John Mueller

★★ Does Google really rewrite your titles to help you out?

Google sometimes rewrites titles to make them more understandable for users, particularly by reversing the brand name and the page title. This does not cause any issues. Titles with keyword stuffing o...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can a high 404 rate really hurt your SEO rankings?

Having 30% or more of URLs returning 404 is perfectly normal and is not considered a negative quality signal. It only becomes problematic if the homepage itself returns a 404, as Google may think that...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google keep crawling 404 URLs that are years old?

Google may continue attempting to crawl URLs that existed 7-8 years ago, even if they have returned 404 or 410 for a long time. These URLs are kept in a low-priority queue and are occasionally retried...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really report SERP bugs with generic queries to expect a response from Google?

When reporting display issues in the SERPs on the help forum, use examples of queries as generic as possible. Google engineers will prioritize problems affecting thousands of daily users rather than v...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that word count doesn't matter for ranking on Google?

The word count on a page is neither a quality factor nor a ranking factor. Blindly adding text does not make a page better. What’s important is providing the necessary information for users and Google...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does content relevance truly outweigh Core Web Vitals in Google rankings?

Core Web Vitals became a ranking signal in May 2021, but relevance is still far more important. A fast site does not guarantee the top position. A completely empty site may be very fast but utterly us...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does font size really influence Google rankings?

Font size (14px vs 12px) does not affect rankings. The important factor is mobile compatibility, which remains a ranking factor. The rest falls under user experience....

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it really possible to shift from long-tail to short-tail without changing strategy?

There is no magic solution or meta tag that will automatically take you from ranking on low-volume long-tail queries to short, high-traffic keywords. Google needs to understand over time that your pag...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can you really target different countries on the same domain without using subdomains?

For generic domains (gTLDs), you can apply different country targeting for the homepage and for subdirectories in Search Console. The most specific parameter will be used. This does not work with coun...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does hreflang in Latin America require each country code individually?

For targeting Latin America in Spanish with hreflang, you must add tags for all targeted countries individually (es-MX, es-AR, etc.), even if they all point to the same page. Without these specific co...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really combine hreflang and geographical targeting in Search Console?

For equivalent pages in the same language but targeting different countries, it is recommended to use hreflang in addition to geographical targeting in Search Console, as this provides an extra signal...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why do your rich results vanish from the standard SERPs while still appearing in site searches?

To check if your rich results are being blocked by quality filters, perform a site search on your domain. If the rich results appear in the site: results but not in regular searches, it’s a sign that ...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can you really force Google to recrawl immediately after a price change?

It is not possible to force Google to immediately recrawl pages when prices change. To facilitate quick detection of modifications, use the sitemap with the last updated date and ensure that important...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that the length of title tags really impacts Google's rankings?

There is no fixed ideal length for title tags (like 72 characters). Google uses the title for ranking even if it's truncated with ellipses in the display. The important thing is to provide the necessa...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that content concealed behind a Read More button is actually indexed by Google?

If all the content is loaded when the page is rendered, Google can index it even if it is not immediately visible (e.g., Read More/Read Less buttons). For FAQ markup, the questions must be visible, wh...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can you really stop Google from rewriting your title tags?

Google sometimes rewrites title tags to make them more understandable for users. This includes replacing keyword-stuffed or irrelevant titles. There is no simple solution to prevent this rewriting if ...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does traffic volume really influence your Core Web Vitals?

For Core Web Vitals, a site's traffic volume is not important as long as Google has enough data from the Chrome User Experience Report. There is no difference between millions or thousands of visitors...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does PageSpeed Insights really measure your site's performance?

Lab tests like PageSpeed Insights are predictions of what users might see, not exact measurements. The location of the testing server matters little since connection time plays a minor role compared t...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you stop updating publication dates to boost your SEO?

The displayed date in search results is not a ranking factor. There is no need to artificially manipulate or update this date. It simply informs users, with some preferring recent content and others f...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it true that Google can't always show the right local version of your site?

It is impossible to guarantee that Google will always display the correct language/geographic version of a site in search results. It is recommended to implement a detection banner to redirect users a...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available