John Mueller

★★ Are keyword-rich URLs really useless for SEO?

Keywords present in URLs play a very minor role in SEO. When the content of the page is indexed, these words have an insignificant role. URLs identified solely by IDs are equally valid, especially in ...

Feb 07, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really include the lastmod attribute in your XML sitemaps?

In sitemap files, the lastmod attribute is used by Google to determine which pages have been significantly modified and need to be revised. Do not use today's date for all pages, so real changes can b...

Feb 07, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the number of clicks really matter for the SEO of your strategic pages?

The internal link structure is crucial for understanding the hierarchy of pages and their relative importance on a site. A high number of clicks to reach a page from the homepage is not problematic if...

Feb 07, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Really Translate Image File Names on Multilingual Websites?

John Mueller explained during a hangout that it is not necessary, on a multilingual site, to translate image file names by copying them for each site. For example, if the French version is the main ve...

Feb 03, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does US Hosting Really Speed Up Google's Crawling of Your Website?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that the search engine's bot does not prioritize site crawling based on the geographic location of the server. Specifically, US-based sites are not crawled better or ...

Feb 03, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do JavaScript redirects really pass PageRank?

Links that go through JavaScript redirects can pass weight and signals if Googlebot is capable of following them. Otherwise, they are treated as if they do not exist....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do URLs with recent dates really boost your SEO?

The fact that a page has a recent date in its URL does not provide any intrinsic SEO advantage. The relevance of the content outweighs its perceived freshness....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should we really be worried about nofollow links in spam examples?

Even if nofollow links are included in a spam link example, they often illustrate the type of practices to avoid rather than a comprehensive list of problematic links....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why are your pages struggling in the SERPs even when targeting the same query?

When Google perceives multiple possible intents behind a query, this can lead to fluctuations between different pages of the same site in search results....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can redirected interstitials really harm your indexing?

When a redirect is used to display an interstitial, Googlebot only sees the content of that redirect, which can harm the indexing of the actual content on your site....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really focus all your content on the homepage for single-product websites?

If a site's scope is reduced to a single page, it is better to concentrate the content on the homepage rather than redirecting to an internal product page....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google index non-canonical pages even when the rel=canonical markup is correct?

Even with correct rel=canonical markup, Google can sometimes index non-canonical pages due to conflicting signals like internal links or non-compliant sitemap files....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do full-screen interstitials really kill your SEO?

Interstitials that cover all the content on the page can cause issues for SEO because they prevent Google from seeing the main content. It is recommended to use non-obtrusive information bars to avoid...

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can DMCA complaints really hurt your site’s rankings in the SERPs?

The number of valid DMCA complaints received can affect a site's ranking. Unfounded complaints that are successfully disputed do not have a negative impact....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really recrawl a page to get Google to acknowledge your link changes?

Google evaluates pages based on the current status of links and content. Changes made to links, such as removing a nofollow attribute, are taken into account during the recrawl of the affected page....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does an URL overhaul take longer to index than a domain change?

When you change URLs without moving the site to another domain, Google must relearn the website's structure, which takes longer than a simple domain migration....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the length of URLs really affect rankings in Google?

The length of a URL, whether long or short, does not directly affect SEO. However, when there are multiple URLs for the same content, Google typically prefers the shorter version as the canonical one,...

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are structured data becoming an unmanageable headache for SEOs?

The evolution of structured data is likely to lead to increased complexity, while solutions such as CMS extensions can simplify their implementation....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can poorly implemented structured data really mislead Google?

Google can be misled by poorly implemented structured data markups, and sites displaying inappropriate rich results should be reported....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it true that Googlebot still serves old versions of your pages?

Google may attempt to render old versions of pages for various reasons, but this shouldn't lead to significant problems. This behavior is normal and linked to the re-checking process....

Jan 31, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available