John Mueller

★★ Why does Google sometimes show your old meta descriptions in the SERPs?

Even after updating the meta description, Google can temporarily show the old text in snippets if that content was previously on the page and considered relevant to the query. This typically normalize...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really cancel a failed domain migration or commit to it fully?

You should avoid canceling a domain migration because it does not revert everything to the original state. You're simply moving the current situation (with its issues) back to the old domain. This res...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does keeping your old sites live kill your new domain?

Maintaining two old sites active with links to a new central site prevents the new site from gaining visibility as the value is not transferred. Without redirects, the new site struggles to rank and w...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really avoid setting all your outbound links to nofollow?

Setting all outbound links of a site to nofollow can have a slight negative impact. Google uses links to understand how a site fits into the web. If all links are nofollow, it may give the impression ...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does FAQ structured data really need to be 100% visible on the page?

The content of FAQ structured data must be visible word-for-word on the page. Algorithms check that the text is present to avoid promising something in the results that the user cannot find on the pag...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really avoid putting all your outbound links in nofollow?

Putting all outbound links in nofollow does not violate guidelines, but it can have a slight negative impact. Google uses links to understand how a site fits into the web. If all links are nofollow, i...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Core Web Vitals: Why does Google ignore other performance metrics for Page Experience?

For the upcoming Page Experience ranking factor, Google will use only the Core Web Vitals (not other performance metrics like Lighthouse). Desktop and mobile will be evaluated separately. Google will ...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it really necessary to avoid any migration following a failed domain migration?

During a problematic domain migration, the one thing you must absolutely avoid is another migration. Internal changes to the site are acceptable, especially if they don't involve modifying URLs....

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really analyze the audio of your podcasts for SEO?

Google does not perform any textual analysis of podcast audio files to understand what is being said. If content is essential for SEO, it needs to be presented in text on the page, for example through...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can your website's language versions really have completely different designs?

The English and French versions of a site can have a completely different design when implementing hreflang. Audiences, content, and keywords can vary drastically from one language to another. This is...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it true that Google still indexes Flash content, or should everything be migrated to pure HTML?

Google indexes pages with Flash solely based on the visible HTML content in the rendered DOM, not content within Flash files. The removal of Flash from browsers should not affect site traffic as Googl...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do 302 redirects really end up being treated as permanent 301s?

There is no definitive timeframe, but Google eventually treats a 302 redirect as a 301 if it remains in place for a long time. The timeframe is more about months than days, as some 302s stay temporary...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really archive out-of-stock products instead of leaving them marked as unavailable?

For permanently out-of-stock unique products, it is preferable to move them to an 'archives' or 'reference' section rather than keep product pages marked as 'out of stock'. This allows images to remai...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you return a 404 or a 200 on a product page that's out of stock?

For temporarily unavailable products, displaying a page with a 200 code and an email alert option is acceptable. If the unavailability is long, switching to a 404 allows Google to optimize the crawl b...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can you really migrate multiple sites to a single domain using Google's Change of Address tool?

The Change of Address tool in Search Console only allows for migrating one domain to another, not multiple domains to a single one. You can still perform the migration with 301 redirects but cannot us...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do 302 redirects really pass PageRank like 301 redirects?

Google treats both 301 and 302 redirects similarly when it comes to the transmission of SEO signals. Both types of redirects pass PageRank and other signals. The difference mainly lies in the choice o...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really delete your out-of-stock product pages to avoid a quality penalty?

Having hundreds or thousands of out-of-stock product pages can create a mass of low-quality content that doesn't attract attention. It's better to focus this content in a gallery or archive page so th...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can paged pages really disappear from Google search results?

There is no meta tag to tell Google to index paged pages but not show them in the results. If they are indexed, they may theoretically appear. In practice, page 1 usually appears first as it is strong...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is alt text truly crucial for your visibility in Google Images?

The alt text (alt tag) is primarily used for Google Image search. It should describe what is visible in the image rather than simply copy the product description. It's an important factor for SEO if i...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really index all your pagination pages?

You need to decide whether pagination pages should be indexed based on whether they are critical for discovering products. If products are well linked elsewhere on the site, pagination does not need t...

Oct 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available