John Mueller

★★★ Is it true that you can't use Google My Business reviews in schema?

Including Google My Business reviews in schema markup on your site goes against Google's policies regarding structured data for reviews. Reviews must be collected directly from the website to be prope...

Aug 20, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does combining similar content really strengthen your SEO pages?

Instead of having multiple mediocre pages on similar topics that compete with each other, it’s better to create a single strong page that encompasses all variations. This is especially important in hi...

Aug 20, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you worry about media attachment pages for SEO?

The media attachment pages automatically generated by WordPress (an image with header/footer) are not considered problematic by Google. They do not negatively impact the overall quality of the site as...

Aug 20, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that links to a noindex page can lose their SEO value?

Noindex pages can initially pass link signals, but when the noindex status becomes permanent, Google eventually ignores them completely, and links pointing to these pages no longer convey any value. T...

Aug 20, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do temporarily removed pages really influence the overall SEO quality of a website?

Pages hidden via the temporary removal tool remain indexed and are still taken into account in the overall quality assessment of the website. If they represent a significant portion of the site, they ...

Aug 20, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you choose robots.txt or noindex for your important pages?

Blocking an important page with robots.txt may keep it in the results if it's the most relevant page (e.g., homepage). With noindex, it disappears entirely. For less important pages, robots.txt and no...

Aug 20, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does Google's new removal tool transform your SEO strategy?

The temporary removal tool in Search Console simply hides pages in search results for 6 months, without altering indexing or crawling. Google continues to crawl and reindex the page normally during th...

Aug 20, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does the canonical tag lead to your content vanishing from the index?

When a canonical tag is used to merge pages, Google only indexes the canonical page. The content of the non-canonical page completely disappears from the index and can no longer be found in search, ev...

Aug 20, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why do some high-quality pages fail to attract traffic?

Pages that receive little traffic are not necessarily of poor quality. On certain sites, long-tail pages can be just as useful as main pages; they simply cater to a more niche audience. Google does no...

Aug 20, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google recommend Search Console for diagnosing indexing issues?

Google Search Console is a free tool that website owners can use to gain insights into how Google Search views their site, including the number of pages currently indexed and how they appear in the re...

Aug 17, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why should you rely on Search Console instead of the site: command?

To find out how many pages Google has indexed on your site, you should use Google Search Console rather than the site: query. It is the official and reliable tool to obtain this information....

Aug 17, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it true that the site: command isn't reliable for evaluating indexing?

The number of pages displayed in a site: query doesn't necessarily reflect the actual number of pages indexed by Google. There's no need to worry about the counts shown in a site: query....

Aug 17, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is the site: command really a reliable SEO diagnostic tool?

The site: query is not intended to be comprehensive or used for diagnostic purposes. It limits results to a specific site but does not represent a complete collection of all pages on that site....

Aug 17, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why Isn't Your Site Affected the Same Way by Every Google Core Update?

John Mueller explained during a hangout with webmasters that each "core update" has its own truth and can impact one site or another differently. Also, a site impacted by a core update will not necess...

Aug 16, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Worry About Click Bot Traffic in Search Console?

John Mueller indicated on Twitter that in the "Performance" menu of Search Console, traffic coming from click bots is not necessarily removed. Therefore, there may be "automated" traffic displayed, wh...

Aug 16, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why doesn’t Google remove negative reviews?

Google does not manually remove or lower the ranking of content simply because it contains false information about a site or business, except in critical fields like finance or health. Reputation mana...

Aug 14, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does hreflang really weaken your SEO in competitive markets?

With hreflang, each country URL must be indexed and ranked separately. If you create multiple country versions of the same page in a highly competitive market, it lessens the relative strength of your...

Aug 14, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can Geotargeting Really Boost Your Local SEO?

Geotargeting through Search Console helps with ranking only when Google detects that a user is searching for something local. For global content like movie reviews, geotargeting usually does not provi...

Aug 14, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you redirect malware-infected pages to the homepage after an attack?

After a malware attack that creates thousands of pages, using 404 pages or redirecting to the homepage produces similar results. Redirects to the homepage are treated as soft 404s. The key is to focus...

Aug 14, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Could non-indexing signal a deeper quality issue with your site?

For small sites, if a significant percentage of pages is not indexed, the issue is usually related to the overall quality of the site rather than technical problems. Modern CMSs are technically sound,...

Aug 14, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available