John Mueller

★★★ Why does Google refuse to index certain pages on your site even if they are technically crawlable?

Google does not always index all pages of a site, especially a new site. Indexing can be selective if Google doubts the added value of certain pages....

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you structure your international URLs to enhance your geographic visibility?

Google recommends targeting users in a given country by utilizing the country-specific subdomain or directory. You can also use hreflang tags to ensure the correct language versions appear to the rele...

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are website building systems like Wix truly SEO-friendly according to Google?

Popular website building systems like Wix generally perform well for indexing by Google. The differences mainly lie in the ease of site creation and the advanced possibilities for SEO....

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really combine noindex and canonical, or just choose one?

Combining a noindex tag with a canonical indication can be redundant. It is often more effective to choose either noindex or canonical, depending on the intention you have for the page....

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are free SSL certificates just as good as paid ones for Google ranking?

Google makes no distinction between paid and free SSL certificates, like those from Let's Encrypt. As long as the certificate is valid and recognized by browsers, it is sufficient to be considered sec...

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really apply different quality filters based on the industry?

Google's algorithms can be more critical regarding a site's quality based on its subject, especially in sensitive areas like medicine. It is crucial to maintain high content quality and adhere to Goog...

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can multiple price tags really disqualify your product rich snippets?

When multiple prices are shown for a product in structured data (for example, different currencies), this can be deemed invalid by Google's systems, which will choose not to display this information i...

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are Your Regional Canonical Tags Sabotaging Your Visibility on Google?

Inconsistencies in the use of canonical tags, especially when prices and content vary by region, can lead to incorrect displays in search results. An appropriate check and setup of canonicals and regi...

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do recurring backlinks in footers and sidebars truly impact your rankings?

Backlinks found on multiple pages of a site, such as those in a sidebar or footer, are common and Google is capable of processing them. They will appear in Search Console as being counted for crawling...

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is Geo-Targeting Really Necessary for Your Local SEO Strategy?

Geo-targeting is relevant if your content is specifically intended for users in a certain country and you have important local information to share. Otherwise, it is not necessary for general online s...

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really detect your language variations without this tag?

The hreflang element is used to inform Google about the different linguistic and geographical versions of a page. It is recommended to specify these tags to avoid language matching errors in the SERPs...

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do footer and sidebar links really impact SEO?

Links present in the footer or sidebar of websites, even if repeated on every page, are treated by Google in a standard manner. They are taken into account for crawling, indexing, and ranking....

Jan 10, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do Foreign Language Backlinks Really Hurt Your SEO Rankings?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that backlinks pointing to your site from pages or websites that are not available in your language (in your site's language) are not automatically considered "unnatu...

Jan 07, 2019 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Optimize the Max-age Parameter for CSS and JavaScript Files for SEO?

John Mueller also indicated on Twitter that the search engine does not take into account the "Max-age" parameter (notably used for cache systems) of JavaScript or CSS files......

Dec 31, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do You Really Need a Trailing Slash at the End of Your Homepage URL?

John Mueller answered a question on Twitter about the slash ("/") at the end of a website's domain name: is it implicitly taken into account or not? In other words, is the address https://www..com (wi...

Dec 31, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Will Google refuse to index your content if too many pages already cover the same topic?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that Google crawls and indexes content on a given topic, even if the search engine already has numerous pages covering this topic extensively in its index. No matter ...

Dec 31, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google Actually Count Links Passed Through iFrames for SEO?

John Mueller responded on Twitter to a question about iframes: when page A contains an iframe B that contains a link to C, can we say that, for Google, A links to C? John explains that this type of si...

Dec 24, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should You Really Abandon Technical Tag Optimization After a Google Penalty?

John Mueller indicated on Reddit, regarding the Medic update of August 1st, that the work to be done if your site was impacted by this update was primarily to work in a general and macroscopic way on ...

Dec 24, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should You Really Ignore Negative SEO Like Google Recommends?

According to John Mueller, Negative SEO is a waste of time and this concept doesn't exist. When asked "How can we be safe from negative SEO?" on Twitter, John replied: "You can just ignore it."...

Dec 24, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are expired domains really on Google's radar?

When sites surface with significant traffic using expired domains or unscrupulous techniques, Google is interested in examples for the purpose of improving and scaling detection....

Dec 21, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available