mueller Jul 02, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller has repeated for the 345,754th time 🙂 that a website's Analytics data is not taken into account by the relevance algorithm. Similarly, simply using Analytics as an audience measurement tool generates neither a penalty (which would be qui...

Algorithms Content AI & SEO

Should You Block Crawling of the robots.txt File in the robots.txt Itself?

John Mueller Jul 02, 2018 ★★★

John Mueller explained on Twitter that it's pointless to prevent search engines from crawling the robots.txt file by adding a "Disallow:" directive for that very file in the... robots.txt itself??.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO PDF & Files Social Media

Are Links in Press Releases Still Effective for SEO?

John Mueller Jul 02, 2018 ★★★

Interesting remark from John Mueller in a hangout: when Google detects that a web page is republishing a press release, most of the links it contains are ignored by the search engine.

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

Should you really block the indexing of your site's automatic translations?

John Mueller Jun 29, 2018 ★★★

Google discourages allowing indexing of automatically translated content, as it is considered low quality. It is preferable to present the original version to users with an on-demand translation option.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO International SEO

Does Google really follow your canonical tags or does it decide on its own?

John Mueller Jun 29, 2018 ★★★

When multiple URLs contain the same content, Google tries to understand the site's preferences for the canonical URL through different signals. Clear preferences are more likely to be followed by Google, but this does not influence ranking.

Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Domain Name

Does Google really treat all dynamically generated links in JavaScript the same way?

John Mueller Jun 29, 2018 ★★★

Google can follow links generated via JavaScript, but it is recommended that JavaScript does not contradict static HTML content, especially for directives like rel='nofollow'.

Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Links & Backlinks

Do responsive images really boost your SEO?

John Mueller Jun 29, 2018 ★★

While responsive images are beneficial for user experience, they will not necessarily guarantee higher SEO traffic if simply indexed as images.

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

Should you index the internal search pages of an e-commerce site?

John Mueller Jun 29, 2018 ★★★

The indexing of internal search pages on an e-commerce site depends on their usefulness to users and their role in the site's navigation structure. A one-size-fits-all strategy does not apply to all sites.

Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing E-commerce Pagination & Structure

Does HTTPS really improve Google rankings?

John Mueller Jun 29, 2018 ★★

Currently, there is no intention to use HTTPS as a ranking boost in search results, although its visibility in Chrome may prompt more sites to make the transition.

HTTPS & Security AI & SEO

Why does Google seem to index the wrong version of your URLs?

John Mueller Jun 29, 2018 ★★★

Ambiguous signals sent by a site can lead Google to index the wrong version of a URL. Clarify the signals (redirects, canonicals, internal links) to indicate your preference.

Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO Links & Backlinks Domain Name Redirects

Does using CSS display:none really hurt your SEO?

John Mueller Jun 29, 2018 ★★

Google tends not to weigh text that is not visible by default as much, but if the search is relevant and specific, this text can still influence visibility in results.

Content AI & SEO