John Mueller

★★★ Do server errors really destroy your crawl budget?

Frequent technical access errors can lead Google to significantly reduce the crawl rate, affecting the indexing frequency....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Could overly promotional rich snippets harm your Google ranking?

Being too promotional in rich snippets will not affect your ranking but could prevent the display of rich results....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really keep canonical and alternate tags after switching to mobile-first?

Keep standard links between mobile and desktop versions, even with mobile-first indexing. Do not modify existing canonical or alternate tags....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you submit the mobile or desktop URL via the indexing API?

When using the indexing API, provide the mobile version URL of the page as that is what we will index for mobile-first....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Google really canonicalize a no-index page?

Google tries to avoid selecting a no-index URL as canonical. However, if a systemic pattern of duplicate content is detected, the algorithm can sometimes make poor canonicalization choices....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Could your site's dark mode really impact your organic search ranking?

Implementing a dark mode via CSS does not affect SEO. It is a visual design choice that is independent of current search algorithms....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can user-generated content damage your SEO?

User-generated content is seen as part of the site and reflects the overall quality. Content errors can influence the perception of your site's quality....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is responsive web design really essential for good Google rankings?

We recommend using responsive web design rather than dynamic serving or m-dot, to ensure better compatibility with indexing....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google crawl no-index pages less often and how can you prevent their demotion?

Pages often marked as no-index may be crawled less frequently, classified as soft 404 by Google, and thus viewed with lower priority....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really require a separate URL for each language, or can parameters suffice?

Different translations of content should be on distinct URLs. It is not necessary to use subdirectories or subdomains; URL parameters can be used....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can changing your geographic targeting really affect your SEO rankings?

Changes in geographic targeting can affect a website’s ranking in search results. If a site has been strongly targeted to one country and wishes to change its target, it may take some time to stabiliz...

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google's cache really reflect what Googlebot indexes of your JavaScript?

In Google's cache, JavaScript cannot always be displayed correctly as it requires certain conditions to execute, which may not reflect actual indexing....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How can you effectively isolate adult content for SafeSearch to work properly?

Clearly separate adult content from the rest of the site, ideally through subdomains or subdirectories, to facilitate management by the SafeSearch filter....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should we still use separate mobile URLs (m-dot) for our site?

We recommend against using separate mobile URLs, instead opting for a single URL for both desktop and mobile content to simplify indexing and avoid confusion....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really exclude XML sitemaps with an HTTP no-index?

A sitemap file with an HTTP no-index header does not affect Google's processing. It simply prevents the sitemap URL from appearing in regular web search results....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can featured snippets truly escape any manual influence?

The choice to display a featured snippet is algorithmic; if a site or its content is deemed inappropriate, it will not be shown as a featured snippet. This cannot be manually influenced through lists....

Oct 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Infinite Scrolling a Trap for Google Indexing?

When using infinite scrolling, it is crucial to have accessible paginated versions. Googlebot will index a long version but needs links to the next pages to explore everything....

Oct 17, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really delete large amounts of content to enhance your crawl budget?

There are no downsides to deleting a large number of pages at once. This is not considered problematic and may even improve crawling by reducing the number of pages to explore....

Oct 17, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really point hreflang to the canonical version of the page?

It is advised to always point hreflang attributes to the canonical version of the page. This helps Google understand the correct canonical version, especially in cases of pages with tracking parameter...

Oct 17, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really moderate user-generated content to protect your SEO?

User-generated content must be of good quality. Publishers must moderate this content to ensure it does not harm the reputation of the site....

Oct 17, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available