Gary Illyes

★★★ Can the Meta Keywords Tag Actually Penalize Your Site on Google?

Back to the future: a user asked on Twitter whether using the meta "keywords" tag could trigger a Google penalty 🙂 Gary Illyes responded that it wouldn't ;-)....

Jun 25, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are Schema.org Structured Data Really Essential for Your SEO in 2024?

Gary Illyes indicated at the Pubcon conference that structured data tags (Schema.org) were here to stay because they allowed Google to better understand the content of a page....

Feb 26, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why Do Featured Snippets Change So Frequently in Google Results?

Gary Illyes indicated at the Pubcon conference that the featured snippets currently displayed in the SERPs can vary significantly for the same query from one day to the next, because Google engineers ...

Nov 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why Are Structured Data Becoming Essential for SEO Success?

Gary Illyes indicated at the Pubcon conference that 2018 would be notably focused at Google on structured data (Schema.org markup) and that we should expect quite a few innovations in this area in the...

Nov 13, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Delete Old Content from Your Website to Improve SEO?

Gary Illyes indicated at an SEO event that it was unfortunate, in his opinion, to delete content on news sites solely on the grounds that it was "old" and therefore "obsolete". According to Gary, old ...

Oct 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Will Search Console Finally Offer a Full Year of Historical Data?

Gary Illyes hinted during the SMX East conference that the new version of Search Console (whose official launch date is not yet known) should provide one year of data (particularly for the "Search Ana...

Oct 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should You Really Be Monitoring Mozcast and SERP Weather Tools for Your SEO?

Gary Illyes indicated at the Brighton SEO conference that SERP weather tools like Mozcast seemed quite relevant to him for measuring potential ranking variations and therefore Google updates....

Oct 02, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Has Penguin Been Running on Autopilot for a Year – Should SEOs Still Worry About It?

Still at the Brighton SEO conference, Gary Illyes indicated that since its real-time launch a year ago, Penguin had initially undergone a few adjustments but that it had been running on its own for a ...

Oct 02, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should You Really React to Every Google Algorithm Update?

We continue with Brighton SEO and the same Gary Illyes who maintained that 95 to 98% of Google's algorithm updates were not "actionable" by webmasters and SEOs. Basically, it was difficult or even imp...

Oct 02, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★ Should You Worry About an HTTP Warning Label in Google Search Results Like Mobile?

Gary Illyes stated at Brighton SEO that Google has no plans to indicate in the SERPs that a URL is not secure (meaning it's HTTP and not HTTPS) with a specific message, as was previously done with non...

Sep 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is Responsive Design Really Enough to Successfully Navigate the Mobile First Transition?

Gary Illyes also explained at the same Brighton SEO conference that responsive design sites have little to worry about regarding the Mobile First project and that at this level, everything should go s...

Sep 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google Really Use Disavow Files to Identify Spammy Websites?

Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that the disavow file is solely used by Google to ignore certain links (those designated by the file) but that it does not use this data for other purposes, such as de...

Sep 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Has Google Really Made HTTPS Migration Instantaneous?

Gary Illyes indicated, again at the Brighton SEO conference, that during a migration from HTTP to HTTPS, there should now be virtually no transition period (and therefore no drop) in a site's rankings...

Sep 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Does Google Actually Detect Duplicate Content During Indexing?

Gary Illyes provided some insights on Twitter about how Google handles duplicate content phenomena: it's done through page comparison (not based on keyword analysis), the analysis is performed during ...

Sep 11, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Will the New Search Console Transform Your SEO Data Analysis?

Gary Illyes confirmed from Japan that the new version of Search Console will be arriving soon with an extended data period (beyond the current 90 days for search analysis in particular). But no furthe...

Aug 28, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★ Does disavowing poor-quality backlinks really carry a negative impact?

Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that a disavowed site, therefore designated as providing low-quality links, was not negatively impacted subsequently by Google's algorithm. The links it provides are s...

Aug 14, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Really Place Optimized Text Below Your Footer to Boost SEO?

An internet user pointed out to Gary Illyes - with examples - that certain "SEO experts" were placing several sentences (clearly intended for Google optimization) below the footer of their pages and a...

Aug 07, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google Really Consider a Disavow File as a Spam Signal?

In the series of odd questions, another internet user asked Gary Illyes whether submitting a disavow file to Google for a site was a spam signal for the search engine. Gary naturally replied that it w...

Aug 07, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Google's SEO Guide from 2010 Still Relevant Today?

Gary Illyes indicated on Twitter that the SEO starter guide published and offered (in PDF format) by Google was still current and relevant, even though it hasn't been updated since 2010 (as clearly sh...

Aug 07, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do Sticky Footers Actually Harm Your Site's SEO Performance?

Gary Illyes responded on Twitter to a webmaster asking about "sticky footers" - the page footer that remains displayed on screen even when users scroll up or down through the content. In short, the fo...

Jul 31, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available