John Mueller

★★★ 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

★★★ 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

★★ Do Expired Domains Really Buy Back Their SEO Past?

When a site goes down and then the owner renews it, Google's algorithms try to be helpful by restoring the previous state. This 'help' can persist for several months to several years. Do not rely on e...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really keep your old domains to safeguard your brand?

Mueller strongly recommends keeping old domain names indefinitely, even without content, to avoid a third party purchasing the domain and associating your brand with undesirable content....

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

★★★ 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

★★ 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

★★★ Why does Google overlook your navigation and sidebars during crawling?

Google focuses on the main content of the page rather than navigation, sidebars, or footers. This reflects user behavior that centers on what is unique to each page....

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

★★★ Do old backlinks really lose their SEO value over time?

The value of a link does not depreciate with age per se. It’s the position of the link in the source site that evolves: an article on the homepage becomes archived, losing relevance. It’s not the link...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you worry about the 'site being moved' message in the Search Console's address change tool?

The address change tool in Search Console displays 'site being moved' as just a UI reminder for a defined period, not as an indication of a problem. The key is to maintain the redirects for at least 6...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★ Does the target="_blank" attribute affect SEO rankings?

The fact that a link opens in a new tab or in the same tab has no SEO impact. It is an editorial decision without consequences for SEO....

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 choose dashes or pluses in URLs for better SEO?

Using pluses (+) or dashes (-) in URLs has no impact on crawling or ranking. Dashes are preferred for technical convenience (to avoid spaces in tools), but both work identically for Google....

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does hreflang really protect against duplicate content?

Hreflang helps Google recognize which URL to display but does not eliminate the detection of duplicate content. Google indexes a canonical version and exchanges the displayed URL based on the user's l...

May 01, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really be wary of the noreferrer attribute on your links?

The noreferrer attribute on a link prevents the transmission of referrer information to the target site. This is separate from nofollow, which limits the transfer of signals between pages for search e...

Apr 28, 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

★★ Should you really switch from a .com to a .ca to exclusively target Canada?

Redirecting a site from a dot-com to a dot-ca is feasible even if you are targeting only Canada. It will not have a major negative impact if managed correctly....

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

★★★ 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