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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★★★ What's Google's HTML Code Size Limit for Indexing?
John Mueller reminded us, also on Twitter, that the size of a web page's source code indexed by Google had a limit in terms of weight, but that it was very high: "We don't have a documented limit, the...
Jan 03, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does Google really favor sequential links or multiple pages for SEO pagination?
There is no better or worse approach for pagination (sequential links vs multiple pages). Google treats pagination like normal links between pages. Sequential pagination reinforces the first page, whi...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google really index hidden text in your HTML code?
If text is present in the HTML code but visually hidden from users, Google can still index it and use it. However, this is not an intentional good practice. Text intended for indexing should be visibl...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is it really necessary to disable geotargeting in Search Console for an international site?
The geotargeting setting in Search Console can affect SEO. If enabled for a specific country, it prioritizes that country and slightly reduces visibility in other countries. For an international news ...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is duplicate content on product pages really harmless for your SEO?
Google does not penalize a site for duplicate content on product descriptions. If the same text appears on multiple pages, Google will simply display one or two of those pages. However, it is essentia...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does Googlebot really ignore all browser permissions when crawling?
When rendering pages, Googlebot ignores and does not accept browser permission dialogs (geolocation, pop-ups, etc.). If the content depends on permission acceptance, it will not be accessible to the b...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you implement your SEO optimizations all at once instead of gradually?
Significant quality changes on a website take a long time to be detected by Google. Expect several months, not just a few days. Therefore, it is recommended to make substantial qualitative improvement...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Does Google really assign an EAT score to your website?
Google does not assign an EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) score to websites. There is no EAT metric that could increase or decrease. Author pages can be no-indexed without affectin...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is the Page Experience score really essential for making it into Top Stories?
To appear in Top Stories, Google uses the Page Experience score as a ranking factor. Only pages with a very good Page Experience score can appear in this section. This is not automatic even with good ...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should You Really Use Google's Indexing API to Speed Up Your Content Indexing?
Google's Indexing API is designed for job listing content, not for news sites. It has limitations on the number of URLs. While it may speed up crawling, it does not affect the indexing of news article...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ No Google cache on my page: Should I be worried about my indexing?
It is normal for an indexed page not to have a cached version available in search results. Cached pages are managed separately from indexing. The absence of a cache does not indicate a problem and is ...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you prefer rel=canonical over user-agent redirects for unindexed pages?
For unindexed pages receiving external links, it is better to use the rel canonical tag instead of specific 301 redirects for Googlebot. User-agent redirects are technically acceptable but more comple...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should you be concerned about Core Web Vitals measured exclusively on Chrome?
The Page Experience and Core Web Vitals data in Search Console come solely from the Chrome User Experience Report, representing a subset of Chrome users with specific settings enabled. There is no ext...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can Poor Translations Harm Your Entire Multilingual Site?
Google evaluates the overall quality of a site. If significant portions are of low quality (like poor translations), this can negatively affect the entire site, including high-quality language version...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you translate all your pages or focus your efforts on the most strategic ones?
When evaluating overall quality, Google focuses more on important pages that generate significant traffic rather than counting all pages. Therefore, it is recommended to prioritize translation quality...
Dec 31, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Google Analytics 4 Really Influence Your Site's Search Rankings?
John Mueller reminded us (once again) on Twitter that Google does not use data provided by Google Analytics (and GA4 in particular) as a relevance criterion for its search engine algorithm....
Dec 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can You Really Mix Multiple Languages on the Same Site Without Hurting Your SEO?
John Mueller reminded us that Google analyzes the language used in content at the web page level rather than at the broader site level. You can therefore offer pages in English, pages in French, and p...
Dec 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Can Safe Search really stop your adult site from ranking for your own brand?
Safe Search algorithms can prevent some adult sites from ranking on generic queries, even if it is the name of their brand, when users do not expect that type of content. Google does not consider this...
Dec 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Can you really link multiple sites in the footer without risking your SEO?
Linking multiple sites from the same owner in the footer is acceptable if they are significantly different and kept to a reasonable number (5-10 maximum). Beyond hundreds of sites, it resembles doorwa...
Dec 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should you really block all internal search URLs in robots.txt?
The URLs generated by the site's internal search should generally not be indexed. They should be blocked with robots.txt to avoid an infinite space of URLs and to prevent spam. This does not provide a...
Dec 24, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
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