John Mueller

★★★ Does Robots.txt really block the crawling of your images across all your domains?

The robots.txt file is specific to each hostname and protocol. Blocking on a main domain does not block crawling of subdomains or different domains. A 503 code in robots.txt can temporarily stop crawl...

Dec 13, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really avoid moving your blog to a subdomain?

Moving a blog to a subdomain may be perceived by Google as a site separation, requiring time to understand the context of the new sites, even if the content remains identical....

Dec 13, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google overlook invisible video descriptions on mobile?

Metadata, such as a video's description, must be visible on the page or in structured data to be taken into account by Google, particularly for mobile-first SEO....

Dec 13, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the canonical URL selected by Google really impact your rankings?

Google uses several signals to determine the canonical URL, such as 301 redirects, canonical tags, internal and external linking, and sitemap files. Even if Google chooses a canonical URL different fr...

Dec 13, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why do your content enhancements take months to impact your ranking?

Significant improvements in a site's content can take several months to be reflected in search results, with smaller sites generally updated more quickly....

Dec 13, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do blog comments really count as main content in Google's eyes?

Blog comments are considered an integral part of a page's main content. They can enrich the page, especially if the initial post is short and the comments are of high quality....

Dec 13, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do subdirectories really suffice to target local markets?

It is possible to target specific regions with subdirectories on a generic domain. It works well for differentiating local markets....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really separate adult content from general content to avoid SafeSearch penalties?

Organize adult content and general content into separate subdomains or folders so that Google can effectively apply the SafeSearch filter. This allows for better management of your site's ranking....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really return a 404 or 410 on hacked URLs to speed up their de-indexing?

To reduce the number of invalid URLs after an attack, return a 404 or 410 code. Googlebot will stop exploring them after determining they are no longer valuable....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you opt for a 410 code instead of a 404 to speed up deindexing?

HTTP 410 responses inform Google that the page has been permanently deleted and can speed up its deindexing compared to a 404, although the practical difference is often minimal....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that Google displays a different URL than the one it canonizes internationally?

For international sites with similar content for different markets, it is common for Google to choose a canonical URL while still showing the appropriate URL through hreflang in search results....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it really necessary to return a 404 or 410 status to block the crawling of URLs on a hacked site?

To get Googlebot to stop crawling URLs on a hacked site, it is recommended to configure them to return a 404 or 410 status code. This allows Google to reduce the crawling frequency of these obsolete U...

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you manage URL parameters without diluting your crawl budget?

The URL parameter management tool helps Google ignore certain parameters that do not impact content, thus improving the crawling and indexing of priority pages....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do hreflang tags really prevent canonicalization between identical regional content?

When identical content is present across regional English versions, a phenomenon of canonicalization may occur. Nevertheless, Google will display the correct version in search results if hreflang tags...

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the URL Removal Tool really de-index your pages?

The URL Removal Tool does not de-index content but temporarily hides it from search results. It remains essential to manage 404s to stop crawling....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are Google Search Console's false positives really indicating a hack on your site?

Injected content warnings may sometimes be due to sensitive keywords or bot behaviors, even if the site is not truly compromised....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does leasing subdomains really harm your main site's ranking?

Including unrelated content, such as reviews or coupons, on the same domain can make it difficult for Google to understand the main focus of a site, which can harm its ranking....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Could diversifying content categories harm your Google ranking?

The expansion of a site's content category (for example, from books to CDs) should not negatively affect rankings, as long as content quality is preserved....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Could leasing your subdomains actually ruin your organic search rankings?

Placing irrelevant content on an existing site, like coupons on a news site, complicates your site's recognition by Google and can negatively impact its ranking....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can you really expand a website's theme without impacting its current SEO performance?

Adding a new category like CDs to a site dedicated to books can be beneficial. It will not negatively affect your ranking if the quality of your content is maintained....

Dec 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available