John Mueller

★★★ Does the noindex tag really block the crawling of your pages?

The X-Robots-Tag with noindex prevents indexing but not crawling. Google must first crawl the page to see the noindex. Initially, Google will crawl these pages heavily before its systems learn that th...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really calculate an EAT score for your website?

Google does not have a measurable EAT score (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness). It is not a unique metric that Google calculates for a site. Algorithms evaluate quality in various ways, but not t...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really worry if the homepage doesn't appear at the top for a site: query?

If the homepage doesn't appear at the top or on the first page of a site: query, it's not concerning. Site: queries are artificial. The important thing is that the homepage is indexed and appears for ...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really create separate XML sitemaps by country for multilingual content?

For international content, it is not necessary to create separate XML sitemaps by country. Hreflang annotations can be in the sitemap or in the pages. Google does not differentiate the source of hrefl...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do poor comments really drag down the ranking of the entire page?

Google assesses the overall quality of a page. If user-generated content (comments, reviews) diminishes the perceived quality of the page as a whole, it will impact its ranking. It's not about the sou...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the product review update only apply to specialized review sites?

Google's product review update applies to all types of product review content, whether hosted on an e-commerce site, an affiliate blog, or elsewhere. It's the type of content that matters, not the typ...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How can a small site truly compete with the giants of SEO?

Entering a market dominated by large players is always difficult, and there is no magic trick. However, it is not impossible: Google also receives complaints from major sites about small sites surpass...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does the geolocation of your visitors affect your Core Web Vitals?

For Core Web Vitals, Google measures the actual experience of users. If 90% of visitors come from countries with slow connections and have a poor experience, it is this experience that will be taken i...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why do your Lighthouse scores never reflect your users' reality?

Lighthouse results (lab data) are approximations based on assumptions. Real user data (field data) depends on many factors such as devices, location, and connections. There can be significant discrepa...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does referral traffic really affect Google rankings?

Google does not take referral traffic into account when determining rankings in search results. Having many visitors from ads or social media does not mean that Google will rank the page higher....

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does AMP really ensure good Core Web Vitals?

Even though AMP makes it easier to create fast pages, it is entirely possible for an AMP page to fail Core Web Vitals tests. AMP is not an automatic guarantee of success against performance criteria....

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why do your Core Web Vitals optimizations take 28 days to show up in Search Console?

The Chrome User Experience Report data used for Core Web Vitals in Search Console has a collection delay of about 28 days. A technical change tested today in Lighthouse will only be visible in Search ...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why won't the Page Experience update be instantaneous?

The Page Experience update planned for May 2021 will likely not be optimized for quick updates. Google will have to wait for enough CrUX data to be collected (about 28 days) before updating signals. T...

Apr 09, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should You Still Use rel='next' and rel='prev' Tags for Pagination?

John Mueller indicated in a webmaster hangout that Google no longer needs the "next" and "prev" pagination tags to recognize paginated content. It is therefore no longer necessary to integrate them in...

Apr 06, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How long can you keep a 503 code without risking deindexation?

The 503 server code (temporary error) should be used for no more than a few days, between 2 and 7 days. After this period, Google will start to deindex the affected URLs. There is no exact time limit,...

Apr 01, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really worry about the difference between 301 and 302 redirects?

A 302 redirect (temporary) in place for several years will be treated by Google as a 301 redirect (permanent). Google will index the destination page and no value is lost just because it's a 302. Afte...

Apr 01, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really abandon separate mobile URLs (m.example.com)?

Google still supports separate mobile URL configurations (m.example.com and www.example.com) with appropriate canonical and alternate tags. It's no longer recommended for new sites (it's better to hav...

Apr 01, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can database-generated sites really rank on Google?

Creating millions of pages from a database (cities × services, for example) is technically easy, but Google looks for real added value. If this data already exists elsewhere on the web, you need to pr...

Apr 01, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that the number of words doesn’t really matter for Google rankings?

The number of words per page is not a Google ranking criterion. Google does not count words and will never refuse to display a page just because it has less than 400 words. What matters is the unique ...

Apr 01, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should we still use rel=next and rel=previous tags for pagination?

The rel=next and rel=previous tags are ignored by Google. Google's systems can now automatically recognize the current pagination and treat it as standard internal links. These tags can remain on page...

Apr 01, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available