Lizzi Sassman

★★ Why is Google's SEO Starter Guide absolutely crushing it with users?

The SEO Starter Guide is the most visited page on Google Search Central after the homepage and the former Structured Data Testing Tool page. It achieves a 91% satisfaction rate, well above the 75% bas...

Jan 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really change your domain name to boost your SEO rankings?

Unless you have a truly terrible domain name, it's generally not worth migrating to a new domain for SEO reasons. The impact of your domain name on rankings is minimal....

Jan 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you ditch optimized HTML templates in favor of unique content?

There is no perfect HTML template that works for all websites. Google recommends creating unique content rather than trying to follow a standardized page structure....

Jan 25, 2024 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Can you use third-party reviews to power product rich results on Google?

For products, it is acceptable to use review data and ratings from third parties for rich results. The reviews must be visible on the page and relevant to the specific product, not to a generic produc...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really redirect all your 404 errors to your homepage?

Redirecting deleted old pages to your homepage depends on the content. You need to ask yourself whether this would make sense for the user or if it would be confusing. 404 errors are normal on the int...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does Google really treat 308 and 301 redirects the exact same way?

Google treats 308 and 301 status codes identically. Both mean permanent relocation. Googlebot treats 308 as fully equivalent to 301, and these codes are strong signals that the redirect should be cano...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does a zero review count hurt your product page's search rankings?

It's not a problem if the review count is zero—it's completely normal for new product pages that don't have reviews yet. This property is often empty and set to 0 initially. It simply means there's no...

Apr 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ What does Google really consider a prominent video, and why does it matter for your search rankings?

A video is considered prominent if it's visible when the page loads (above the fold) and properly sized (neither too small nor too large). The error in Search Console may be intentional depending on y...

Mar 09, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Why does Google insist on isolating site migrations from any other redesign work?

When migrating a large number of pages to another site, you must minimize error risks by isolating this change. Do not make other major modifications such as a redesign or restructuring. Redirect all ...

Mar 09, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you consolidate all hreflang annotations in one sitemap or split them by language?

Hreflang annotations can be read and understood across multiple sitemaps, or consolidated by language within the same sitemap. Both approaches work; choose the one that's easiest to manage based on yo...

Mar 09, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Strong vs Bold: Does Google really make a difference between these two tags?

The strong and b tags both specify that text is important, but they are not identical. The strong tag should be used for elements that are intensely important, urgent or serious (such as a warning). S...

Mar 09, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you use hreflang 'de' or 'de-de' to target German speakers?

For hreflang annotations, using 'de' (without country) or 'de-de' depends on your objectives. Use simply 'de' if you accept that users from all German-speaking countries (Switzerland, Austria) access ...

Mar 09, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does nesting your structured data really help Google understand what your page is actually about?

Nesting structured data helps Google understand the main focus of your page. For example, placing a review nested within a recipe clearly indicates that the page is primarily a recipe. Always verify t...

Mar 09, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really prioritize alt text over OCR for extracting text from images?

While Google can extract text from images via OCR, it is preferable to provide this information through the alt attribute. This helps screen readers and allows you to better explain how the image rela...

Mar 09, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does a properly executed SEO migration really guarantee zero traffic loss?

If a migration is executed correctly with appropriate redirections, there should theoretically be no traffic loss, as it is simply a matter of redirecting one URL to another....

Feb 23, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really remove meta keyword tags from your website?

Meta keyword tags do not help with SEO. Google stopped using them long ago, as explained in a 2009 blog post....

Jan 31, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Are FAQ accordions hurting your SEO? Here's what Google really thinks

Google advises against placing critical information in expandable elements (accordions/zippies) because users may overlook them. Additionally, the page search function cannot find hidden text until th...

Jan 12, 2023 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Can Google really crawl links in dropdown menus on hover?

Google can follow links in a menu that appears on mouse hover. The menu must remain visible in the HTML and the links must be crawlable, meaning they must be A tags with an HREF attribute....

Dec 29, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you use a person or organization as your article author for SEO purposes?

It is perfectly acceptable to list an organization as the author of an article. You can specify either an organization or a person as the author in structured markup. Both are acceptable....

Dec 29, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Do you really need to align URL, title, and H1 to rank in SEO?

The URL, page title, and H1 tag don't need to be exactly identical. There will likely be some overlap in the words used, but it doesn't need to be a word-for-word match....

Dec 29, 2022 ⚡ Analysis available