John Mueller

★★★ Is anchor text really important for SEO?

Descriptive anchor text is recommended to help Google understand the context of the linked page, even though it is not a critical factor....

Nov 13, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why is Google struggling to index your new content quickly?

It is possible to observe delays in the indexing of new stories. The issue may be temporary and is currently being addressed....

Nov 13, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can You Copy-Paste Legal Pages Without Hurting Your SEO?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that it poses no problem for the search engine if you copy/paste the content of pages such as Terms of Service, Terms of Sale, Legal Notices or other administrative p...

Nov 12, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Really Use the Same Title Tag for Both Desktop and Mobile?

John Mueller advised on Twitter to use only one Title tag, identical for both desktop and mobile versions of a web page. And, within the framework of the Mobile First index, it's the mobile version's ...

Nov 12, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can You Really Opt Out of Google's Mobile First Indexing?

John Mueller responded to a question on Twitter asking whether one could request not to be moved to the Mobile First Index. The answer was negative....

Nov 12, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Merge Multiple Pages Into One to Improve Your SEO?

John Mueller explained in a hangout that combining multiple pieces of content into a single page could be beneficial for SEO but sometimes also fail to deliver good results. It will be beneficial for ...

Nov 12, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Using the Same Google Account for Search Console and Analytics Hurt Your SEO?

John Mueller indicated on Reddit that having the same Google account (same login, same email address) for Search Console and Analytics across multiple sites, or using different accounts, has no impact...

Nov 12, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why Does Google's Structured Data Testing Tool Crawl Your Site in Desktop Mode Instead of Mobile?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that Google's structured data markup testing tool crawls the submitted URL as a "neutral" crawler, which is interpreted most of the time by the site as a "desktop" cr...

Nov 05, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do 301 Redirects Between Unrelated Pages Really Lose All Their PageRank?

John Mueller provided more information during a hangout on how a 301 redirect passes "link juice" (PageRank) from one page to another. He initially indicated, as was already known, that 301 and 302 re...

Nov 05, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really delete content to boost your SEO?

Removing low-quality content can improve Google's perception of the overall quality of your site, and increase the visibility of other content....

Oct 31, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really archive old product versions instead of deleting them?

For product content that is old but still relevant, it can be beneficial to archive it instead of deleting it, but this also depends on user expectations....

Oct 31, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does merging your similar pages really boost your Google ranking?

Merging multiple pages of similar content into one page can improve rankings because it creates a stronger, better-ranked page....

Oct 31, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really overlook third-party JavaScript when it comes to loading speed?

The need to load third-party systems can be problematic for page speed, but Google is generally able to ignore them, especially for Analytics or Tag Manager scripts....

Oct 31, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Implement Regional Hreflang Tags Instead of Country-Level Ones?

Some SEO professionals (including Aleyda Solis) have advocated for implementing hreflang tags down to the regional level, within a country, instead of staying at the country level as is currently the ...

Oct 29, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can You Host Your Website on Multiple Servers in Different Countries Without Hurting SEO?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that having certain parts of a site hosted on a server with an IP address in one country (for example the United States) and other parts on another server with an IP ...

Oct 29, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Producing Massive Amounts of Content Really Help You Rank Better on Google?

John Mueller explained, also on Twitter, that putting more and more content online did not make your site better in Google's eyes and would not help it rank better....

Oct 23, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Still Bother With isRelatedTo and isSimilarTo in Product Schema?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that Google does not take into account the "isRelatedTo" and "isSimilarTo" fields of the Schema.org Product tag. These two attributes allow you to indicate related or...

Oct 23, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really compress your sitemap files using gzip?

Using gzip compression for sitemap files is recommended to save bandwidth. It does not improve the speed of processing by Google, but it is beneficial from a resource management perspective....

Oct 19, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you ditch rel=author for Schema.org on your content?

Google no longer supports the rel-author markup, even before the disappearance of Google+. It is advisable to use schema.org for articles to indicate who the authors of the content are, regardless of ...

Oct 19, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can you really geo-target your AMP pages without risking a penalty?

Implementing AMP specific to a geographic region is technically possible but complicated, as Google prefers to handle AMP versions globally and does not natively support conditional distribution by re...

Oct 19, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available