John Mueller

★★★ Should you really avoid altering your site's structure to please Google?

Frequently modifying a site's structure makes it difficult for Google to understand. Each change requires time for reprocessing. It's crucial to choose a stable structure and maintain it over the long...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do Core Web Vitals really penalize sites with users on slow connections?

Core Web Vitals scores reflect the actual location of users. If your users have a slow connection, you are compared to other sites targeting those same users. This is not a disadvantage, as Google eva...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do Core Updates really affect your entire site uniformly?

During Core Updates, Google assesses both the overall view of the site and smaller sections. Some areas may rise while others fall. Overall traffic might even remain stable if variations offset each o...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really return a 404 for temporarily empty e-commerce categories?

For a category that is temporarily emptied of all its products, using a 404 status code is the simplest and most effective solution. The noindex has the same effect. A canonical to another category wi...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you split your site into multiple domains to enhance your SEO?

Dividing a site into multiple parts has a difficult-to-predict SEO effect. Smaller sites can have a tougher time ranking in competitive environments. Merging can help improve rankings. Only divide for...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why are my rankings plummeting without any alert in Search Console?

A severe drop in rankings without an alert or manual action in Search Console is possible. This may be due to a Core Update or other algorithmic changes. Manual actions are reliable in Search Console;...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does web accessibility really boost indexing and SEO?

Making a site accessible generally improves indexing. Adding alt attributes to images and providing textual details helps Google better understand the content. Therefore, accessibility is more of an a...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really block the indexing of certain pages to improve your crawl?

For sites with crawl and indexing difficulties, it’s essential to limit the number of indexable pages. Using noindex on filter pages allows Google to focus on the truly important pages. Fewer links to...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you still care about Search Console errors from an old migrated domain?

Search Console retains data for a very long time. If you migrated to a new domain several years ago, the errors reported on the old domain do not impact the new site and can be ignored....

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you be worried if your site hasn't transitioned to mobile-first indexing yet?

In March, Google will transition the rest of the web to mobile-first indexing. If your site is already migrated, you won’t see any changes. If your site is not yet migrated and the mobile version is w...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you separate your blog and e-commerce on different domains for SEO?

You can host a blog and an e-commerce site on the same domain or separate them. Both approaches work. Choose based on your needs, Analytics tracking and management, not for SEO reasons....

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why do your rankings drop even without any technical errors?

It is normal for rankings to fluctuate (up and down) even if everything is technically correct. A ranking drop does not necessarily mean there is an error. Google may simply have a better understandin...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How does Google evaluate a site that doesn’t have CrUX data yet?

For sites without CrUX data, Google has to make initial assumptions, just like for other quality metrics. This is neither good nor bad, but Google will gradually collect data. It's comparable to the '...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really test before mass content removal?

If you are considering a significant content reduction (e.g., 75%), test first on a few pages. Observe performance before generalizing. If the results are not good, you can restore the original conten...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google Discover really require a minimum number of articles to be featured?

There is no minimum number of articles required to be eligible for Google Discover. Discover's content policies differ from those of traditional search. Check the Discover content guidelines and adapt...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can a site really bounce back between two Core Updates without any SEO intervention?

A site can recover its visibility between two Core Updates without the intervention of an SEO specialist. Core Updates evaluate overall relevance. Anyone can rewrite content and improve the site; ther...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google Measure Core Web Vitals on Noindex Pages?

John Mueller indicated during a hangout that a web page with a "noindex" tag could be analyzed as part of the Page Experience / Core Web Vitals project, since it is available online and can be read by...

Dec 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do Structured Data Tags Really Make a Difference for SEO Rankings?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that the reading of structured data tags on a page is considered in the search engine's relevance algorithm only in an "extremely weak" way because, most of the time,...

Dec 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can You Still Rely on Google's URL Submission Tool to Get Your Pages Indexed?

At the SMX conference last week, John Mueller indicated that the URL submission tool in Search Console should return soon (more than 2 months after its "temporary" shutdown), at least he hopes so befo...

Dec 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How long does it really take for a domain migration to stabilize in Google?

It takes time for Google's signals to stabilize after a site migration. It’s not instantaneous: Google must gather all signals associated with the pages, a process that can take several months, even f...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available