John Mueller

★★ Why does Google aggressively recrawl your site after a migration?

When Google detects significant changes on a site (URL structure change, domain migration), it may trigger an accelerated recrawl to quickly obtain an updated image. The site is neither paused nor rem...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really prefer a soft 404 over a 405 error for removed Flash content?

To massively replace Flash content with an identical HTML page explaining the removal, Google will treat these pages as soft 404s, which functionally equates to 404 errors. The pages will gradually be...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do manual actions for unnatural outbound links really affect a site's ranking?

A manual action for unnatural outbound links only devalues the outbound links of the site, not the site's ranking itself. If Google cannot identify which links are legitimate, it may go into safe mode...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★ Why does Search Console show indexed URLs that are missing from the sitemap?

Google does not always immediately process all the content of all sitemap files. Therefore, Search Console can indicate that an URL is indexed but not submitted via sitemap if Google has not yet had t...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really set all your outbound links to nofollow to protect your SEO?

Setting all outbound links of a site to nofollow is not recommended and will not diminish the site's relevance. Google encourages creating links naturally on the web. Applying nofollow systematically ...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google ignore certain URL parameters and how does it choose its canonical version?

If a URL contains interchangeable textual parameters (e.g., product name) while maintaining a fixed ID, and the page displays normally as long as the ID is present, Google considers the textual parame...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How long does it take to recover traffic after a 301 redirect bug?

After a URL change with 301 redirects, if the new URLs have been crawled and then disappeared due to a bug (redirecting to 404), Google sees them as deleted and removes them from the index. Reindexing...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you index a new URL before redirecting an old one in a 301?

There is no need to pre-index a new URL before redirecting the old one via 301. Google will recognize the new URL at the time of the redirection and will focus on it. You can redirect to a completely ...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Google really tell the difference between your multilingual pages, or is it at risk of mistakenly canonicalizing them?

Google typically does not confuse pages in different languages (Japanese vs Portuguese, for example) and does not consider them duplicates to be canonicalized together. Translated content is considere...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are H1 titles really essential for ranking your pages?

A page without an H1 title can indeed rank for keywords present in an H2 title. Headings assist Google in better understanding the content but are not the only ranking factor. Google also analyzes the...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google always show your images in search results?

Google tries to display an image for certain pages in search results while maintaining a reasonable balance in the number of images shown. The same page may have an image for certain queries but not f...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do soft 404s really trigger deindexing without a penalty?

A soft 404 is not considered a bad practice or a penalty. It is simply the signal that Google interprets to understand that these pages should be removed from the index. The objective is achieved: Goo...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can a bug restoring your old URLs kill your SEO?

When a site changes its URL structure with 301 redirects and then temporarily reverts to the old structure due to a bug, Google can handle this situation. If the redirects disappear and the site retur...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do penalties on outbound links really impact your site's ranking?

When a manual action concerns unnatural outbound links, Google simply devalues those outbound links. This does not affect the ranking of the site itself in search results. If a significant drop in tra...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are errors 405 and soft 404 truly handled the same way by Google?

HTTP 405 errors (access denied) and soft 404 errors (HTML pages that look like normal pages instead of actual errors) are treated equivalently in the long run by Google. Both lead to the removal of pa...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really be worried about a 503 error on your site for a few hours?

A 503 error (service temporarily unavailable) for a short period (20 minutes to a few hours) does not lead to any penalties or downgrading. Google sees the 503 as a normal and temporary signal, keeps ...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are H1 and H2 tags really important for Google ranking?

Headings (H1, H2, etc.) help Google understand the content of a page better, but they are not the only ranking factor. A page can rank for keywords present only in H2 and not in H1. The level of the t...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does submitting multiple Google reconsideration requests really speed up the review of your site?

Submitting multiple reconsideration requests for the same site does not speed up the processing. When Google receives a new request while an earlier one is pending, the team first processes the oldest...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does the mobile-friendly test produce conflicting results on the same page?

The mobile-friendly test can yield varying results (partially loaded, not mobile-friendly, mobile-friendly with missing resources) for the same page tested at different times. This happens because Goo...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really ignore non-essential URL parameters on your site?

Google's systems can automatically recognize sites generating many parameterized URLs pointing to very similar content (filters, categories). Google identifies non-essential parameters and focuses on ...

Aug 11, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available