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 does Google really choose which canonical URL to index?
Google uses several signals to determine which URL is canonical, including redirects, meta rel=canonical tags, internal links, XML sitemaps, and external links. It is important that this information i...
Jun 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Googlebot really see all the JavaScript content on your site?
Googlebot is capable of rendering pages like a normal browser, which allows it to see content generated via JavaScript. However, if essential content is hidden by default or not loaded during the init...
Jun 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How many consecutive redirects can Google actually follow before giving up?
Google can manage up to five successive redirects before halting the crawl and indexing the relevant pages. While two or three redirects do not prevent indexing, they can slow down user response time....
Jun 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Why are some pages crawled daily while others are ignored for weeks?
The frequency of recrawling and reindexing of pages by Google varies according to the URLs. Some pages may be rescanned daily, while others are less frequently visited. Having a recently added hreflan...
Jun 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can a former domain name truly revive your SEO?
Google views new sites on old domains as distinct sites. Abandoned domains from former businesses will not benefit from the historical signals associated with the old site. Similarly, keeping control ...
Jun 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do algorithm updates really impact all websites equally?
Google regularly updates its search algorithm to enhance relevance and the quality of content shown to users. These updates do not specifically target e-commerce sites. Websites need to focus on impro...
Jun 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does unindexed low-quality content really affect your site's ranking?
Google focuses on indexed content and does not consider pages that are not indexed. If you have low-quality content on a site, it's recommended to improve its quality or use a noindex tag temporarily ...
Jun 30, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you worry about redirect chains longer than five hops?
Google follows redirect chains up to five redirects at a time. Use rel=canonical and ensure that the redirect structure is clear to avoid misinterpretations....
Jun 29, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why does Google overlook robots.txt files located in subdirectories?
Google only reads the robots.txt file from the root directory of a domain or subdomain. Robots files in subdirectories are not considered....
Jun 29, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Is the SameAs Schema truly beneficial for SEO, or is it just about social profiles?
You can use the 'SameAs' property to link social media profiles and other relevant sites to your entity on the website. Currently, Google mainly uses it for social profiles....
Jun 29, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Do duplicate press releases really harm your SEO performance?
If press releases are repeated across multiple sites, this can lead to content competition in search. However, there is no manual penalty associated with this, but users may find the same information ...
Jun 29, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Do session IDs in your URLs harm your SEO?
It's best to avoid using session identifiers in URLs because it complicates indexing and tracking by Google's tools. Use cookies to store sessions if possible....
Jun 29, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really set all widget links to nofollow?
It is recommended to use the 'nofollow' attribute on links embedded through widgets, especially if they are widely distributed, to avoid indicating an artificial link between sites....
Jun 29, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does PageSpeed Insights truly reflect Google's ranking criteria?
PageSpeed Insights and Test My Site are two tools for measuring a site's speed, but Google uses its own metrics to assess website speed in search rankings. Focus on speed to provide a better user expe...
Jun 29, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you limit the number of internal links displayed simultaneously on a page?
When using sliders with numerous links, ensure that you do not include all of them at once to avoid complicating Google's understanding of the context. Study how users interact with various navigation...
Jun 29, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can intrusive ads really hurt your rankings in SERPs?
If your site quickly replaces its content with ad interstitials, it can harm user experience and potentially affect your rankings. Ensure that the content is easily accessible for users without overwh...
Jun 29, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Why does Google sometimes overlook the main image in your articles?
When including images in articles, Google can use images from the sidebar instead of the main image. Ensure that the images are well-positioned and clearly identifiable....
Jun 29, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really use rel-alternate to link your AMP pages to their canonical version?
For AMP pages, it is necessary to use the rel-alternate tag so that we can establish the link between the AMP page and the canonical version of the page....
Jun 27, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should all product variations be grouped under a single canonical URL?
When there are multiple variations of a product, such as different colors, it is recommended to use canonical pages that take all variations into account to avoid losing this information during indexi...
Jun 27, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you point product variants to a single page or each individual variation with rel canonical?
The role of the rel canonical element is to consolidate duplicate content. Product variations such as color should ideally point to a canonical page that summarizes all the available options for that ...
Jun 27, 2017 ⚡ Analysis available
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