Martin Splitt

★★★ Merging two websites: Why doesn’t Google treat this like a standard migration?

Merging two websites into one is not a standard site migration. It involves creating a new site that combines two existing versions, which requires Google to re-crawl numerous pages. The outcome and p...

Aug 27, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ How does Google really transfer signals during a domain migration?

When Google crawls the old site and detects the redirects, it checks that the new site is a one-to-one copy of the old one. If that's the case, signals from the old domain are transferred to the new d...

Aug 27, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ How long does it really take to transfer SEO signals during a migration?

The speed of signal transfer depends on the site's crawl budget, crawl frequency, and the number of external links. This can take anywhere from one day to several weeks depending on these factors. Sit...

Aug 27, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really use Google Search Console's address change tool during a migration?

The address change tool in Search Console explicitly tells Google that a migration is intentional and not temporary or accidental. This additional signal allows Google to reprioritize the crawl, make ...

Aug 27, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Does a migration trigger a quality reevaluation by Google?

Google constantly reevaluates content quality, whether during a migration or not. A site migration does not trigger any special quality reevaluation. Google always assesses content in its current form...

Aug 27, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really roll back after a site migration fails?

Before contemplating a rollback, it’s essential to diagnose the cause of the issue (missing redirects, crawl problems, technical errors). If after a month no improvement is observed, no explanation is...

Aug 27, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you really leave the robots.txt file unchanged during an SEO migration?

Do not change the configuration of the robots.txt file during a migration. If certain URLs were blocked by robots.txt for good reasons before the migration, they must remain blocked after the migratio...

Aug 27, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really avoid changing everything at once during an SEO migration?

You shouldn't take advantage of a migration to simultaneously change multiple elements (URL structure, technology, content). Modifying all variables at the same time makes it impossible to identify th...

Aug 27, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does migrating to a new domain really erase SEO penalties and bad signals?

Migrating to a new domain to evade low-quality content or spammy links does not work. Google continually evaluates content, and low-quality material remains poor regardless of where it’s moved. Some s...

Aug 27, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should You Stop Using the Canonical Tag for Pagination and Redirects?

Rachel Costello and Martin Splitt have published a very interesting video on web page canonicalization and therefore the "canonical" tag. They explain in particular that this tag was created primarily...

Aug 17, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is the canonical tag really just a suggestion for Google?

The canonical tag is not a mandatory directive for Google, but rather a signal among others. Google utilizes multiple signals (content fingerprint, site structure, sitemaps, links) to identify duplica...

Aug 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is using the canonical tag as a redirection sabotaging your crawl budget?

The canonical tag does not replace a redirection. For an out-of-stock product, you should redirect to a relevant similar product for the user, or return a temporary 404. Using a canonical to point to ...

Aug 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Should you really reserve the canonical tag solely for strict content duplication?

Canonicalization should be used exclusively for pages with identical or nearly identical content, not to group pages by theme. Its purpose is to reduce duplication to avoid Google crawling, rendering,...

Aug 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google sometimes change its mind about your canonical URL?

Google does not determine the canonical once and for all. Its algorithms continually evaluate the crawled content to detect changes. If two versions have very close duplication scores (e.g., 0.49 vs 0...

Aug 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does your Search Console data disappear without any apparent reason?

Search Console data is collected and displayed based on the canonical URL chosen by Google. If the canonical switches between two URLs (flapping), reports will appear inconsistent or fragmented, makin...

Aug 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Why does Google sometimes ignore your canonical tag to serve a different URL?

Even if a URL is set as canonical, Google may display a different regional variant based on the user's location. For example, between a German version (.de) and an Austrian version (.at) with the same...

Aug 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★ Should you give up unique content on a canonicalized page?

If Google considers two pages to be nearly identical and canonicalizes one to the other, the unique content present solely on the non-canonical page may be ignored. However, if the content differs suf...

Aug 13, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Does mobile-first indexing really ONLY index the mobile version of your site?

With mobile-first indexing, Google's indexing system examines the mobile page instead of the desktop page to gather information. The page will appear in search results if the information is relevant e...

Aug 06, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Do robots.txt and noindex tags really block mobile indexing on Google?

Do not block mobile pages with robots.txt or noindex tags. Do not use nofollow on mobile pages as it prevents Googlebot from crawling or indexing those pages. If you allow Googlebot to crawl your desk...

Aug 06, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available

★★★ Is it really necessary to display exactly the same content on mobile and desktop to rank well?

Google recommends ensuring that the main content is the same on both desktop and mobile versions. Googlebot will not click on buttons to load additional content. If you intentionally have less content...

Aug 06, 2020 ⚡ Analysis available