What does Google say about SEO? /
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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🕒 ~1 min 🎯 5 questions
★★★ Should you really noindex all faceted navigation pages?
It is advisable to use the noindex attribute for faceted navigation pages to avoid duplicate content issues and server overload from crawling. It's crucial to ensure that all individual product pages ...
Sep 22, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do stop words in URLs really harm SEO?
Using stop words such as "in", "at", "how", etc., in URLs is not an issue. This might make the URL longer and harder to write manually, but it is no longer a major concern for SEO....
Sep 22, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can you safely copy manufacturer descriptions without risking SEO?
It’s possible to copy a product description from the manufacturer’s website, but ideally, you should have your own product descriptions and titles. If a search is made with a portion of the copied des...
Sep 22, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Do internal anchor texts really dictate the titles of your sitelinks in Google?
Anchor texts are used by Google to understand the internal structure of a website and may influence the titles of sitelinks displayed in search results....
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is it true that Search Action markup can actually make the sitelink search box appear in Google?
Search Action markup enables a search field in Google search results for sites that are likely to require internal search, but it only appears if Google finds it relevant....
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does duplicate content really hurt your Google indexing?
Google tries to determine where the content was first seen and chooses the most relevant version for SERPs. If the content is duplicated elsewhere, the other site isn’t necessarily penalized....
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does a poorly defined canonical really hurt your Google ranking?
Canonical tags are a signal for Google and not an order. Even if the canonical is poorly defined, it does not affect the overall ranking of the page as long as Google can understand that the different...
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Why does the Search Console show inconsistent indexing data?
Different metrics in the Search Console can show discrepancies due to the mismatch between submitted URLs and indexed URLs. Variations like URLs with or without a trailing slash can pose a problem....
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does improperly implemented structured data really hinder your site's indexing?
When a website's structured data is not well interpreted, it is advised to ensure that markups are correctly applied only to relevant pages and to fix errors reported in the Search Console....
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can Google merge your language versions if the content is too similar?
For multilingual websites, it is crucial to ensure that the content is sufficiently different to avoid Google thinking they are identical and merging them. Using the hreflang tag can help signal the d...
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do 404 errors really harm your site's ranking?
Crawl errors, such as 404 errors, are normal and do not harm a website's ranking. It's advisable to ensure that the 404 errors are related to pages that should actually be removed....
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why are new sites experiencing uncontrollable ranking fluctuations?
When a new site is integrated into Google’s system, it may experience fluctuations in its initial ranking due to the absence of clear signals. Over time, the site’s ranking stabilizes as Google collec...
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does noindex and follow really allow links to pass PageRank?
Using the noindex tag with follow means that a page should not be indexed, but the links on that page should be followed and PageRank should be passed. However, if the page is not indexed, the links c...
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google My Business really enhance your website's SEO?
Google My Business does not directly affect search ranking. A Google My Business profile can appear in the results, but it does not alter the ranking of standard websites....
Sep 21, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do navigation links and footer links hold the same SEO weight?
Placing links in the main navigation or footers is treated the same way. These areas are regarded as template content, adding no extra weight based on their location....
Sep 19, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How should you handle hreflang when content and user interface are in different languages?
The hreflang tag is designed to display the correct language version to users based on their location. This can be complex with user-generated content, where the interface and content languages may di...
Sep 19, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really declare your AMP as the official mobile version for mobile-first indexing?
If a site has only an AMP version without a mobile version, it is recommended to declare AMP as the official mobile version. This ensures that mobile-first indexing correctly uses the mobile version o...
Sep 19, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Are Google spam reports really handled manually?
Each spam report is not manually reviewed. Reports are used to prioritize manual actions and to enhance algorithms to better detect spam issues on a large scale....
Sep 19, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does applying noindex to weak pages truly enhance your site's quality perception?
Adding noindex to low-quality pages can help ensure that the site is perceived as providing high-quality content. It does not improve a Panda score but ensures that only useful pages are indexed by Go...
Sep 19, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really optimize the length of your Alt tags for image SEO?
The Alt tag must clearly describe the image, particularly for image search. The length depends on the context needed to explain what the image would represent if it were not loaded....
Sep 19, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
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