John Mueller

★★★ Does the schema markup for reviews really need to be limited to product pages?

For reviews, the schema.org markup must apply to a specific product, without using category or comparative pages, in order to avoid application errors....

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why do some keywords never recover after a Penguin penalty?

After Penguin, if a site continues to lose rankings for its main keywords, it is not significantly affected differently from other words. Consulting the help forums can provide clarifications....

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you manage multiple URLs for the same product without harming your SEO?

For products accessible via multiple URLs, use a 301 redirect to merge pages or the canonical tag if you must maintain several instances for internal navigation reasons....

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really use your Analytics data to rank your site?

Google does not track user conversions via Google Analytics for ranking purposes. User signals such as favorites or conversions are not directly considered in generating a ranking....

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the canonical tag really gather all SEO signals like a link?

The canonical tag is not treated as a link; instead, it enables the combination of signals from individual pages to direct them to the preferred URL, thus helping to treat grouped pages as a single UR...

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is republishing your content on Medium or LinkedIn a strategic mistake or an SEO opportunity?

Republishing your blog content on platforms like Medium or LinkedIn will not penalize your site. However, it may lead to competition where these platforms could rank your content higher than your orig...

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really index your image URLs hosted on a CDN?

If you are using a CDN for images with a URL different from your main domain, it's helpful to verify this CDN in Search Console for appropriate tracking. Adding these URLs to a sitemap can allow Googl...

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really place your sitemap at the root of your domain?

A sitemap file located in a subdirectory is by default valid only for the URLs of that subdirectory. The placement of the sitemap, whether it is in the subdirectory or at the root of the main domain, ...

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do social media links really affect your Google ranking?

Social media services generally use nofollow links, which do not pass PageRank. Thus, these links are not taken into account by Google for page rankings....

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Duplicate Content on Multiple Channels Kill Your Organic Visibility?

Publishing the same content across multiple platforms like eBay or Amazon can lead to competition among your own channels. While it doesn't necessarily have negative impacts, it may harm your website'...

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can RankBrain penalize your site like Panda or Penguin?

RankBrain is used to better understand user queries and does not lead to penalties like Panda or Penguin. Ranking variations due to RankBrain are generally linked to changes in how algorithms assess a...

Sep 20, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do CSS background images really block indexing in Google Images?

For image search indexing, use appropriate image tags instead of CSS background images, which may not be considered....

Sep 09, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Panda really ignore backlinks when assessing quality?

Backlinks are generally not considered in Google's Panda algorithm. Each algorithm uses distinct signals to evaluate the quality of a site....

Sep 09, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really choose between a 404 and a 410 code for SEO?

Google handles both 404 and 410 codes in a similar manner, indicating that the content does not exist. The specific details of these codes matter little for Google’s processing....

Sep 09, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you still use the disavow file in Search Console to reject bad links?

The disavow file in Search Console is the recommended tool for ignoring links from low-quality sites pointing to yours....

Sep 09, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you block your redundant XML Sitemaps via robots.txt to prevent errors?

To avoid overwhelming your site with multiple XML Sitemap files that generate errors, it is recommended to block redundant files via robots.txt....

Sep 09, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really stabilize your URL structure to avoid ranking losses?

Choose a sustainable URL structure that you can maintain long term. Frequently changing the structure can lead to costly reindexing and ranking fluctuations....

Sep 09, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are multi-local pages really viewed as spam by Google?

Creating nearly identical pages for multiple locations by only changing the place name can be seen as gateway content. It is better to consolidate the content to avoid a spammy appearance....

Sep 09, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do interstitials really kill your Google ranking?

Using interstitials that block most content for users is problematic. Google may regard them as a poor user experience and adjust rankings accordingly....

Sep 09, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google always prioritize rel=canonical to choose the indexed version of your pages?

To determine which version of a URL to index, Google uses the rel=canonical tag. Be sure to use it correctly to indicate your preferred version of a page for indexing....

Sep 09, 2016 ⚡ Analysis available