SEO statements by John Mueller | SEO Declarations

John Mueller is one of Google's most active spokespeople on search engine optimization topics. As a Search Advocate, he regularly answers the SEO community's questions during Google Search Central sessions and on social media. His statements are a prime source of information for understanding how Google Search works and the best practices to follow.

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★★ Why do link aggregators struggle to rank effectively?

Sites that primarily function as collections of links to other providers (for example, app or sports betting aggregators) may encounter ranking difficulties because Google’s algorithms may prefer to i...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you effectively manage thousands of subdomains in Search Console?

Search Console limits each account to 1000 verified properties. For sites with thousands of subdomains, this requires creating multiple Search Console accounts, making management more complex (for exa...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it really necessary to translate your content to rank in another language?

A site entirely in one language (e.g., Marathi) will generally not be displayed for queries in another language (e.g., English). Exception: in some countries where local content is lacking, Google may...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you still use the Disavow Tool to manage spam links?

Google generally manages spam links well automatically without the need for intervention. However, if a webmaster detects a massive influx of spam links (for instance, hundreds of spammy domains), the...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google filter certain pages in the SERPs despite full indexing?

If two pages would produce exactly the same snippet in the search results, Google will filter one out. The filtering depends on the query and the relevance of each site. The pages remain indexed; only...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that hidden CSS content is really indexed in a mobile-first manner?

With mobile-first indexing, Google only indexes the mobile version of a site, including for desktop searches. If a site uses responsive design where some desktop elements are hidden via CSS/JavaScript...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can ads drag down your Google ranking because of speed issues?

Google assesses the speed of a page as it is served to end-users, including ads. If ads slow down the page, this affects the speed score. Speed is already a factor in mobile ranking. Future Core Web V...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can invalid HTML really sabotage your Google ranking?

Invalid HTML (e.g., multiple open/close tags) does not negatively affect ranking. The exception concerns meta tags or attributes that must be in the <head>: if HTML is so broken that the <head> slips ...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really index all the keywords on a page or is there selective filtering?

If Google indexes a page, it indexes its complete content with all its keywords. There is no system that indexes the content but ignores the keywords. If a page does not rank for certain competitive k...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can 301 redirects to fix broken URLs lead to a Google penalty?

Fixing problematic old URLs with 301 redirects is a best practice that improves the site. It is never considered spam. If a ranking drop coincides with these corrections, it is probably independent an...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Googlebot really ignore cookie consent banners during indexing?

Google is capable of recognizing and ignoring legal banners such as cookie consents during indexing. If the banner is a CSS/JavaScript overlay on existing HTML content, Google can exclude it and index...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is a crawlable root page really necessary for a multilingual site?

For a multilingual site, having a crawlable root page is not mandatory. Redirecting the root domain (301) to the default language version (e.g., /en) is acceptable. Using hreflang with x-default for t...

Jun 26, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that Google delays mobile-first migration for some sites?

For a site not yet migrated to mobile-first indexing, check that the headings are correctly marked up (not just styled text) and that the number of images (especially thumbnails) is similar between de...

Jun 23, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does your massive no-index take 6 months to a year to be processed by Google?

Adding no-index to millions of old pages takes time (6 months to 1 year) to be fully processed. Google prioritizes crawling new important pages, even though, in absolute volume, it still crawls many o...

Jun 23, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do you really need to stick to the supported page types for the reviewed-by schema?

The reviewed-by markup can only be used on officially supported page types (e.g., Medical Page). If schema.org does not allow it to be added to NewsArticle, you should not force a non-compliant implem...

Jun 23, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Domain Authority Really Useless for Your SEO Strategy?

Google does not use a 'Domain Authority' metric in its ranking algorithm. It's a useful third-party metric for understanding a site, but not a Google ranking factor....

Jun 23, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really avoid having multiple pages for the same keyword?

Having multiple pages on the same topic (e.g., a transactional page and an informational page) is normal and acceptable. Google tries to show the most relevant page based on search intent. Cannibaliza...

Jun 23, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Google really confusing your local pages with duplicates because of URL patterns?

Google can make mistakes with canonicalization if the systems determine that a part of the URL (e.g., city name) is irrelevant, especially if random names do not generate a 404. This leads to incorrec...

Jun 23, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why do 404 redirects to the homepage destroy crawl budget?

Redirecting 404s to the homepage (even with a 5-second meta-refresh) is confusing for users and Google. Google treats this as a soft 404 and will continue to crawl more. It’s better to serve a genuine...

Jun 23, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why is Google Discover more demanding than traditional search for showcasing your content?

Google Discover follows the Google News guidelines for eligibility. Since the content is shown to users who are not actively searching for it, the systems are more cautious. A decrease in visibility o...

Jun 23, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

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