John Mueller

★★★ Is Google really testing the AMP version for Core Web Vitals even if the mobile version is indexed?

For evaluating Core Web Vitals and the page experience score, Google tests the version that users actually see. If a site has an AMP version, it is the AMP version that will be tested for speed and us...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Googlebot send an HTTP referrer when crawling your site?

Googlebot does not send an HTTP referrer when crawling, even when following redirects or links. Consequently, pop-ups or conditional messages based on the referrer will never be seen by Google and do ...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does image quality really affect rankings in Google’s web search?

The quality of images (resolution, sharpness) does not affect rankings in standard web search, but influences how these images appear in Google Images. If you are targeting visual search traffic, impr...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why hasn't your site been migrated to mobile-first indexing yet?

Google has been notifying sites about significant problems detected ahead of the mobile-first indexing migration for quite some time. The remaining unmigrated sites are mainly either sites with no mai...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does user-generated content really expose your site's SEO liability?

If you publish user-generated content (UGC) on your site, Google considers it to be content you have chosen to publish. It is not necessary to use rel=UGC, but if the content is of low quality, it's u...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does geotargeting really depend solely on ccTLD and Search Console?

For geotargeting, Google mainly uses the geographic top-level domain (ccTLD) or the geotargeting setting in Search Console. Links and the server's IP address are only used when Google lacks clear info...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that word count is really unnecessary for ranking on Google?

Google does not use word count as a ranking factor. There is no minimum word count to be reached (1000, 5000 words). Sometimes short pages are excellent for users, and sometimes long pages are. The im...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do pop-ups after a 301 redirect really harm your SEO?

Displaying an informative pop-up after a 301 redirect to inform users that they have been redirected does not affect SEO. Google follows the redirect without sending a referrer and likely will never e...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why do your desktop images and videos become invisible to Google in mobile-first?

With mobile-first indexing, if images or videos are very visible on desktop but tiny or at the bottom of the page on mobile, they are less likely to appear in image and video search results. Visual co...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does a new website experience roller coaster rides in the SERPs for 12 months?

For a website that is a few months old (8 months to 1 year), it is normal to see significant fluctuations in rankings while Google's algorithms learn where to position the site. This adjustment period...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do external links to m. or www. affect ranking differently?

With separate mobile URLs, external links pointing to either the mobile (m.) or desktop version are irrelevant. Google combines all signals from both versions, whether or not mobile-first indexing is ...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really estimate the Core Web Vitals of low-traffic sites?

For sites lacking sufficient traffic in the Chrome User Experience Report, Google cannot display Core Web Vitals data in Search Console. However, the site will not be excluded from search results: Goo...

Jun 12, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Domain Age Really Impact Your Google Rankings?

Responding to a question on this topic, John Mueller explained on Twitter that Google does not rank "old sites" - those on domain names created long ago - any better these days. No changes to the trea...

Jun 08, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should You Ditch Search Console's URL Parameters Tool in Favor of Robots.txt?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that the URL parameters handling tool in Search Console does not replace a "clean" use of robots.txt to block crawling on complex URLs with parameters, and that robot...

Jun 08, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is geographic cloaking really allowed by Google?

Serving different content by country is not cloaking if all users in a given country (including Googlebot crawling from the USA) see the same version. Cloaking only refers to the act of serving specif...

May 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it really necessary to block social sharing URLs that generate 500 errors?

500 errors on internal URLs redirecting to external social networks do not pose a problem for Google. These URLs can be blocked by robots.txt to prevent their appearance in Search Console crawl errors...

May 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can fixing a failed migration within 48 hours completely change your rankings?

After a problematic migration, identifying and fixing differences as quickly as possible is crucial. The longer you wait, the more Google systems learn about the new site as a different site and adjus...

May 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can you really display different content on mobile and desktop without facing penalties?

Google indexes the mobile version of the content. Displaying slightly different content between mobile and desktop is acceptable, unless it is malicious cloaking (e.g., comics on mobile, adult content...

May 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can a redesign really boost your SEO signals instead of destroying them?

A site migration doesn't always result in a loss of signals. Often, it corrects structural issues and enhances signals. Google needs to reassess these improvements, which takes time, but allows the si...

May 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does JavaScript server-side rendering hide invisible SEO errors from users?

JavaScript server-side rendering (SSR) produces static HTML similar to WordPress, but if SSR is configured specifically for Google, numerous errors can occur that are invisible to normal users. Compar...

May 29, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available