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
★★★ How can you manage duplicate content between two sites without harming their indexing?
If you want to index two sites that share content, make sure each site has meaningful unique content. Otherwise, use canonical tags to indicate your indexing preference....
Aug 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How many links in the footer are truly too many for Google?
Google suggests limiting the number of links in the footer to avoid potential spam issues. However, relevant links such as those to contact pages or ‘About’ are acceptable....
Aug 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How do internal links truly impact the crawling and ranking of your pages?
Internal links assist Google in comprehending the structure of a website and providing context to its pages. It is advisable to use clear anchors containing the name or a brief description of the prod...
Aug 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do duplicate URLs really harm the crawl budget of large sites?
For large sites, particularly e-commerce websites, reducing duplicate URLs is crucial. This helps optimize the crawl budget and ensures that important content is properly indexed....
Aug 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can the canonical tag really block doorway pages?
Google recommends using the canonical tag to prevent doorway page issues. This allows signals to point towards the preferred primary domain or page....
Aug 25, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How can you speed up the deindexing of orphan pages that drag down your Google index?
URLs that are no longer linked but still indexed can take time to be naturally deindexed. Using a sitemap with current modification dates can accelerate the discovery process to deindex these pages....
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really avoid using canonical tags on paginated pages?
It is not recommended to use a canonical tag pointing to the first page of a paginated series, as each page contains distinct content. Each page should be treated as a unique entity....
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can Google Really Handle JavaScript Indexing Effectively?
Googlebot typically processes JavaScript-built sites well, but it has limitations, such as the lack of support for features like service workers. Using Progressive Enhancement or polyfills can help en...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really set noindex on sparsely populated category pages?
It is advised to carefully manage product category pages that have very few items by potentially setting them to noindex to avoid them resembling 404 pages, which would cause Google to consider them u...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really keep your Disavow file even with dead domains?
Disavowed links in disavow files are ignored by Google and do not affect SEO rankings. Therefore, you do not have to delete these files even if the linked domains show errors or are no longer online....
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is duplicate content really a top SEO concern we should address?
Unless you have a large scale or slow servers, Google can usually handle duplicate content. It's often better to use canonical tags to point to the original content rather than relying solely on noind...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does HTTPS really enhance your SEO, or is it just a Google myth?
Switching to HTTPS is encouraged for security reasons, and while it does not have a direct impact on SEO rankings, it can provide long-term advantages. Google is well-prepared to manage HTTPS migratio...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How many articles should you display per category page for optimal SEO?
The number of articles to display per page in a list is left to the discretion of the webmaster. What matters is using titles and summaries to differentiate the content on category pages from that of ...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do canonical tags really transmit SEO signals like a 301 redirect?
Canonical tags act like 301 redirects to transmit SEO signals and are treated as recommendations indicating which URL should be indexed. This also applies across domains, but all signals must be consi...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How can you make the most of Search Console to optimize your mobile SEO strategy?
In Google Search Console, mobile traffic can be analyzed via Search Analytics, and it is advisable to set up the different mobile sites for each subdomain or mobile domain in the way that best fits yo...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you block JavaScript scripts in your robots.txt?
Blocking JavaScript scripts in the robots.txt file may be inconsequential if these scripts do not contain essential content for indexing. However, if key elements such as links to stores on a map are ...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Are mouseover links truly crawlable by Google?
The way mouseover navigation links are implemented affects their ability to be crawled by Google. If the links are visible once the page loads, there is no issue. However, if the links are generated o...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Can multiple pages really share the same H1 without risking SEO?
Product page titles can be chosen based on what makes the most sense for the user. Google uses these titles to understand the content and relevance of the page, but there is no risk if multiple pages ...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Are category pages really crawled more by Google?
Google automatically adapts the crawling of pages according to their importance and update frequency. Main pages like the homepage and category pages are often crawled more frequently because they are...
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you really rely on 404 errors to clean up Google’s index of orphaned URLs?
Unlinked but still indexed URLs will be gradually re-crawled by Google and removed from the cache if they return a 404 status code....
Aug 24, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
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