John Mueller

★★★ Can hreflang and canonical tags really work together without disrupting multilingual indexing?

For a multilingual site with user-generated content in a single language, use hreflang tags to indicate the language of the content. Do not share canonical tags between different languages, as this wo...

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do orphan pages really impact your crawl budget?

Unlinked pages should not negatively affect the crawl of important pages. Google focuses on key pages to ensure that new and essential content is crawled properly....

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do orphan pages remain indexed even without internal links?

If pages are no longer linked after a site restructuring, Google may consider them less important. They will generally remain indexed as long as they contain relevant content, but may be removed from ...

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really wait for Google to automatically reindex your pages after a 404?

Google will attempt to automatically reindex pages that previously returned a 404 error. However, to speed up this process, you can use the indexing submission feature in Search Console for a few page...

Dec 02, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you worry about penalties for improperly used Event markup?

Incorrect use of 'Event' markup to label anything other than actual events can be reported by the anti-spam team and lead to the disabling of rich snippets for that site, but without changing the rank...

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are A/B tests using cookie switching truly free from cloaking penalty risks?

A/B tests involving cookies and User Agents are not considered cloaking if the user experience is not maliciously altered depending on whether Googlebot or a user visits the page....

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is the average position in Search Console misleading your real performance?

The average position in Search Console is based on the actual positions where the page was displayed, even if this includes positions due to personalization. Examining impressions can help understand ...

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really return a 503 during a server migration?

During a short-term server migration, you should return a 503 error code to indicate that the unavailability is temporary. Google will attempt to revisit later without long-term effects on indexing....

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do 301 redirects really enforce the canonical URL to Google?

301 redirect signals are used by Google for canonicalization, but several factors are considered when deciding which URL to display, including canonical tags and internal links....

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really track your JavaScript links?

Google may not follow certain JavaScript links if they are too complex. It's better to use clear <a> tags with visible URLs to ensure that links are tracked and understood by Google....

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should we really be concerned about Google's crawl of deleted 404 pages?

Even deleted pages can be crawled from time to time by Google to check if they are still 404 errors. This long-term process does not pose any problem for the website....

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do AMP pages really get a ranking advantage in Google?

AMP pages do not have a ranking advantage over traditional mobile pages apart from loading speed. They can only be considered as the mobile version if they are correctly linked through separate mobile...

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do bot comments really affect forum rankings?

Google analyzes forums as a whole and attempts to identify main content versus comments. We do not distinguish between comments left by bots or humans in terms of quality/reputation....

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you switch from Microdata to JSON-LD for your structured data?

Google does not plan to ignore Microdata, but the trend shows that new features in structured data are often released in JSON-LD rather than Microdata....

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really use the TITLE attribute for your images?

All you need is an ALT attribute for an image; the TITLE attribute is meant for links. The ALT attribute is crucial as it describes the image and helps it to be indexed correctly....

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do user signals really affect Google rankings?

Using user signals, like bounce rate, to individually assess a page generally makes less sense. However, large-scale user signals can be useful during A/B tests to evaluate the effectiveness of algori...

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does RankBrain really affect rankings or just the understanding of queries?

RankBrain is used to better understand search queries. It does not directly impact rankings, but by having a clearer understanding of the queries, it can enhance the final ranking of search results....

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google rewrite your title tags and how can you stop it?

Our title algorithms attempt to determine a global site title. If the titles are too similar across all pages of a site, it can create confusion. It is recommended to ensure that titles are unique and...

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does Google restore a site's ranking after lifting a manual penalty?

When a site is impacted by manual actions or DMCA, and the issues are fixed, our algorithms take this into account over time, and the site's situation may gradually improve in search results....

Dec 01, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does hreflang really ensure the correct language version appears in Google?

Using the hreflang attribute is essential for indicating linguistic variations of a page. It guides Google in selecting the appropriate page to display based on the user's language....

Nov 29, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available