John Mueller

★★★ Should you really delete your disavow file?

Google is actively working to exclude links from hacked sites or auto-generated spam content. If you haven't had a manual action to resolve, you can delete your disavow file and move on to something e...

Jul 04, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you trust PageSpeed Insights or Search Console to measure your site's speed?

There is no absolutely correct figure for speed. PageSpeed Insights uses lab data (estimates based on assumptions), while Search Console uses field data (what users actually experience). Google recomm...

Jul 04, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can you safely list the same URL in multiple sitemap files without harming your SEO?

There is no disadvantage to having the same URL in multiple sitemap files. What matters is that the information is not contradictory (for example, different hreflang annotations or conflicting last-mo...

Jul 04, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is implementing Schema markup through Google Tag Manager really holding back your SEO performance?

Adding structured data via Google Tag Manager is possible and Google can process it normally. However, it is preferable in the long term to have structured data directly on the server or in the page t...

Jul 04, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really expect you to write 'naturally' to rank well?

You can write however you want, in a natural manner. Google's systems try to work with the natural content found on pages. What matters is writing for your target audience (technical vs. general publi...

Jul 04, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does Google really reject the idea of a unified SEO score for ranking?

Google has no concept of an 'SEO score.' There is no global score that evaluates a website as a whole....

Jul 04, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does blocking crawl with robots.txt actually prevent deindexation?

Robots.txt blocks crawling (Google cannot see the page, but the URL can still appear without content). The meta robots noindex tag allows Google to see the page and remove it completely from search re...

Jul 04, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really index all of your website's content?

Googlebot will never index the entire contents of a non-trivial website. From a practical standpoint, it's impossible to index all web content. The objective shouldn't be that everything gets indexed,...

Jul 04, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does a descriptive domain name really guarantee your ranking for that search query?

If your site name is a generic term (like 'BestComputerMouse.com'), that doesn't guarantee your site will appear at the top of results when someone types that term. Google can interpret the query as a...

Jul 04, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is the HSTS preload list really a game-changer for your SEO rankings?

The HSTS preload list has no effect on Google's canonical URL selection. For SEO, what counts is the HTTP to HTTPS redirect and confirmation via sitemap and internal links that the HTTPS version shoul...

Jul 04, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does the noarchive meta tag really prevent Google from caching your pages?

The 'noarchive' meta tag does not block Google's internal archiving of the page (necessary for indexation), but prevents the display of the 'Cached' link in search results. It's a form of snippet cont...

Jun 30, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why Is Google So Reluctant to Develop New Meta Robots Directives?

Google tries to limit the creation of new meta robots tags because they require long-term support commitment, extensive documentation, and complex implementation. They are only created for important a...

Jun 30, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you use individual nofollow attributes or a meta robots nofollow tag to control PageRank distribution?

The meta robots 'nofollow' tag applies to all links on a page, while the nofollow attribute can be applied individually to specific links, particularly for advertising or sponsored links....

Jun 30, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is the meta tag 'none' really the same as using noindex + nofollow together?

The meta robots 'none' tag is a shorthand that is equivalent to using 'noindex' and 'nofollow' simultaneously. This abbreviated syntax was created in the early days of HTML to save characters....

Jun 30, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you block snippets with nosnippet to protect your sensitive content?

The meta tag 'nosnippet' allows you to block the display of excerpts from your page content in search results, while maintaining the title. This can protect sensitive information like secret ingredien...

Jun 30, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ What's the real maximum HTML crawl limit that Googlebot accepts in 2024?

In 2015, John Mueller indicated that Googlebot would not crawl more than 10 MB of source code for a given page. Last week, the online help on this subject (English only) was updated and the figure of ...

Jun 27, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Still Put Keywords in Your Domain Name and Use Hyphens in URLs?

A quick reminder on two well-known points, but things often need to be repeated for the message to get through: John Mueller reiterated on Twitter that the presence of keywords in domain names is larg...

Jun 27, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really stop using Google's URL parameter management tool in Search Console?

Google has deprecated the URL parameter management tool in Search Console. Google's crawling systems have improved significantly, making this tool less critical. Google now recommends using the robots...

Jun 23, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you connect Search Console to Data Studio to boost your SEO performance?

Google published a series of blog articles explaining how to connect Google Search Console to Google Data Studio. This connection allows you to create advanced visualizations such as bubble charts sho...

Jun 23, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are sitemap extension tags still worth your time and effort?

Google announced the discontinuation of several sitemap extension tags, notably image geolocation and video category, starting in August 2022. This does not affect the use of other sitemap data which ...

Jun 23, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available