John Mueller

★★★ Is the indexing request tool going to disappear from Search Console?

Google has no intention of removing the indexing request tool from Search Console. The aim is rather to improve automatic systems to reduce the need for manual use of this tool, except in exceptional ...

Nov 10, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really standardize your URL structure for better rankings?

Google does not require a consistent URL structure on your site. Mixed structures (with and without subfolders) technically work. However, a clear structure helps better analyze performance in Search ...

Nov 10, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do you really need to follow the H1-H6 hierarchy to rank on Google?

Google does not require a perfectly hierarchical heading structure. Having an H3 without a parent H2 or multiple H1s on a page is acceptable. There is no SEO advantage to having a clear structure, nor...

Nov 10, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ AVIF in Image SEO: Why Does Google Still Ignore This Format in Search Images?

AVIF is not listed in the public documentation for Image Search and is likely not supported at this time. Evergreen Googlebot can render these images for text-based web search, but not for Image Searc...

Nov 10, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How many EMDs can you buy without triggering a doorway page filter?

Buying multiple exact match domains (location + product) can be viewed as doorway pages by Google. For 10-15 domains, this is probably not a major issue. Beyond 100 or 1000 domains, the risk that Goog...

Nov 10, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why Can Google Deindex 18,000 Pages in Just a Few Days Without It Being Abnormal?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter, in response to a webmaster who was surprised that, on a site he was managing, 18,000 URLs had been deindexed in a few days by Google, that this kind of thing could h...

Nov 09, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ What happens when a page contains two conflicting canonical tags?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that if a page contains two "canonical" tags, each pointing to a different URL, this information will be considered "undefined" by Google and neither of the two tags ...

Nov 09, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Uppercase Letters in HTML Code Really Hurt Your Site's SEO?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that whether tags in HTML code are written in lowercase or uppercase does not cause any problems for search engine analysis....

Nov 02, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really optimize your pages for featured snippets passages?

You should not attempt to specifically optimize for passages. These changes occur because web pages are often messy. Making a clean page disorderly to make it work with this system would offer no adva...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can lazy loading without dimensions really jeopardize your CLS score?

If you are using lazy loading and a gray rectangle appears without fixed dimensions before the image loads, causing text shifts once the image is loaded, this can be a problem for visual stability (CL...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really block the indexing of all your e-commerce facets?

For e-commerce facets and filters, the general recommendation is not to allow them to be indexed at all, unless these facet pages can truly stand alone as important category pages for the brand. Paged...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it really necessary to merge your pages to climb in the SERPs?

Reducing the number of pages by consolidating content can enhance those pages in search and make them more visible. However, these pages will be less targeted on individual topics, which may reduce th...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that passages serve as a separate index in Google?

Passages are not a core update. Instead, they are about better ranking extracts from existing pages, recognizing that a large page can contain a particularly relevant part for a query. There is no sep...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you structure your pages so that Google recognizes indexable passages?

For Google to recognize sections of a page as part of passages, it is recommended to have clear headings and well-structured content. If you already have clean pages with clear headings and structure,...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you optimize your content for emojis in SEO?

Google tries to understand the emojis used in searches and generally maps them to normal text searches. If someone searches for the coffee emoji, Google should understand that it's equivalent to the w...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do 301 redirects really pass SEO juice even when the content changes completely?

301 redirects transmit signals (link juice) even if the content of the destination page is different from the original page. This is normal in the evolution of a site. The exception would be the purch...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really index HTTPS even with an invalid SSL certificate?

Google will switch to the HTTPS version as canonical even if the certificate is no longer valid, if critical elements are missing, or if mixed content generates warnings in the browser. All other sign...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How does Google decide when to show images in search results?

When a query arrives, Google sends it to different systems (web, images, videos). Each system returns results with a relevance score. If the images are considered highly relevant to the query, Google ...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really consolidate paginated pages into a single entity?

Google does not assign products to a specific category nor consolidate paginated pages. Paginated category pages are used to discover individual products. Google shows either the first category page o...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really consolidate your pages, or could you risk losing strategic traffic?

Before consolidating pages, it's necessary to analyze the queries that generate traffic and verify whether the new pages can still meet the important queries with a good ROI. If so, the consolidated p...

Oct 30, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available