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John Mueller

Search Advocate at Google
8500 statements Period : 2012 - 2026
John Mueller is one of Google's most active spokespeople on search engine optimization topics. As a Search Advocate, he regularly answers the SEO community's questions during Google Search Central sessions and on social media. His statements are a prime source of information for understanding how Google Search works and the best practices to follow.
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★★ How Do EAT Criteria Actually Influence Your Chances of Winning Featured Snippets?
John Mueller also indicated during a hangout that, to appear in a featured snippet, a website must meet "EAT" criteria (Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness). In short, everything will depend prim...
May 21, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Fast Server Response Time Really Boost the Number of Pages Google Crawls?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that the faster a website's response time, the more pages search engine bots could crawl: "The faster we can crawl, the more we can crawl"......
May 21, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really favor the 410 code over the 404 for faster deindexing?
For Google, error codes 404 and 410 are treated similarly, as both mean that the URL no longer exists. However, a 410 status may remove content from the index a bit faster than a 404....
May 18, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can GDPR modals actually hinder the indexing of your content?
If a GDPR-related legal modal obscures the content of a page, it might be indexed instead of the actual content. To prevent this, overlay the modal using JavaScript to allow Google to index the underl...
May 18, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Are your similar sites at risk of being demoted due to doorway pages?
Google may interpret multiple very similar sites as doorway sites, risking demotion for some or even all in search results. It is advisable to focus on fewer sites but to make them more unique and of ...
May 18, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you merge multiple similar niche sites into a single domain?
If multiple sites feature similar content in the same niche, it is better to merge quality content into a stronger single site rather than dilute your online presence with several similar sites....
May 18, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can affiliate sites still rank without solid informative content?
Affiliate sites should focus on providing high-quality informative content beyond purely commercial material to maintain or improve their ranking in search results....
May 18, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How can you manage a CDN migration without losing your rankings in Google Images?
During a CDN transition, it is advisable to keep both CDNs active for a transitional period. Ideally, redirect old image URLs to new ones to facilitate a smooth transition in image search results....
May 18, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why are image redirects critical when migrating to a new CDN?
When migrating images to a new CDN with different URLs, ensure that you set up redirects from old URLs to new ones. This is crucial because Googlebot does not crawl images as often as pages, and this ...
May 18, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do hreflang tags really need to point to the canonicals of paged pages?
Hreflang tags must point to the canonical versions of pages, even for paginated pages. This means that if a paginated page has a different canonical version, the hreflang links should point to that ca...
May 18, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is the URL Parameters Tool Really Effective in Optimizing Crawl Budget?
When it comes to managing millions of pages with different URL parameters, using the URL Parameters Tool to inform Google about which parameters can be ignored is a good solution. This helps Google un...
May 18, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Subdomains or Directories: Does Google Really Make a Difference?
Google generally treats subdomains and directories equally. However, it is advisable to keep similar content together, either within the same site, rather than unnecessarily dividing it into subdomain...
May 18, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does Google Cache really reveal the mobile-desktop differences that affect your ranking?
When a mobile and desktop page display the same content, there is no apparent difference in the cache. However, if a mobile page is different, it will appear differently in the cache, which does not n...
May 17, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do social signals really affect organic search rankings?
Google does not directly measure social signals such as clicks on posts from Facebook or Twitter. These networks use nofollow tags, making them less influential in terms of organic search ranking....
May 17, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you still optimize the length of your meta descriptions for Google?
The length of snippets displayed in Google search results can vary depending on the device used and the search query. It is advisable to write meta descriptions that capture the essence of the page, r...
May 17, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can you block MP4 video files in robots.txt without risking SEO penalties?
It is acceptable to block video resources such as MP4 files in the robots.txt file. This will not affect your ranking in web search, but the videos will not appear in Google’s video search....
May 17, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can Google really exclude your pages from results because of soft 404s?
If a page is identified as irrelevant or a product is unavailable, it may be treated as a soft 404. This means Google could choose not to display this page in search results until it is updated to ref...
May 17, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Mobile First Indexing really work without mobile optimization?
Mobile First Indexing concerns Google's ability to index the mobile content of your site. Even if your site is not optimized for mobile, it will still be indexed. However, it's important that the cont...
May 17, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why isn't your site regaining its ranking after a manual penalty has been lifted?
When a manual action is lifted, your site's status goes back to normal. However, if your position was due to unnatural links that have been removed, your site may not regain its initial ranking....
May 17, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do links to a canonicalized page lose their SEO value?
When links are directed to a page, and that page uses a canonical tag pointing to another page, the value of the links is transferred to the designated canonical page....
May 17, 2018 ⚡ Analysis available
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