John Mueller

★★ Is third-party JavaScript slowing down your site: Does Google really hold you accountable for ranking?

If a third-party JavaScript (e.g., advertising) significantly slows down a page, Google will measure this slowdown when evaluating speed for ranking, without making a distinction between site code or ...

Sep 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Still Be Using the Speakable Tag for SEO in 2024?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that the Speakable tag was still valid and not obsolete, contrary to what an email received by a publisher from a Googler working on Google News might have suggested....

Sep 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you mimic competitors who rise after a core update?

After a drop due to a core update, it is relevant to analyze the pages that now rank better to identify trends (e.g., informational vs commercial content). This helps to understand what users are look...

Sep 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★ Why does Search Console only show partial data for the News section at launch?

Data for the News section in Search Console (for News mode in Search, not Google News App) only goes back to around July 2020, which is when data collection began. For older sites, this view will be l...

Sep 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is your site migration stuck in 'pending' status in Search Console? Find out why!

A site move displayed as 'pending' in Search Console for months after submission signals no problem. This status simply indicates that Google is keeping track of the move. There is no 'completed' stat...

Sep 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you consider using Prerender for serving static HTML to Googlebot?

Using a service like Prerender to serve static HTML to Googlebot instead of letting Google render JavaScript can reduce technical risks during migrations or changes. It is not required, but it can sta...

Sep 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are guest posts considered a shady link scheme by Google?

Guest posts are acceptable if the author seeks to reach an audience (advertising, notoriety) and does not care about the nofollow. If the sole motivation is to obtain a dofollow link in exchange for t...

Sep 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can a blog on a subdomain really pass SEO authority to the main site?

For a blog on a subdomain (e.g., Shopify + WordPress) to pass authority to the main site, Google primarily relies on internal links and the fact that both are on the same root domain. Similar design o...

Sep 14, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google Really Flag Domains as "Toxic" in Its Algorithm?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that Google doesn't have a "flag" indicating that a domain name is toxic: "We don't have a concept of a toxic domain. It's good to use tools to work on your site, but...

Sep 09, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do Images in XML Sitemaps Count Toward the 50,000 URL Limit?

We know that XML Sitemap files are limited to 50,000 URLs. We also know that for each page URL, we can indicate the URLs of the main images it contains. But do these image URLs count as part of the 50...

Sep 09, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Google Really Block a Page's Visibility Based on Country?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that there is no system or mechanism on Google's search engine to limit a page's visibility to one country or another. For example, a page that could be visible on Go...

Sep 09, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Homepage with URL Parameters: Should You Really Index Multiple Versions or Canonicalize Everything?

A homepage with parameters and one without are two distinct URLs for Google. If the versions are indeed different (personalized content), they can be indexed separately. If they are equivalent, use re...

Sep 04, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really stop adding the current year to your SEO titles?

Adding the current year to article titles (e.g. 'how to create a website in 2020') does not help with ranking. Google does not have an algorithm that favors content featuring the current year. This pr...

Sep 04, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why don’t the Search Console API and the web interface return the same data?

The Search Console API and the web interface use exactly the same backend. If no data is returned by the API while the interface displays it, the issue likely stems from a difference in domain verific...

Sep 04, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Hreflang in HTML or XML Sitemap: Is There Really a Difference for Google?

For implementing hreflang, Google treats the <head> HTML tag and the declaration in an XML sitemap exactly the same. Both methods are equivalent, and the choice depends on the ease of implementation f...

Sep 04, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google ignore your date structured data if it's not visible?

For Google to recognize the date of an article, it must be confirmed in the visible content, not just in structured data. The algorithms extract all dates (visible and metadata) and choose the one wit...

Sep 04, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ 404 or noindex for deindexing: which method should you really prefer?

Using 404 or noindex to remove pages from the index produces the same final result. Noindex can be slightly faster, but the difference is negligible at the scale of a site. Choose the most practical m...

Sep 04, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really worry when a 404 page turns back to 200?

Changing a 404 page to 200 does not incur any penalty. Google normally reindexes the new content. However, a long-term 404 page gets crawled less frequently (possibly every two months). Thus, repeated...

Sep 04, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you balance internal navigation to maximize both crawling and ranking?

Internal navigation serves two purposes for Google: enabling complete discovery of site pages and understanding which pages are important and how they are interconnected. It is essential to find a bal...

Sep 04, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you reconfigure Search Console every time you migrate from www to non-www?

When changing a prefix (www/non-www), you must verify the new property if the verification is prefix-based. Domain verification avoids this problem. Search Console is not required for the website's op...

Sep 04, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available