John Mueller

★★★ Do JavaScript Links Really Pass as Much PageRank as HTML Links?

John Mueller reminded us on Twitter that the way a link is designed and presented on a web page doesn't matter: HTML or JavaScript, in particular. If Google can read it, it will be treated like all ot...

Nov 13, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Delete or Improve Low-Quality Content on Your Website?

John Mueller discussed in a recent hangout the approach to take when you have content considered low-quality on your site. According to him (and Gary Illyes as well, who often talks about it), the bes...

Nov 06, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Can You Optimize Internal Link Anchors to Supercharge Your SEO?

John Mueller reminded us in a hangout that using descriptive anchors (link texts) is not only important for external backlinks. This is also critical for internal linking (crosslinking). When creating...

Nov 06, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do You Really Need Schema.org Markup to Get Rich Snippets in Google?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that, to display "rich snippets" in Google's SERPs (review stars, etc.), Schema.org structured data markup is not strictly required in principle. However, examples of...

Nov 06, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Can You Get Google to Index a New Page Quickly?

John Mueller shared an interesting tip on Twitter: if you want to quickly submit a new page to Google or resubmit an updated version, don't hesitate to use the Search Console and its "Crawl > Fetch as...

Nov 06, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★ Should You Really Ignore Duplicate Content Like Google Suggests?

John Mueller indicated in a webmaster forum that the duplicate content issue should be reserved for "a rainy day, or when a new person joins the company or for the intern hired for the summer." Basica...

Oct 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Does Google Really Index Hidden Content in Tabs with Mobile First?

John Mueller confirmed during a hangout that content inside a tab would indeed be taken into account, within the Mobile First index framework, with the same weight as content visible by default. Howev...

Oct 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★ Should You Use Search Console's "Change of Address" Tool for HTTPS Migrations?

When migrating a site from HTTP to HTTPS, it is necessary to set up 301 redirects from the old address to the new one. Oddly enough, in Search Console, the "Change of Address" function does not accoun...

Oct 23, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Disabling Right Click and Text Selection Really Impact SEO or Is It Just a Myth?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that disabling right-click on a web page, as well as the ability to select text with the mouse, has no impact—positive or negative—on SEO, in addition to being comple...

Oct 23, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do ® and ™ Symbols Actually Impact Your Pages' Search Rankings?

John Mueller indicated in a hangout that the search engine does not take into consideration symbols like ® or ™, stating in any case that these symbols do not provide any specific semantic character t...

Oct 16, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why Do Sites Ranking Well in France Often Struggle in Other Countries?

John Mueller indicated in a hangout that the situation, for a given site and an identical query, can be very different depending on the target country. For example, a site that ranks well for a keywor...

Oct 16, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can an HTTPS Migration Really Be Achieved Without Losing SEO Traffic?

Gary Illyes and John Mueller confirmed on Twitter that a migration from HTTP to HTTPS does not imply a drop in website traffic after this action......

Oct 16, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Many Hreflang Tags Can You Really Add to a Page Without Getting Penalized?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that there is no theoretical limit to the number of Hreflang tags integrated into HTML code. And that if you have many sites, targeting many countries, using an XML S...

Oct 16, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Grammar Quality Really Impact Your Google Rankings?

John Mueller explained during a hangout that Google's relevance algorithm does not consider the quality (or lack thereof) of grammar used in a web page's content. This will not affect the page's ranki...

Oct 16, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Really Optimize EXIF Metadata in Your Images for Google SEO?

In 2014, Matt Cutts indicated in a video that Google "reserved the right" to read the metadata (EXIF) present in an image. Without saying more. We could therefore think that at that time, the search e...

Oct 16, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is There Really a Top 3 of Google Ranking Criteria to Prioritize in SEO?

Two years ago, a Googler said that Google's algorithm primarily used 3 essential criteria: content, links, and RankBrain. Since then, John Mueller and Gary Illyes have repeatedly indicated that this r...

Oct 02, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Choose a Dedicated Mobile Site (m.) or Responsive Design for Better SEO?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that Google's mobile search engine does not give better rankings to dedicated mobile sites (with URLs like m.yoursite.com) compared to responsive sites......

Oct 02, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Cart Abandonment Rate Actually Hurt Your Google Rankings?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that the fact that an e-commerce site has a high shopping cart abandonment rate (abandoned pending orders) was not a relevance criterion in the algorithm......

Oct 02, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How Does Google's Algorithm Adapt Its Ranking Criteria Based on Your Queries?

John Mueller explained during a hangout that Google's relevance algorithm doesn't use the same criteria with the same weight for all queries and that the calculations could change in their very essenc...

Sep 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google's "Fetch as Google" Tool Actually Show How Googlebot Sees Your Site?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that the "Fetch as Google" feature in Search Console, which displays a page as seen by both users and search engines, is not used by the search engine's algorithm. It...

Sep 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available