John Mueller

★★ 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

★★ 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

★★ 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

★★ 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

★★ 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

★★ 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

★★ 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

★★★ 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

★★★ 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

★★★ Is the number of words really a ranking factor for Google?

The number of words on a page is neither a quality factor nor a ranking factor. Blindly adding text does not make a page better. Just like a customer brochure, sometimes a short text suffices, sometim...

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

★★★ Why do your structured data breadcrumbs not show up in the SERPs?

For structured data breadcrumbs to appear in search results, they must be visible on the page. Google checks three levels: technical validity of the markup, compliance with rules, and overall site qua...

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

★★★ 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

★★★ 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

★★ Why Doesn't the Search Console API Show Referring URLs for 404 Errors?

Referring URLs that generate 404 errors are currently not accessible via the Search Console API. To identify these broken links, it is recommended to use a local crawler on your own site....

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