John Mueller

★★★ Can a polluted domain really handicap your SEO for over a year?

If you migrate to a domain that previously hosted adult content or spam, classification algorithms (like SafeSearch) may linger. External effects like links with problematic anchors can also cause dif...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really think twice before splitting your site into multiple domains?

Dividing a site into multiple domains is even more challenging than merging sites. Google generally recommends concentrating content rather than splitting it, unless there are very good business reaso...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does merging two websites lead to traffic loss even with perfect redirects?

Merging two sites is more challenging than a simple migration because Google needs to recalculate the internal linking structure, determine which pages are relevant, and how they connect to the rest o...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does a domain migration really transfer all ranking signals?

During a simple domain migration (one-to-one), Google typically transfers all ranking signals. Google has worked long to make these migrations as smooth as possible, and in most cases, they work very ...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can you really use lazy loading and data-nosnippet to control what Google displays in the SERPs?

Using lazy loading or the data-nosnippet attribute to exclude certain parts of a page from search snippets is perfectly acceptable. However, unverified reviews should not be used in structured data....

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are link exchanges for content really punishable by Google?

If you exchange content (such as product reviews) for backlinks, it may be considered a problematic link exchange by Google's Web Spam team. It is recommended to use nofollow links in this case to avo...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really host your news blog on the same domain as your product site?

To add a news section to a product site, it is recommended to keep it on the existing domain rather than creating a new domain. This allows for immediate benefit from the authority of the site. A clea...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does a 302 redirect ultimately equate to a 301 in terms of SEO?

Using a 302 redirect instead of a 301 for a permanent migration will lengthen the canonicalization time, but in the long run, the difference will not be significant. However, a 301 remains the recomme...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How long does it really take to recover from a Page Layout Algorithm penalty?

Recovering from a penalty related to the Page Layout Algorithm (excessive ads above the fold) generally takes 2 to 5 months. Google needs to reprocess a large part of the site to understand that the p...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does Google really index your pages: by keywords or by documents?

Google does not read a page to decide which keywords to target. It indexes the words on each page into an inverted index. When a search is made, Google finds the documents containing those words and c...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it really necessary to break all your pagination links for Google to prioritize page 1?

To ensure Google favors the first page of a pagination, link the pages incrementally (page 1→2, 2→3, etc.) rather than from page 1 to all others. This clearly indicates that the first page is the most...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the Ad Experience Report really influence Google rankings?

The Ad Experience Report is not used as a ranking factor in Google Search. It's Chrome that automatically blocks ads on non-compliant sites. The SEO impact comes from other factors like above-the-fold...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does alternating between noindex and index jeopardize your crawl budget?

Frequently alternating between noindex and index on pages disrupts Google. Pages with prolonged noindex are treated as 404s and crawled less frequently, making sitemap signals ineffective....

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google ignore identical lastmod dates in your XML sitemaps?

If all URLs in a sitemap have the same last modified date (for example, automatically generated with the current date), Google considers that the sitemap does not provide useful information, except fo...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do you really need to specify a time zone in the lastmod tag of your XML sitemap?

The last modified date in an XML sitemap must include a time zone according to the datetime standard. Using 'Z' indicates UTC, but other time zones can be specified. Google uses this data as a guide t...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why can your critical SEO tags be completely ignored by Google?

The rel canonical, robots meta, and hreflang tags must be placed within the head section of the page. If HTML elements break the head and prematurely open the body, these critical tags can be ignored ...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really evaluate Core Web Vitals by section or does it apply to the entire domain?

Google tries to be as granular as possible with Core Web Vitals. If the site structure allows for clear identification of sections (e.g., /forum), Google can apply different scores. If not, an aggrega...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can the history of an expired domain hold back your rankings for months?

A domain that has served adult or problematic content can retain classifications (such as SafeSearch) that last a long time. External links with problematic anchors can also cause difficulties, someti...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is splitting a website into multiple domains a strategic mistake to avoid?

Separating a website into multiple domains is almost harder than merging sites, as the internal linking changes completely. Google generally recommends focusing content rather than splitting it, unles...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why doesn't merging two websites ever double your SEO traffic?

Merging two sites is more challenging than a simple migration because Google must reassess internal linking, page relevance, and their connection with the rest of the web. The final result is not simp...

Oct 16, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available