John Mueller

★★★ Why Are Mobile-Friendly Reports Not Comprehensive for SEO?

Mobile usability reports, Core Web Vitals, and structured data in Search Console show a sample of URLs. A decrease in the number of valid URLs does not mean that other pages have issues, only that the...

Sep 03, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why is having a single recipe per page essential for SEO?

The schema.org markup for recipes should only be used for a single item per page, not for lists of recipe ideas. Google is working to algorithmically detect these abuses rather than relying on manual ...

Sep 03, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is your news site really optimized for Google's algorithm?

Inclusion in Google News has become primarily algorithmic. Registering with the Google News Publisher Center does not guarantee visibility everywhere; it requires convincing the algorithms of the qual...

Sep 03, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How can you effectively manage website mergers without facing SEO penalties?

When merging websites, there is no penalty for migrating gradually or all at once. For site merges and separations, incremental migration is acceptable, unlike traditional domain changes....

Sep 03, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you avoid 'nofollow' attributes on your own sites?

For links between two sites owned by the same owner, use regular links without the sponsored or nofollow attributes. These links are not regarded as affiliate links by Google....

Sep 03, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you still care about modified titles in search results?

Google continues to use the content of the HTML title tag for ranking, even though the title displayed in search results may be modified by algorithms. Webmasters should not alter their titles to matc...

Sep 03, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do Mobile and Desktop Versions Really Need Identical Content for Mobile First Indexing?

John Mueller explained on Twitter that, to be acceptable in the Mobile First index, the desktop and mobile versions of a page do not need to offer exactly the same content, but must however "fulfill t...

Aug 30, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is manipulating the back button harmful to your SEO strategy?

Manipulating the browser's back button to prevent the user from returning to Google is a terrible practice. The WebSpam team can take action against sites that do this, as it is considered a sneaky re...

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really optimize Core Web Vitals to rank at the top?

Core Web Vitals are part of the Page Experience ranking factor, but they don't replace everything. No site is perfect in all aspects. You can rank well by excelling in certain areas without being perf...

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are post-interaction interstitials really considered acceptable for SEO?

An interstitial shown after significant user interaction (e.g., scrolling to the bottom) may be acceptable. However, a fixed banner is preferable. Watch out for the Cumulative Layout Shift that some i...

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do old 404 errors still influence your SEO rankings?

404 errors on old URLs that Google is still trying to crawl do not affect ranking at all. It's perfectly normal for a site to generate many 404 errors on URLs that no longer exist....

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you still optimize Core Web Vitals once they're in the green?

Once Core Web Vitals are in the green zone according to real user metrics, further improving the scores offers no additional SEO benefits. Being in the green simply ensures the stability of good perfo...

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do blocked pages by robots.txt really impact your site's overall SEO quality?

Indexed but blocked pages by robots.txt are not considered for the overall quality of the site. Google does not know their content, and they do not appear in search results....

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why doesn’t hreflang affect your SEO?

The implementation of hreflang does not impact a website's ranking. It's a technical element for multilingual and multi-regional management, but not a ranking signal....

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google consider platform issues as site problems?

When a technical issue occurs on a hosting platform (Wix, Shopify, etc.), Google views it as a problem with the site itself, not with the platform. Technical problems are generally resolved quickly on...

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does the meta description really influence SEO results?

The length of the meta description does not influence ranking. There is no ideal length to target. Google may use content from the page instead of the meta description, and the snippet can vary depend...

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Are you really adding SEO value by linking to the same page twice?

Adding a second link to a page that is already linked in the main navigation generally does not provide any significant SEO benefit. The anchor text can offer more context if the first one is not desc...

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Is it true that Google won’t allow a meta tag to prevent title rewrites?

Google does not plan to create a meta tag that would allow disabling title rewriting. The issue is expected to be resolved by improving algorithms, not by adding an extra setting, as this need did not...

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are title tags still essential for SEO success?

Title tags still matter for rankings, even though Google sometimes rewrites them. Even when a system rewrites the title, Google still uses the original title tag as a relevance signal for search....

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really use nofollow for promotional links in SEO?

For the initial promotion of content through guest posts or other means, links must be nofollow. This functions like advertising: users can click, but no ranking signals are passed on. If people enjoy...

Aug 28, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available