John Mueller

★★★ Will Core Web Vitals really revolutionize your SEO?

Google plans to use Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor starting in May 2021. It is recommended to focus on the three main metrics....

Jan 22, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Use 404 or 410 Status Codes for Better SEO Performance?

John Mueller reiterated on Reddit (sic) that using 404 (Page not found) or 410 (Gone) status codes does not pose a major problem for the search engine....

Jan 18, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why Does Google Flag a Redirected URL as Blocked by Robots.txt When It Actually Isn't?

SEO expert Glenn Gabe indicated on Twitter that, in Search Console, if URL A redirects to URL B which is blocked by robots.txt, URL A will be marked as also blocked by this file, even though, in reali...

Jan 18, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Submitting a Disavow File Actually Hurt Your Site in Google's Eyes?

John Mueller explained for the 2,476th time 😉 that submitting a disavow file to Google does not provide any negative signal to Google about the site that submitted it: "The disavow tool is a purely te...

Jan 18, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does SafeSearch really block your rich results?

If a site or pages are marked by SafeSearch as adult content, they will not be eligible for rich results on those specific pages....

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google refuse to index images without a parent HTML page?

Images can only be indexed by Google if they are part of an HTML page. An image sitemap works with the image extension that indicates which images are found on which HTML landing pages. Submitting onl...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it really necessary to optimize for search intent or is it just a semantic trap?

Search intent is based on what users are looking for. We don't optimize for intent but for what users are searching for. Analyze the queries and conduct user studies to identify the aspects to cover....

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really be concerned about Google’s HTTP/2 crawling?

Google has begun rolling out HTTP/2 crawling. The rollout is being done gradually across samples of compatible sites, with notifications sent via Search Console. The goal is to ensure everything works...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really delete your old low-quality content to boost your SEO?

Removing or improving low-quality content does not negatively impact rankings. Google only accounts for indexed pages to evaluate overall quality. It is better to improve existing content, but if that...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why do URL restructurings cause traffic fluctuations for 1 to 2 months?

Every site restructuring generates fluctuations for 1 to 2 months. During this transition, search struggles to understand the full picture of the site. Plan the timing to minimize business impact....

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does HTTP/2 really boost crawl budget or does it just overload your servers?

With HTTP/2, Google can crawl more pages because requests are managed differently. However, some servers may be under the same strain as before. Google adjusts the crawl volume based on the reactions ...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does using noindex during migration mean you're losing all your SEO value in Google's eyes?

If you use noindex on old URLs during a migration instead of redirecting, all the value collected by those old URLs will be lost....

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does the switch to HTTP/2 by Googlebot impact your Core Web Vitals?

The switch to HTTP/2 crawling by Googlebot has no impact on the user-visible speed metrics (Core Web Vitals). These performance reports remain unchanged as they measure the real user experiences, not ...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you worry about a SEO penalty for being featured in Google News?

There is no disadvantage to being visible in Google News in addition to traditional search results. Google algorithmically checks whether the content meets News criteria. It is recommended to submit y...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do hyphens in URLs and content really harm your SEO?

Google treats words with or without hyphens as separate words and employs statistical methods to recognize that they are synonyms, not a specific linguistic model. For frequently searched terms, Googl...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do noindex pages really block the transmission of value through their links?

If an entire page is set to noindex, Google understands that there is no need to transmit value to the links present on that page. Adding the 'sponsored' attribute to the links helps Google's machine ...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Infinite Scroll Really Hinder Your Content's Indexing on Google?

For Infinite Scroll, having paginated links is very important for crawling and indexing. The History API alone is not enough as Googlebot does not trigger user actions like scrolling. Without paginate...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you optimize your content for BERT, or is it a waste of time?

BERT is used to better understand queries and content. You don't optimize for BERT. Google is simply trying to better match content and queries....

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why doesn’t Google always take manual action against low-quality content?

If a site presents low-quality content, it is not always a clear-cut situation that necessitates manual action from the webspam team. Sometimes it’s a matter of discussion rather than an obvious manua...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really implement all Schema.org types to boost your SEO?

Google supports a subset of the Schema.org types. Focus on the rich result types listed in the Google Search documentation for visible effects. Other Schema.org types likely won't have any visible imp...

Jan 15, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available