Google’s John Mueller offers insight into why traffic from Google Discover is likely to be inconsistent from one day to another.

This topic is discussed during the Google Search Central SEO hangout recorded on February 5.

A question is submitted from a site owner concerned about their referral traffic from Google Discover. They say it fluctuates wildly despite no significant changes being made to the site.

Further, the site’s traffic from search results is growing even…

Google’s John Mueller advises site owners that removing all comments from a website may adversely impact search rankings.

Mueller offers this advice during the Google Search Central SEO hangout recorded on February 5.

A question is submitted by a site owner asking whether blog comments are factored into Google’s search rankings. They want to remove comments from their site and ask if that can be done without losing rankings.

The short answers are:

Yes, Google…

To many, URLs are just seemingly inconsequential addresses to webpages. However, how you structure URLs for SEO matters.

They may seem less important than the title and heading elements but URLs can be a powerful tool for achieving SEO success.

Cutts recommended approaching the problem from the point of what a user might prefer.

He stated that the multi-hyphenated version may appear spammy to users.

He then…

This is the most comprehensive tool out there, hands down.

Schema App is my go-to tool when I want to execute, test, manage, and keep up to date with changes and updates in structured data.

They have an awesome library of information that helps with identifying  types and connecting data, popular types, and properties, etc.

Personally, I think Schema App gives you too much information, which can be a bit overwhelming at times.

However, it is still the best schema…

Google is taking new measures to enforce price accuracy between Merchant Center product data and prices shown at checkout.

Google will soon start to take action against sites that show a different price at checkout than the one provided through Google Merchant Center.

It’s Google Merchant Center policy for retailers to maintain consistency between prices provided to Google and prices offered to customers.

Google’s price enforcement efforts previously involved reviewing…

Phrase match will now expand to cover broad match modified instances. Google notes it will “continue to respect word order when it’s important to meaning.”

Advertisers will not have to take any specific action. Performance data will stay where it is, but the new matching behavior will start to take place.

Broad match modified keywords can continue to be added until July. At that point, it’s anticipated the full roll-out will be completed and no new ones will be added. Existing…

Google Analytics will no longer gather new data from YouTube channel pages after deprecating the connection between the two services.

Google Analytics stopped collecting data from YouTube channel pages on February 1, 2021. Historical data will remain accessible but new data will not be tracked.

The ability to establish a link between Google Analytics and YouTube was removed in November of last year. Channels with existing connections to Google Analytics were able to view new…

Microsoft Bing is offering to replace Google should the Code dispute continue to the point where Google revokes services in Australia.

The News Media Bargaining Code, whereby Google and Facebook will be legally obligated to pay news publishers to display their content, resulted in Google Australia’s Managing Director, Mel Silva, threatening to pull services from the country in a Senate hearing on January 22.

Facebook made a similar threat, stating that there was no commercial…

Concentrating on your competitor, and not your own site is a losing situation. Learn the smart strategy to use when competing with bigger websites.

It is possible for David to beat Goliath.

But just like in the old testament, battling Goliath with weapons meant for Goliath may result in a quick death.

Everyone wants to be the best at what they do.

But being the best is subjective.

And in SEO, being the best doesn’t always mean being number one for the most…

Want to be number one in the SERPs? Start with these 3 quick ways to do competitor analysis, complete with SEO tool recommendations. 

No more overtime in the home office: time recording helps you finish your work on time.

As challenges and obstacles to reaching the top of the SERPs and staying there have continued to grow, competitor analysis has become more important than ever.

Although Google webmaster guidelines haven’t changed much over the years, the core algorithm…

WordPress.org issued a statement to plugin developers to respect user decisions on automatic updates. The reminder comes after the publishers of the All in One SEO Plugin turned on automatic updates without asking for permission.

The statement warned that those who violate users express wishes with regard to automatic updates will continue to be flagged by WordPress.org.

Automatic updates are a feature in the WordPress content management system (CMS) that empowers a user to…

Use this 10-step process to identify why your organic search rankings have dropped so you can resolve issues and get your SEO back on track.

It’s an SEO horror story – your rankings have dropped.

Maybe it’s just a few high ranking pages, or maybe it’s a massive plunge across the board.

But either way, your rankings have dropped, and your traffic is down.

What do you do now?

Fluctuations are inevitable (after all, as Google reminds us, they make updates…

Google’s John Mueller shares SEO best practices to follow when cleaning up, and recovering from, site hacks.

Mueller provided this advice on Reddit in response to a thread from a site owner dealing with thousands of hacker-injected web pages.

The site owner begins by asking whether it’s best to 404 or 410 the hacked pages, to which Mueller replies: “It doesn’t matter. The different is mostly theoretical.”

In a follow-up comment the site owner asks if there’s anything…

Google is sharing insights about trending searches in Google Maps, a rare set of search data which may assist local marketers.

Local search data for the month of January traditionally offers a look into peoples’ New Year’s resolution plans, with searches for gyms, healthy restaurants, winter vacations, and various forms of self improvement spiking during this month.

Unique to January 2021, this set of Google Maps search data offers a look into what people are doing when they…

Since 2017, there has been little in terms of new ML technology from Yandex.

However, at the end of 2020, Yandex launched a new ranking algorithm based on transforming neural networks called YATI: Yet Another Transformer with Improvements.

It may not be poetic, but YATI has been hailed as the most significant and impactful change that Yandex has made to its search ranking algorithms since the introduction of MatrixNet in 2009.

As with all new search engine advancements,…

As Google continues to dominate in terms of search engine marketshare, website owners are constantly seeking new ways to bring traffic from there to their own sites, as well.

Getting listed in Google News is a fantastic way to earn more attention for your content, thanks to the increased visibility Google gives top stories.

In the past, there were several steps to being considered for listing in Google News.

Late in 2019, however, Google changed its policy and removed…

Google’s John Mueller says identical content published in different formats, such as a video and a blog post, is not considered duplicate content.

Site owners can safely repurpose a video as an article, for example, without concern about Google seeing the two pieces of content as the same.

It’s even possible that duplicate content isn’t as great of a issue as site owners and SEOs make it out to be, Mueller explains.

This topic came up during the Google Search Central…

Google published a blog post (and a video) with a guideline statement meant to discourage using the Web Stories format for the purpose of traffic acquisition.

The article and the video note that there are growing amount of articles recommending the use of Web Stories as a teaser, a way to encourage visitors to click through and visit the website.

According to Google, this use of the Web Stories format presents a poor user experience. Google relates that they have received…

Google’s John Mueller answered a question about throttling traffic to sites displayed in . Many publishers have over the years suspected that Google puts a limit on how much traffic some sites receive.

The question was about Google Discover, a feature in Android where Google will show sites of interest to users on a mobile phone.

So, with Google Discover, if a person enjoys bicycling, Google may begin showing articles in the Google Discover feed about…

A content gap analysis helps identify missed opportunities in your SEO strategy. Learn to analyze your content and improve your SEO.

One of the most common questions I get regarding content marketing is “How do I know what to write about?”

Looking to  is one way to determine which topics to tackle on your website.

But how do you know if you are missing out on other, more lucrative opportunities?

Conducting a content gap analysis is a smart way to find the “gaps”…