John Mueller

★★★ 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

★★★ 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

★★★ 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

★★ 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

★★ Is it really necessary to modify your website during a Core Update?

If you have improvements to make, don’t delay them due to an ongoing Core Update. There are always updates happening. Implement your changes and monitor them, but don’t wait for the end of an update t...

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

★★★ How long does it really take for a navigation change to impact your SEO?

After a major change like the main navigation, most processing is done within 2-3 weeks. Google attempts to recrawl all pages within 6 months. The most important pages are updated within a few weeks. ...

Dec 18, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you publish every day to rank well on Google?

There is no ideal frequency for publishing articles (daily, weekly, monthly). It depends on the available content and what users are searching for. Some sites publish little, while others publish a lo...

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

★★★ Should you optimize your website's URL structure for SEO?

The URL structure (domain/category/sub-category/product) is acceptable. Google does not have a strong opinion on the exact structure. The important thing is not to change it without a major reason, as...

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 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

★★ 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

★★★ How does Google segment Core Web Vitals by geographical area?

With sufficient CrUX data, Google can segment Core Web Vitals by sections (US, Europe, etc.). Without enough data, a single aggregated data point is used for the entire site. The Search Console shows ...

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

★★ Can you geotarget your Web Stories in country subfolders without risking SEO?

For Web Stories, geotargeting functions just like it does for regular pages. If Web Stories are placed in country subfolders (e.g., /UK/, /US/), the geotargeting is applied normally. In countries with...

Dec 18, 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

★★★ 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 an adult domain host non-adult sections without penalizing the entire site?

Safe Search filters generally apply to a broad URL pattern across a site. If the majority of a domain is adult with a small non-adult segment, Google will likely filter the entire domain. Using subdom...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available