John Mueller

★★★ Should You Really Worry About Hacked Pages That Stay Indexed for Months?

Following an attack that resulted in the creation of thousands of pages in Japanese and Chinese, a hacking technique known as the "Japanese keyword hack," a user asked for help on Reddit. After provid...

Jan 16, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ What should you do when redirects are technically impossible during a domain change?

If setting up redirects is not possible, it is recommended to replace the old content with text indicating that the site has moved to a new domain name....

Jan 16, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How long should you really keep 301 redirects active after a site migration?

Google recommends maintaining redirects in place for at least one year after migrating to the new site....

Jan 16, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Really Disavow Spammy and Toxic Backlinks Pointing to Your Site?

On Reddit, a site owner expressed concern after noticing hundreds of thousands of backlinks from AI-generated blog articles pointing to their site. In response, John Mueller stated that these links co...

Jan 16, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really delete an old website when redirects aren't an option?

If neither redirects nor replacement messages are feasible, Google suggests simply deleting the old website....

Jan 16, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do redirects really transfer all SEO signals to your new site?

It is recommended to redirect the old site to the new one. Redirects allow search engines to transfer their existing signals to the new site, thereby improving the new site's positioning....

Jan 16, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really delete your old site after an SEO migration?

Google strongly recommends deleting or cleaning up the old website when launching a new site. The main reason is to avoid confusing users with potentially different information between the two sites....

Jan 16, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can you migrate a website without redirects without risking a Google penalty?

There is no penalty applied to the new site if redirects cannot be put in place. However, both the old and new sites could be discoverable for a certain amount of time....

Jan 16, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should You Really Stop Focusing on Links in SEO?

On Reddit, John Mueller responded to a question from a user who was wondering why a link, which he considered important, wasn't displayed in any tracking tool and he wasn't seeing any increase in Doma...

Jan 09, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Can You Prevent a Site Redesign from Destroying Your Google Rankings?

John Mueller advised a user who needs to launch a new site including various UI/UX improvements and new pages to carefully plan their site redesign to avoid any issues, stating: "ideally, describe all...

Jan 09, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Could Your Indexing Problems Really Be Caused by a Simple Domain Configuration Error?

Following an indexing problem encountered by a user with their site, which they believed could have been caused by the Core MVC framework or the HTTPS protocol, John Mueller pointed out that the site ...

Jan 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is SEO Really Dying with the Rise of Artificial Intelligence?

Phew! SEO should not be taking its final bow in 2024, at least not during the first part of the year. This is more or less the prediction that John Mueller shared with us on Bluesky, in response to a ...

Jan 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Anti-Bot Protection Accidentally Trigger Noindex on Your Site?

On X, John Mueller stated that protection measures taken against bots at the server level could sometimes trigger a noindex directive. The same thing can happen with a login page or an interstitial. A...

Jan 02, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Will Google's generative AI in Search Labs completely reshape your SEO strategy?

Google has launched Search Labs, which uses generative artificial intelligence to provide more information and context to user searches....

Dec 29, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really stop obsessing over Core Web Vitals scores?

Sites should not specifically optimize to achieve exact numerical values for Core Web Vitals, but rather focus on improving actual user experience. Metrics are indicators, not goals in themselves....

Dec 21, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is the title tag still truly a cornerstone of SEO despite modern CMS evolution?

The title element (title tag) remains a fundamental HTML element that SEO professionals must know how to locate and modify in a page's source code, even though modern CMS platforms make it less visibl...

Dec 21, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is the death of third-party cookies threatening your e-commerce conversions?

Chrome is progressively removing third-party cookies, notably affecting e-commerce payment processes and comment or login systems. It is recommended to test your site to verify if it is affected....

Dec 19, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is Google really cutting down the Page Experience Report to just Core Web Vitals and HTTPS?

The Page Experience Report in Search Console has been simplified to provide an overview of Core Web Vitals and HTTPS status. Core Web Vitals measure the speed and interactivity of a web page....

Dec 19, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ What are Google's real priorities hidden behind its latest algorithmic updates?

Google has deployed several algorithmic updates including Core Updates, a spam update, and a Reviews update. Details are available on Google's blog and the Search Status Dashboard....

Dec 19, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you block Google's generative AI in robots.txt? Here's what you need to know about Google-Extended

Google has added Google-Extended, a new user agent for robots.txt. Web publishers can use it to control whether their sites help improve Bard and generative Vertex AI APIs....

Dec 19, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available