John Mueller

★★★ 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

★★ 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

★★★ Do Invisible Breadcrumbs Really Block Your Rich Results on Google?

For breadcrumbs to appear in search results, the structured markup must be valid, and the breadcrumbs must be visible on the page. The overall quality of the site affects the display of rich results....

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 be worried about having 30% of URLs as 404s on your site?

Having 30% of URLs as 404s is perfectly normal, especially for sites with a lot of content turnover. It's not a quality signal. It's only problematic if the homepage returns 404s, as Google might thin...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really be optimizing JavaScript hydration for Googlebot in SSR?

For server-side rendering (SSR), including JavaScript hydration code is of little importance to Google. The key is that the server-rendered content matches what the user sees. JavaScript frameworks ar...

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

★★ 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

★★ Can you really hide dates from Google search results?

There is no meta tag to prevent dates from being displayed in search results. To reduce their appearance, you can remove date mentions from your pages. To correct an incorrect date, use structured dat...

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

★★★ Can Core Web Vitals Really Boost Your Ranking Without Relevant Content?

Core Web Vitals do not guarantee a better ranking if relevance is insufficient. A very fast site without relevant content will not rank well. Relevance remains far the most important factor, while Cor...

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

★★★ Is Internal Linking Really More Crucial Than a Sitemap for Prioritizing Your Pages?

To indicate to Google which pages are most important, use internal linking rather than relying solely on the sitemap. Pages linked from the homepage are considered more important than those located 5-...

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

★★ 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

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

There is no perfect title length (e.g. 72 characters). Google uses the full content of the title for ranking, even if everything isn't displayed with ellipses. Google sometimes shows titles across 2-3...

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really use hreflang when targeting multiple countries with the same language?

For equivalent content in the same language but targeting different countries, the use of hreflang is recommended alongside geographic targeting in Search Console....

Feb 26, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can a Site Penalized by Google Ever Really Get Reindexed?

John Mueller indicated on Reddit that Google never permanently deindexes a site guilty of methods that don't follow its guidelines: "Sites are not permanently removed from Google - there is always a w...

Feb 22, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google Really Consider the Total Number of Backlinks a Ranking Factor?

John Mueller explained during a webmaster hangout that the total number of backlinks a page receives is not a relevant criterion for measuring its popularity: "From my point of view, I would tend not ...

Feb 22, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Adding an Audio Version to Your Article Actually Boost SEO?

John Mueller explained during a webmaster hangout that offering an audio version of an article initially displayed in text format does not provide any SEO bonus to the latter. He also added that the a...

Feb 22, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available