John Mueller

★★★ Does a link to a 404 page still pass on SEO juice?

If a link points to a page that is now 404, Google will no longer transmit any SEO value from that link. To transfer the value of a link, appropriate redirections must be used....

Apr 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really eliminate 'Read more' buttons to please Google?

It is advisable to include visible text upon page load rather than hiding it behind buttons like 'Read more'. This is primarily recommended to enhance user experience and not solely for search engines...

Apr 18, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you avoid domains with a spam past, or can they be salvaged?

When transferring to a new domain, if its history is linked to spammy activities, it can affect its ranking. An assessment of the history and backlinks, followed by a possible disavowal, is recommende...

Apr 16, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it really necessary to add self-referential canonicals on every page?

Self-referential canonical tags are useful, especially on static HTML sites to indicate which URL should be primarily indexed, particularly helpful for managing variable URL parameters....

Apr 16, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why aren't your images indexing even with optimized content?

In order for images to be correctly indexed by Google, both the image file and the landing page must be indexed. Check your robots.txt file to ensure it is not blocking Google Images....

Apr 16, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does using nofollow on facets really kill your crawl budget?

Facet links with the nofollow attribute generally do not pose a problem for SEO as long as product pages can be accessed through normal pagination. Nofollow is used correctly if the crawl budget is no...

Apr 16, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you demonstrate your expertise to Google during Core Updates?

Google's Core Updates aim to assess the relevance of pages for user queries. Websites must clarify their expertise to be considered reliable sources on a given topic....

Apr 16, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are expired domains really useless for SEO?

Google does not favor expired domains. Practices of purchasing expired domains for their backlinks may not provide any advantages, as Google tends to ignore irrelevant links....

Apr 16, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you tell the real Googlebot from the fake imposters?

To identify a legitimate Googlebot, perform a reverse lookup and check if the IP address corresponds to Googlebot's IP addresses. This will help distinguish between legitimate bots and those falsely p...

Apr 16, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really eliminate all redirect chains to optimize crawling?

It's best to set up redirects to point directly to the final URL without any intermediaries. Too many steps in a redirect chain can lead to delays in crawling....

Apr 16, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really customize the structured data for each page?

Structured data must be specific to the main subject of each page. Using the same set of structured data for all pages on the site can be incorrect and could lead to the disabling of rich results by t...

Apr 16, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really wait before diagnosing Google indexing problems?

When indexing bugs occur, it is advisable to wait for them to be resolved before assuming that other issues are related. Resolving indexing problems can take several days....

Apr 16, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does More Frequent Crawling Really Improve Your Site's SEO Rankings?

John Mueller explained once again on Reddit that if a site is crawled more often at a given time, this is not necessarily a sign that other things (such as the ranking of its pages on the search engin...

Apr 15, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Really Trust Google's Cache Date to Monitor Your Page Indexation?

When viewing a page in its "cached" version (via the appropriate link in the SERP or through the "cache:" query), Google displays a phrase like this: "This is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on ...

Apr 15, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why Should Your Homepage Be Optimized Differently from Your Internal Pages?

John Mueller explained in a recent webmaster hangout that a homepage should primarily be optimized to describe what the site will be about in general, not for more specific queries, even though the ho...

Apr 15, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google keep executing JavaScript even when you’re using SSR?

If server-side rendering is used but Google continues to run JavaScript, it may indicate a suboptimal configuration. Server-side rendered content should minimize the need for JavaScript in displaying ...

Apr 05, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do sitemaps really speed up the indexing of updates?

Use a sitemap to notify Google of updates on your site. Indicate the last modified date in the sitemap and ping Google to refresh its index more quickly....

Apr 05, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does hreflang help handle duplicate content across countries?

Google can manage duplicate content across different TLDs for different countries via hreflang. Similar content is seen as duplicates, but hreflang allows them to be distinguished by country and langu...

Apr 05, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really ignore voice queries in Search Console?

Currently, Google does not offer a specific way in Search Console to see how many voice queries a site receives. Voice queries are often simple and comparable to keyboard entries. Pages optimized for ...

Apr 05, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can internal linking really outshine the natural authority of your homepage?

Optimizing content and using effective internal linking with descriptive anchors can help demonstrate to Google which page is more relevant for certain search terms, compared to your homepage, which i...

Apr 05, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available