John Mueller

★★★ Can you really sculpt PageRank with internal nofollow links?

Implementing the nofollow attribute on internal links does not allow for PageRank sculpting. Google does not recommend this practice as it undermines the understanding of expected pages in the standar...

Dec 06, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is crawl budget really just a myth created by SEOs?

Google does not have a notion of a 'crawl budget' as people often talk about. For reasonably sized sites, it is not a crucial concept. However, very large or dynamic sites must ensure that their serve...

Dec 06, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does duplicate content really harm your Google rankings?

For Google, duplicate content typically does not degrade rankings. Google handles common duplication cases well, such as HTTP vs HTTPS. However, duplicate content can complicate the crawl of large sit...

Dec 06, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Where can you find Google's official recommendations when blog articles become outdated?

Google's information and recommendations are typically updated in the Help Center, but not always in blog articles. Outdated content may be labeled to indicate that it is no longer valid....

Dec 06, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Google really recommend SEO practices before the algorithm changes?

Google can recommend technical practices in anticipation of future algorithm changes, even if those changes have not yet been implemented. For example, the transition to mobile-first indexing was anno...

Dec 06, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can we really trust Google's official statements about SEO?

John Mueller indicates that it is a myth to believe that Google shares information for its own interests. The technical information conveyed is verified by engineering teams to ensure it truly helps w...

Dec 06, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the Noindex Tag Really Save Google Crawl Budget?

An obvious point but reminded by John Mueller on Twitter: implementing a meta robots "noindex" tag will not save "crawl budget" (time allocated to Googlebot to crawl your site) since, to read this tag...

Dec 05, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ What's the Ideal Page Load Time for Google SEO Rankings?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that an interesting metric for average page display time on a website was to keep this figure below 2 to 3 seconds, using the WebPageTest tool. For our part, we most ...

Dec 05, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is Google really retiring Keyword Planner for relevance analysis?

Google has removed the Keyword Planner tool because it is largely outperformed in terms of accuracy by modern methods for understanding page relevance....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you effectively block malicious or unnecessary dynamic URLs generated by your site?

If your site generates unusual URLs, check for signs of hacking. Block dynamic search result pages in the robots.txt file to prevent the indexing of unnecessary content....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really deindex your past events, or could you risk losing organic traffic?

To prevent old events from appearing in search results, use the noindex tag after the event or the unavailable_after tag to schedule automatic deindexing....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does Google actually detect videos for ranking in universal search?

Google tries to detect videos on pages and may include them in video search results and display them in universal results....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does an URL change cause your rankings to drop for weeks?

Changing the URL structure during a transition can lead to a period of ranking fluctuations as Google relearns the site. Changes must be justifiable to ensure user and navigational integrity....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really wait before restructuring your URLs when transitioning to HTTPS?

Switching from HTTP to HTTPS can help maintain rankings, but it is advisable to avoid changing the URL structure simultaneously to minimize fluctuations....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why should your sitemap URLs match exactly with your internal linking?

It's crucial to have a consistent URL structure and to match the URLs in the sitemaps with those used for internal linking, canonical tags, and hreflang for effective indexing....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really rely on the site: command for indexing audits?

The site: command is optimized for speed rather than accuracy. For precise diagnostics, it is better to use the indexing data in Search Console....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does Google actually decide the crawling frequency of your pages?

Google considers the perceived importance of a page to determine the crawling frequency. Less important or infrequently updated pages may be crawled less often....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does a good Google ranking really indicate quality content?

Being well-ranked in search results does not automatically mean that the content is of high quality. However, a good ranking can indicate a strong perceived relevance....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do keywords in URLs really improve SEO?

Including keywords in URLs is beneficial for usability. However, excessively adding keywords artificially can harm user experience without providing real SEO advantages....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do you really need to mention every exact keyword in your content to rank?

It's not necessary to directly mention every exact keyword in the content to rank well. Google can understand the overall meaning from context and synonyms....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available