John Mueller

★★★ Subdomains vs Subdirectories: Is there really an SEO advantage to favoring one over the other?

Google's systems are designed to treat subdomains and subdirectories essentially equivalently. There is no automatic bonus for choosing one over the other. The choice should be based on considerations...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can speed really hurt your SEO with Core Web Vitals?

Speed is currently used as a ranking signal for mobile. In May 2021, with the rollout of Core Web Vitals, this signal is likely to be reinforced. However, content relevance remains paramount: a highly...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do browser banners realmente cause a penalizing layout shift according to Google?

Google evaluates Cumulative Layout Shift based on metrics measured by tools and real user data. There is no explicit exception for specific pop-ups or banners, even if they come from the browser. Test...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does a website that changes ownership inherit Google penalties?

When a site changes ownership and domain, Google does not apply previous manual actions to the new owner. If no manual action appears in Search Console, the site is treated as normal. Algorithms evalu...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does external traffic really influence your site's SEO ranking?

Google does not use traffic from other sources (social networks, other sites) as a ranking signal for search. Traffic diversification is important for a site's stability, but it does not directly infl...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it true that YouTube competes with your site for video results?

When a YouTube video is embedded on a site, there are two landing pages for that video: the site's page and YouTube's page. Google must determine which one to display in video results. It's not automa...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does hosting your videos externally really hurt your SEO?

From an SEO perspective, there is no difference between uploading a video to your site and embedding it from another site. It is common to use a separate CDN for videos, which is technically a distinc...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really pay attention to the textual context around your videos for SEO?

For videos, Google has a type of structured data with fields for descriptions and titles. Similar to images, the textual context surrounding the video (caption, section title) also helps Google unders...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do internal links between language versions really transfer PageRank?

Translated versions of content are treated as different pages and ranked individually. By creating links between language versions, some of the signals from the performing page can be distributed to t...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does duplicate content really hurt your SEO rankings?

Duplicate content does not result in a negative score. If Google finds the same content on multiple pages, it simply chooses the best matching page to display. It's normal to have shared content on ce...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you trigger a knowledge panel for your brand?

There is no specific directive to activate a knowledge panel. It is not a particular meta tag or type of structured data that triggers its appearance. Google's algorithms automatically detect entities...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do Core Web Vitals really need to be ALL in the green to boost your ranking?

To qualify for the Core Web Vitals ranking bonus starting May 2021, the metrics must be in the green zone. If any metric is yellow or red, it will not count as compliant. All criteria must be met to b...

Jan 29, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you switch to the new structured data testing tool after the old Google tool's retirement?

Google has decided to deprecate the old structured data testing tool to focus on rich results testing in Search Console. The structured data testing tool does not disappear but finds a new home in the...

Jan 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is creative content really the secret to earning backlinks naturally?

Creating remarkable content isn't always easy, but it can help reach a wider audience and potentially earn backlinks naturally. Sites should think about creative things they could do in their niche....

Jan 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really give up on buying links for your SEO?

Google's guidelines mention various things to avoid regarding links, such as buying links. Sites often receive questions about what they can do to attract links legitimately....

Jan 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are links really the cornerstone of Google's SEO?

Google uses links to find new pages and to better understand their context on the web. While Google employs many different factors in its search, links are an integral part of the web....

Jan 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How will the new Index Coverage Report in Search Console transform your indexing diagnostics?

Google has significantly updated the Index Coverage Report in Search Console to better inform website owners about issues affecting indexing. For instance, the previous generic error type 'crawl anoma...

Jan 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it really time to stop manually submitting your pages to Google?

For most sites, there shouldn't be a need to use manual submission systems. They should instead focus on good internal linking and proper sitemap files. If a site does these things well, Google's syst...

Jan 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really use the manual indexing request in Search Console?

The indexing request feature in the URL inspection tool is back in Search Console. It allows individual pages to be manually submitted for indexing in specific situations where it is useful....

Jan 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you be concerned about Google crawling with HTTP/2?

Google has started crawling with HTTP/2, an updated version of the protocol used to access web pages. This enhancement has been used to optimize the normal crawl and will be gradually extended to more...

Jan 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available