John at Google Debunks Top SEO Myths For True Version of Events
At Google, John is the Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst and Search Relations Team Lead(Google Search Advocate)
In simple language, you can call john as an insider, who sometimes openly gives some solution to SEO problems. It always gives a hint of improvement.
People openly ask many questions from him on social media platforms like as Reddit, X(Twitter), and Facebook etc. about Website’s SEO but get no- direct answer from him.
We’ve gathered insights from him, to debunk some of the most common myths and give the true version of events that have been reported incorrectly
Does title have any impact on ranking?
According to comment by him in September 2024 on Google Hangout, there is an impact on the ranking of the title tag, but not so much that it can be used for maximum benefit for SEO, hence it is important to pay attention to additional things.
Does Google’s Index API help in ranking?
The Google Indexing API is designed specifically for job posting and livestream content(short period contents) and using the API for other content types typically does not help with ranking or indexing, and misuse could be seen as spam. in February and October 2024, he emphasized that websites trying to use the API for purposes outside of its intended scope often create low-quality content, which doesn’t aid in proper indexing.
Do 404 pages affect rankings?
According to John Mueller, 404 error pages generally do not negatively impact a site’s ranking if they don’t receive traffic or have internal or external links pointing to them. he mentioned that it’s common for 404 errors to appear in Google Search console. if these 404 pages are not crucial, they can often be ignored.
This means that if 404 pages do not spoil the user-experience, then 404 pages will not have any negative impact on the ranking.