John Mueller

★★ Is it true that Google only analyzes 10% of your URLs in mobile Search Console reports? Should you be concerned about the rest?

Mobile user experience reports in Search Console analyze about 10% of a website's URLs, chosen to be representative. The absence of problems on these samples generally suggests good health for the res...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really avoid canonicals pointing to page 1 on paginated pages?

If all paginated pages (2 to 10) have a canonical pointing to page 1, Google deindexes pages 2-10 and their unique content. Items that are only present on these pages will be lost to the index....

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really abandon the desktop version of your site with mobile-first indexing?

Once switched to mobile-first indexing, Google uses only the mobile version for indexing, context, and understanding of URLs. If budget is limited between desktop and mobile, prioritize mobile. But do...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Site Architecture: Is it really necessary to choose between flat and deep?

It's essential to avoid an architecture that's too flat (everything at the same level) or too deep (too many clicks). Finding a balance facilitates crawling, indexing, and ranking. There are no strict...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do subdomains or subdirectories really matter for SEO according to Google?

Google has no SEO preference between subdomains (blog.site.com) and subdirectories (site.com/blog). Mueller recommends consolidating everything under the same hostname for easier tracking, but technic...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you index the internal search pages of your site?

If internal search pages resemble categories, indexing them can make sense. If they consist of random user searches, it’s better to use noindex or robots.txt. Mueller prefers noindex because robots.tx...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google deindex your pages and how can you fix it?

If the number of indexed pages decreases, it’s generally because Google believes it’s not worth indexing all pages individually. This could indicate a site-wide quality issue rather than a specific te...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does the text surrounding an internal link matter as much as the anchor itself for Google?

Google understands the context of internal links through both anchor text and surrounding text. Whether a link is within the text or directly after a block of text does not alter anything; the context...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Discover really have no exploitable eligibility criteria?

Discover is very organic, with no clear criteria to meet. Google can decide to highlight or downrank a site without any notion of a query. There is no guaranteed method to appear, unlike traditional s...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Pagerank still enough to rank in SEO?

Pagerank is used internally by Google, but it is only part of the many signals considered for website ranking. Therefore, it is more beneficial to focus on multiple quality signals rather than just Pa...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google deindex your blog articles after an update?

When previously indexed articles are deindexed after an algorithm update, it is usually not a technical issue but a problem of perceived quality. Google decides that indexing fewer pages from this sec...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do mobile and desktop search results really display the same pages?

Search results can vary between mobile and desktop, which may influence how often a page appears in results depending on the type of device. However, Google strives to maintain a certain level of cons...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is responsive design really the only viable solution for unifying desktop and mobile?

Mueller strongly recommends switching to responsive design to maintain a single version of the site. This avoids having to choose between desktop and mobile, and simplifies maintenance....

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really choose between a fresh start and redirections during a partial migration?

To migrate the best content to a new domain without transferring bad signals, you must choose: either start completely fresh (no redirects/links/reused content) or redirect (and accept the transfer of...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google automatically remove indexed pages that are no longer needed?

Google does not automatically remove pages that are no longer relevant unless a 'noindex' tag is applied or if they are manually removed via the Search Console's removal tools....

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are Sitelinks Search Boxes Really Under SEO Control?

Adding tags for search sitelinks does not guarantee their appearance; they are only used if Google decides to display a search box for your site....

Apr 28, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Googlebot really submit your forms and is it something to worry about?

It is extremely rare for Googlebot to submit forms unless it is the only way to access content (such as on some government websites). Googlebot avoids this to prevent generating unwanted actions like ...

Apr 28, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really block tracking parameters for Googlebot through cloaking?

Adding tracking parameters for users while blocking them for bots via cloaking is allowed, but it's not a good SEO practice as it complicates the analysis of your traffic and site navigation. It is pr...

Apr 28, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does FAQ markup really guarantee visibility in Google search results?

Including FAQ markup does not guarantee display in search results. The validation of the markup, compliance with policies, and overall site quality are determining factors....

Apr 28, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do non-canonical URLs in internal links really kill PageRank?

Using non-canonical URLs in internal links does not directly affect PageRank flow, but it can complicate analysis in Search Console and lead Google to choose the wrong canonical URL....

Apr 28, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available