John Mueller

★★ Do you really need to master Python to be a successful SEO?

While it's not necessary to know Python to be a good SEO, this programming language can be useful for various SEO and web tasks. Generally, understanding any programming language helps in comprehendin...

Sep 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Optimizing the Text Around Your Links Really Boost Your SEO?

John Mueller explained during a Hangout that while Google takes into account the anchor of a link (the clickable text), it can also take into account the text before and after the link to refine its a...

Sep 28, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google Cloud Hosting Really Boost Your SEO Performance?

John Mueller reminded us that hosting your site on Google Cloud servers offers no SEO advantage whatsoever. Additionally, he explained, in response to a study that seemed to suggest otherwise, that sh...

Sep 28, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why Do Google's SEO Spokespeople Systematically Decline Private Help Requests?

Martin Splitt explained during a podcast that SEO spokespeople like himself, Gary Illyes or John Mueller, never respond to private requests for help on a particular site in terms of SEO, as this is pr...

Sep 28, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does mobile-first indexing really ignore the desktop version of your site?

When a site is switched to mobile-first indexing, the main version indexed by Google is the mobile version. Google counts impressions for the primary version and exchanges language URLs, but not deskt...

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really favor noindex over canonical for e-commerce facets?

For e-commerce facets that are not important landing pages, it is better to use noindex rather than rel canonical. Canonical indicates that the pages are equivalent, whereas noindex clearly states not...

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really index all paginated pages to avoid losing products?

Putting a noindex on paginated pages (starting from page 2) can prevent Google from discovering the products present on these pages and the following pages. It is recommended to allow the indexing of ...

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is server-side rendering truly free from any cloaking penalty risks?

Serving pre-rendered HTML to Googlebot and dynamic JavaScript content to users is not considered cloaking as long as the final content is identical. This is an acceptable method known as server-side r...

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can a featured snippet truly appear without being the top result in organic search?

Google can display a page as a featured snippet even if it is not ranked first in organic search results....

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that Google penalizes syndicated content as duplicate content?

When the same article is published on multiple sites, Google recognizes it as duplicate content and tries to choose a version to display. It is not guaranteed that the version from the original site w...

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should we really serve low-resolution images for slow connections?

Instead of not displaying images to users with slow connections, it is recommended to use attributes like 'source set' to offer low-resolution versions of images rather than showing nothing at all....

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the traffic generated by your backlinks really influence your Google rankings?

Google does not use referral traffic from links or the fact that users click on links in its ranking algorithms. PageRank focuses solely on the link itself, not on the traffic it generates....

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really wipe the history of an expired domain when it's taken over?

When a new site is built on an expired domain, Google attempts to recognize this change and ignore the domain's past as much as possible. However, problems from the old site (like spam links) can pers...

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can a simple layout change really affect your SEO rankings?

Changing the layout and appearance of a website can affect search results, even if the main content and URLs remain the same. Elements such as titles, internal linking, and the context provided can in...

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does anchor text really outweigh surrounding context for SEO?

The anchor text of a link is the main contextual element used by Google. The context of the page containing the link is secondary and less important than the anchor itself....

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really update your content to preserve your Google rankings?

To maintain the visibility of an article, you should not merely leave it as is, hoping something will change. You must continue to work on it and improve it so that Google recognizes there is new usef...

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is guest posting for backlink acquisition truly risky?

Google does not recommend guest posting for the purpose of creating links. If done on a large scale, the webspam team may take algorithmic or manual actions as these are not natural links....

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do naked URLs as anchors really kill the SEO context of your links?

Links with the URL as anchor text (naked URLs) are recognized by Google as normal links, but without useful context. The lack of a meaningful anchor loses the main contextual element of the link....

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really ditch AMP if your site is already fast?

If your original site is faster than the AMP version, and speed is your only reason for using AMP, then AMP is not necessary. In the future, fast non-AMP pages with good Core Web Vitals will also be e...

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How long does it really take to recover from an SEO hack?

After a hack has been completely cleaned and the sitemap resubmitted, it typically takes a few weeks for rankings to stabilize again. Google does not hold grudges against hacked sites if the issue is ...

Sep 25, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available