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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🕒 ~1 min 🎯 5 questions
★★★ Does Google really adjust individual search results by hand?
In practice, it doesn't make sense to manually adjust search results. The web is enormous and constantly evolving, and users are asking new questions every day....
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How does Google prioritize SEO issues based on urgency?
Google prioritizes reported issues in various ways. Some things need to be addressed as soon as possible, while others can wait until Google works on a specific part of its systems again....
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How Can You Effectively Report an SEO Issue to Google?
When reporting an issue, it is crucial to facilitate the recognition of the scale and scope of the problem. Provide at least one common query that many users might use, highlighting the issue as clear...
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Could reporting problematic content on Twitter actually enhance your SEO?
If something is highly problematic (objectively incorrect, misleading, offensive, or inappropriate), it might be helpful to report it to the public Google accounts on social media like Twitter for a s...
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How can the Google Search Help Forum enhance your SEO audits?
There is a community help forum for Google Search where you can submit issues for experts to verify. Experts can escalate discussions to Google if necessary....
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How can the Google Feedback link change the way you approach SEO?
The most straightforward way to give feedback on search is to use the Feedback link at the bottom of search result pages. This feedback goes directly to a Google team for review, organization, and pri...
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How does Google prioritize user feedback for SEO?
Google Search receives an enormous amount of user feedback. It can sometimes be challenging to prioritize them. It's more about identifying critical areas for improvement and concentrating on those....
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How Can Listening to Users Transform Your SEO Strategy?
Any website that cares about its users in the long run should monitor feedback and work on improvements over time. Users can help identify problems early on and guide towards new opportunities....
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Should You Block Your Empty Results Pages to Avoid Soft 404 Errors?
John Mueller indicated on Twitter that "no results" pages on a website can be flagged as Soft 404......
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Can Core Updates Make Your PAA and Featured Snippet Rankings Disappear?
John Mueller explained during a webmaster hangout that Google's "core updates" could impact the frequency of PAA (People Also Ask) appearances in the SERPs. Sometimes they may appear more often follow...
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Does Dedicated Hosting Really Improve Your SEO?
John Mueller indicated in a video that having your site hosted on a dedicated server (non-shared) had no impact in terms of SEO. And he added that, conversely, "using shared hosting is perfectly accep...
Jul 27, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Should You Focus on Profitable Products in Your Internal Linking Strategy?
For internal linking, focus on the most profitable, popular, or easy-to-sell products rather than those that rank poorly. Strong and targeted internal linking can improve the ranking of these product ...
Jul 23, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is selective internal linking more effective than a massive approach for SEO?
Linking from a strong page to too many products dilutes value ('everything is somewhat relevant, but nothing is truly relevant'). It's better to create targeted internal links to a few key products to...
Jul 23, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ How can you leverage free Google Shopping to boost your product visibility?
Setting up the free Google Shopping feed (Merchant Center) allows products to be displayed in Shopping results and sometimes in regular search results, providing additional visibility beyond tradition...
Jul 23, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How can you effectively optimize your pages for 'near me' searches without complicating your strategy?
For queries including 'near me', there's no need to optimize for this specific term. Google uses a geographic distance algorithm. The key is to have your location clearly defined on your pages and in ...
Jul 23, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How does Google My Business enhance your local SEO efforts?
For local services or businesses, having a strong and complete Google My Business profile is crucial. It facilitates visibility in local results and 'near me' queries, often more effectively than trad...
Jul 23, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Is it true that Google treats product pages and articles the same in SEO?
Google does not treat product/service pages differently from blog articles in terms of SEO. The approach is the same: understanding the content, evaluating its relevance, and ranking it accordingly....
Jul 23, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★ Is it true that Google ignores certain lang attributes in your templates?
Copied-pasted or automatically installed templates often contain incorrectly predefined lang attributes (e.g., lang='en' on a French site). As a result, Google ignores this attribute and relies on the...
Jul 23, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ Is it true that the HTML lang attribute doesn’t matter for SEO?
The lang attribute in HTML is not used by Google for ranking purposes. Google determines the primary language of a page by analyzing its actual content. Nevertheless, this attribute is important for a...
Jul 23, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
★★★ How does the Search Console's URL Inspection Tool change the game for SEO?
The URL Inspection Tool in Search Console is the best way to verify if Googlebot is rendering a page correctly. It provides a screenshot and the rendered HTML. The production Search rendering is nearl...
Jul 23, 2021 ⚡ Analysis available
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