John Mueller

★★ Do links from old press releases really drag down your backlink profile?

Press releases accumulate links over time, but these are very dated links from news archives. Even if the number of links seems high, these links are less useful as they have become very irrelevant....

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you block pages receiving backlinks with robots.txt?

If a page is blocked by robots.txt, Google does not know its content and cannot indirectly transfer external links to the main content of the site. It is important to avoid blocking important pages th...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does redirecting your old pages to an archive really help preserve SEO?

To archive old pages that have accumulated backlinks, they can be redirected to an archive section. The redirect signals to Google to transfer the links to the new destination....

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do domain extensions (.com, .fr, .uk) really influence the value of backlinks?

Google does not assign different weights to links based on the extension (.com, .au, .uk). Differentiation is based on the type of link and its contextual importance: does it provide substantial infor...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ What impact can changing your site's design or content have on your rankings?

Any change on a site (adding or removing text, modifying internal linking, changing the layout with different headings) must be reflected in the rankings. Retaining the URLs makes migration easier as ...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does SafeSearch really filter the entire domain if only a part contains adult content?

Google applies SafeSearch filters to a broad URL pattern across a site. If the majority of a domain contains adult content with a small non-adult part, Google is likely filtering the whole domain as a...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google consistently block rich results for adult sites?

No types of rich results are supported for adult content sites, according to Google's guidelines. The systems recognize it as an adult site and simply do not display these rich results, without any ma...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really stop optimizing for synonymous keywords?

Thanks to advancements in machine learning, Google understands synonyms (like 'hotel' and 'accommodation') very well. It is unnecessary to mention all variations of words on the same page, as Google k...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really stuff your titles with every keyword variation?

Including all variations of keywords in a title (plural, singular, synonyms) does not automatically make a page relevant. Google can rewrite such titles if they resemble an SEO keyword list rather tha...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really rewrite your titles to boost clicks without affecting rankings?

Google sometimes rewrites page titles based on the search query to better align with user intent. This does not change the ranking: it's solely to improve the click-through rate by presenting a more r...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it true that hidden text for accessibility is penalized by Google?

Invisible titles used for accessibility (like 'main navigation' for screen readers) are very common on the web. Google does not treat them as spam cloaking. At worst, Google may view this text as less...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can cleaning up your URL structure solve your ranking problems?

When multiple similar pages exist and the wrong ones rank, cleaning up the site structure helps Google to identify the right pages. This includes reducing internal links to unwanted pages and using re...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do AMP errors really harm Google rankings, or is it just a myth?

AMP errors on pages do not have a negative effect on ranking. However, they prevent Google from processing these pages as valid AMP, thus hindering caching and rapid serving. It's a usability issue, n...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are Web Stories really indexable like regular pages?

Web Stories are canonical AMP pages (without an alternative HTML version). They can be indexed individually like regular content. Google does not yet display them in all countries in specific features...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do you really need the address change tool to migrate between subdomains?

The address change tool in Search Console mainly helps when changing a domain name to transfer signals at the domain level. It is not necessary for a migration between subdomains of the same domain (f...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really check a domain's history before purchasing it for an SEO migration?

Before migrating to a new domain, it's crucial to check its history. If the old domain hosted spam or adult content, Google retains negative signals. A domain associated with adult content may remain ...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are site migrations really as risky as they seem?

Serious technical issues during site migrations are extremely rare according to Google’s internal analyses. However, Google admits that it needs to manage these migrations better to prevent webmasters...

Dec 11, 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

★★★ Does content originality really ensure top rankings on Google?

The original source of content is not always the most relevant for users. For instance, someone might copy a Google blog article and add in-depth analysis that could be more useful for certain searche...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How does Google truly detect duplicate content and why doesn't it seek the original?

Google easily identifies duplicate content by searching for identical texts on different pages. However, determining the appropriate action when faced with duplicate content is more complex. Google do...

Dec 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available