Topic: john mueller
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Google's Mueller Slams 'Stupid' Markdown-for-Bots Proposal
Google's John Mueller strongly opposes serving raw Markdown files to AI crawlers, arguing it's a flawed approach that could harm a site's visibility and structure instead of optimizing it. The proposal involves detecting AI bots to serve simplified Markdown, but critics warn it strips crucial sem...
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Fix Hidden HTTP Pages Hurting Your Google Rankings
A hidden HTTP homepage can be indexed by Googlebot instead of the intended HTTPS version, leading to incorrect site names and favicons in search results due to faulty signals. To diagnose the issue, manually inspect the HTTP version using tools like the command line `curl` command or Google Searc...
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Google Search Console: AI Overviews & Blue Links Count as One Impression
Google Search Console counts a single impression when the same URL appears in both an AI Overview and the standard organic results on the same page, consolidating multiple appearances. This logic is consistent with how Google treats other SERP features like knowledge panels, counting user exposur...
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Fix Google's Phantom Noindex Errors in Search Console
Google Search Console can report misleading "phantom noindex" errors because a hidden noindex directive is sometimes selectively served only to Google's crawler, not to users checking the page source. A frequent cause is server-side caching, where an old cached version with a noindex tag is deliv...
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Google: Sitemap Uploads Don't Ensure Instant Crawling
Submitting a sitemap to Google Search Console does not ensure immediate crawling or indexing, as Google processes it based on its own priorities and schedule. Only the main sitemap.xml file needs to be submitted, as it references all subsidiary sitemaps, making individual submissions unnecessary....
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Google's Mueller: Fixing 'Page Indexed Without Content' Error
The "Page Indexed without content" error in Google Search Console is typically caused by a server or CDN blocking Googlebot's access, not by JavaScript, and is often invisible in standard tests. This IP-based blockage, frequently from security rules or automatic CDN updates, can cause rankings to...
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Cloudflare Outage: How 5xx Errors Impact Your SEO
Cloudflare outages can cause temporary 5xx server errors, which primarily affect search engine crawling but rarely lead to immediate ranking drops if resolved quickly. Google treats temporary 5xx errors by slowing down crawling temporarily, and only prolonged errors risk de-indexing, with normal ...
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Google & Bing: Skip Separate LLM Markdown Pages
Search engines like Google and Bing strongly discourage creating separate markdown pages for LLMs, warning it could be seen as cloaking and lead to penalties. Google's John Mueller and Bing's Fabrice Canel argue that LLMs can parse standard HTML and that maintaining separate pages is inefficient ...
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Google Cuts Search Features: Practice Problems, Nutrition & More
Google is removing lesser-used search features and structured data types to simplify search pages and improve result speed, continuing efforts from previous cuts. Specific examples of features being eliminated include the "Today’s Doodle" box, nutrition facts, and local events, though the full li...
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Google's Mueller: SEO vs. GEO? Focus on User Behavior
Google's John Mueller emphasizes that user behavior and measurable metrics are more important than labels like SEO or the newer concept of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). He advises businesses to analyze their data to see which channels their customers actually use, as AI is a permanent par...
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Google's Unannounced Core Updates: What You Need to Know
Google has officially confirmed it regularly implements smaller, unannounced core algorithm updates alongside major publicized ones, allowing improved content to gain rankings at any time. These continuous, subtle adjustments are not broadly announced because their effects are typically limited, ...
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Google's Mueller: SEO vs. GEO Debate Explained
Google's John Mueller advises businesses to analyze their own traffic data to determine if AI tools like ChatGPT are a significant referral source before shifting strategies. The discussion around "Generative Engine Optimization" (GEO) is reframed as a practical resource allocation issue, not jus...
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