John Mueller

★★★ Do orphan pages really harm your SEO?

Pages without internal links are considered non-critical by Google. Google gives them less weight in search results. If these pages have duplicated or low-quality content, the impact is limited as the...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Have Core Web Vitals really become a crucial ranking factor?

Core Web Vitals, including CLS, are not yet a ranking factor currently. Google plans to use them as a page experience factor starting in May 2021. It is advisable to address the issues now to prepare....

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google still show the old domain in site: queries after a 301 redirect?

When performing a site: query for a domain that redirects, Google may show the old site because the systems are trying to display what you're specifically searching for. This link can persist for many...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really prioritize rel=sponsored for affiliate links, or is nofollow enough?

For affiliate links, Google recommends using rel=nofollow or rel=sponsored. Both are acceptable, and they can even be combined. Google prefers rel=sponsored as it is more specific, but there is no maj...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really restrict how many times a domain can appear in search results?

Google has no strict restriction on how many times a site can appear in search results. The June 2019 update aimed to reduce, not eliminate, multiple appearances of the same domain....

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do you really need to include 'best' and 'top' in your content to rank for these queries?

For queries containing 'best' or 'top', Google tries to recognize intent rather than just looking for those words on the pages. The algorithms focus on external factors to determine relevance....

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can the same site really appear 7 times on the same SERP?

Google does not have a strict restriction on the number of times a site can appear in search results. The same site can show up 5, 6, 7 times or more if it is relevant to the user. The goal is to redu...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really choose between 301 redirect and canonical for merging two sites?

To merge two sites, Google recommends the 301 redirect if the goal is purely SEO and a complete cleanup. The canonical is preferable if you want to keep the old site active for reasons other than SEO....

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Top Stories really use a different algorithm than conventional search?

Top Stories and the News tab in Google Search are variations of conventional search using different ranking algorithms because user intent differs. Any site can appear here without necessarily being a...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are Core Web Vitals really going to change your SEO ranking?

Core Web Vitals do not currently affect SEO (as of November 2020), but they will become a ranking factor as part of page experience in May 2021. A CLS greater than 0.25 could have a negative effect on...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really optimize your pages for 'best', 'top', or 'near me'?

Google attempts to recognize qualifiers in queries such as 'best', 'top', or 'near me' and to understand intent rather than focusing solely on exact word matches. It is not necessary to specifically o...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you stop manually submitting URLs to Google?

Google should trust sitemap files instead of requiring webmasters to manually submit URLs through forms and captchas. Regular updates should be automatically managed through sitemaps....

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does article length really impact Google rankings?

There is no direct relationship between an article's length and its ranking. Some topics require long articles according to user expectations, while others do not. The important thing is to meet user ...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really align visible dates and structured data for chronological ranking?

Google recommends that the visible date on the page matches the date in the structured data. If Google can correctly recognize the date, it will be able to rank articles chronologically when necessary...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really stop using exact match keywords in your content?

There is no need to use exact match keywords in content. Google recognizes synonyms, spelling mistakes, singulars, and plurals. Machine learning systems understand the topic beyond exact keywords....

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why do your local performance tests never match Search Console data?

The Core Web Vitals data in Search Console is based on what real users have experienced, aggregated over a month. Your local connection to the site may be very different from that of the average user,...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Google indexing really instantaneous, or are there hidden delays?

Google imposes no delay between indexing and displaying a page based on quality or mobile usability issues. If the content is in HTML, it is indexed immediately after crawling. JavaScript rendering ma...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can orphan pages really harm your site's SEO performance?

Pages without internal links are viewed as non-critical by Google. If they contain duplicated or low-quality content, it doesn't really impact the site because Google doesn't assign much weight to the...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does it take Google 3 to 6 months to refresh an entire large site?

For large sites, Google cannot crawl everything in one day. The crawl budget balances the discovery of new content and refreshment. A complete site can take 3 to 6 months to be fully refreshed, priori...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really impose an indexing delay based on the quality of your pages?

Google does not have an intentional delay between indexing a page and displaying it based on quality or mobile usability issues. If the content is in pure HTML, it is indexed immediately after crawlin...

Nov 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available