Google

★★ Does Web Traffic Really Influence Google Rankings?

Google's Webmaster Twitter account indicated that traffic to a website is not a relevance criterion for Google's algorithm....

Sep 02, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is Negative SEO Real or Just a Myth Perpetuated by SEOs?

Frédéric Dubut (Bing) indicated on Twitter that, to date, he had not observed "any case where a change in search engine ranking would be attributable to Negative SEO alone"....

Aug 05, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is PageRank Really Dead Since 2006, or Has It Simply Evolved?

Jonathan Tang, a former Google engineer (between 2009 and 2014) explained on a forum that Google no longer used the notion of PageRank in its algorithm since 2006. He actually clarified later that the...

Jul 22, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do Duplicate Hn Tags (Desktop/Mobile) Actually Hurt Your SEO Rankings?

We noticed, when analyzing certain websites, that some templates and CMS platforms (especially when using a "builder") create duplicate Hn tags: one version for desktop, another for mobile. We therefo...

Jun 25, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Paid Advertising on Bing Really Influence Organic Rankings?

We also occasionally discuss Bing in this section (and that's a good thing). Frédéric Dubut, one of the search engine's leaders, explained on Twitter that purchasing Microsoft Ads advertising has no i...

Jun 11, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Still Be Using the Disavow File in 2024?

The same Frédéric Dubut explained at the recent SMX Advanced event that, while using the disavow file was almost useless for Google, he still recommended its use for Bing to report links considered to...

Jun 11, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does anyone truly understand how search engines really work internally?

Frédéric Dubut (Bing) explained on Twitter that very few people within the teams managing the search engine have a global vision of the "algorithm core" and generally understand how the engine and its...

Feb 25, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can You Really Trust Google Search Console's Mobile Data to Guide Your SEO Strategy?

We asked Vincent Courson whether the data from the new Search Console regarding mobile compatibility was only samples. Because, most often, the number of pages indicated (sum of mobile-compatible page...

Feb 04, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Buying an Expired Domain for SEO Really Work?

A Googler explained on a webmaster help forum that "Google understands when domains change owners, so the site won't necessarily rank for the queries it used to rank for before the ownership change." ...

Jan 28, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How do search engines actually handle specific directives in the robots.txt file?

For once, we're talking here (with great pleasure) about Bing in the "SEO news". Microsoft's search engine indeed indicated on Twitter that if, in a robots.txt file, there exists a section of specific...

Jan 07, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How Many People Actually Work on Google's Search Algorithm?

Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, indicated during his testimony before the US Congress that currently, approximately one thousand people work on "core search," the heart of the search engine, within the M...

Dec 31, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why Does Google Ignore Your Canonical Tags Despite Proper Implementation?

A Googler indicated on a webmaster forum that even if canonical tags were properly integrated on a website, other signals such as inconsistent redirects could hinder their consideration by the search ...

Dec 10, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★★ Is the Speakable Tag Now Essential for Optimizing Your Voice Content on Google?

Last month, we reported that the Speakable structured data markup was not functional for the Google Home Hub connected speaker. The issue has now been resolved and all Google connected speakers now su...

Dec 03, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Did Your News Site Temporarily Disappear from Google News?

Google News recently experienced some indexing issues with certain sites, which were no longer appearing in search results. Googler Lisa Wang indicated that the bug has now been fixed and that the sea...

Nov 19, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is the Speakable Tag Really Worth It for Your Voice SEO Strategy?

The Search Engine Roundtable website reported that the Speakable tag was not working on the recent Google Home Hub smart display, information confirmed by Google....

Nov 05, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Worry About Search Console Data Variations Between July and August?

Google announced that a change had been made to the new Search Console to make the "Index Coverage" tool more relevant and accurate. The data provided since July 14th may therefore change, but this is...

Aug 13, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Long Does It Really Take to Deindex a Page Through Search Console?

Google indicated on Twitter that the deindexing of a page, when requested through Search Console, is completed in less than a day....

Jun 25, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Drop Standout and Editors' Picks Tags for Google News?

Google has indicated that, as part of the launch of the new version of Google News, the Editors' Picks feed and the Standout HTML tag - which allowed highlighting certain articles considered to be of ...

May 21, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Does Google's Two-Phase JavaScript Crawling Really Affect Your Rankings?

At the Google I/O event, Tom Greenaway, a search engine engineer, indicated that Google crawls JavaScript pages using a two-phase process (largely due to available machine resource management): a firs...

May 14, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why Does Googlebot Still Refuse to Follow Certain Types of Links in 2024?

Let's wrap up with, once again, the Google I/O event and a presentation by a Google engineer outlining which types of links are followed by Googlebot on a web page. The following links will be followe...

May 14, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available