John Mueller

★★★ Why does Google admit that the hreflang/canonical operation is intentionally confusing in Search Console?

Google groups international pages with the same content into a canonical cluster, selects a canonical URL, and then uses hreflang to display the appropriate URL based on the user's location. In Search...

Nov 10, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you align all canonicalization signals to influence Google's choice?

To influence the choice of the canonical URL by Google, all canonicalization factors must be aligned: internal links, sitemap files, hreflang annotations, and other cross-links must all point to the U...

Nov 10, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google sometimes ignore your 301 redirects and choose the old URL as canonical?

Even with 301 redirects in place for a long time, Google may choose the source URL over the target URL as the canonical URL. Google uses many factors (internal links, external links, sitemaps, annotat...

Nov 10, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you redirect WordPress attachment pages to media files for better SEO?

Redirecting WordPress attachment pages to media files likely does not impact SEO significantly, as Google typically does not index these attachment pages in a visible way. Images are indexed from the ...

Nov 10, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ 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

★★★ 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

★★★ 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

★★★ 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

★★★ Is it true that translated content is free from duplicate content issues in Google's eyes?

If you translate content from one language to another, Google does not consider it duplicate content because the words are different. Search engines look at the words on the page, and if the words dif...

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

★★★ Is the context of images really more important than their visual content for Google?

Google focuses mainly on the image file and all the context around it (alt text, titles, captions, file names, page sections) rather than just the visual content itself. A beach photo can be relevant ...

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

★★ 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

★★★ Can lazy loading block Google from indexing your content?

If a site requires scrolling to a certain position for content to load automatically, Google will not see that content. Google loads the page once and sees what is displayed without performing any spe...

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 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

★★★ 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

★★★ 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