Google’s John Mueller has become famous for one answer: “It depends.” Every time someone asks him a definitive SEO question, that’s what they get. And honestly? He’s right.
This is the real gap between beginner SEO and expert SEO. Beginners look for rules. Experts understand when those rules apply and when they don’t.
Why “It Depends” Is Actually the Most Honest SEO Answer
We laugh at Mueller’s non-answer. But it’s not a cop-out. It’s an admission that our industry doesn’t have universal truths. Every major SEO question has conditions attached to it. Does affordable SEO services work? Sure but what they work for depends entirely on your website, industry, and competitors.
Most SEO advice gets packaged as one-size-fits-all. Do meta titles matter? Yes. Is internal linking good? Yes. Is duplicate content bad? Yes. But try to list every SEO question with a single, clear answer, and the list gets short fast.
That’s the real challenge of modern SEO. We work in an environment shaped by evolving algorithms, different platforms, and shifting user behavior. What works for an ecommerce site doesn’t work the same way for a news publisher. What works for a new brand doesn’t work the same way for an established one.
Schema Markup: A Real Example of “It Depends”
Let’s use schema as an example. Mueller once replied to a Reddit question about schema importance with: “This question will stick with us for the next year and longer, and the short answer is yes, no, and it depends.”
Why? Because the answer genuinely changes based on your situation:
- For ranking signals? Schema doesn’t directly boost rankings in most cases.
- For rich results? Schema is essential you can’t get featured snippets, product ratings, or pricing info without it.
- For ecommerce? Schema is nearly mandatory if you want product snippets and star ratings to show in search results.
- For news publishers? Schema is highly recommended if you want to appear in Top Stories or Google Discover.
- For AI and LLMs? Structured data helps systems like Bing’s understand your content more clearly.
Same question. Five different answers. All correct. That’s the reality of SEO in 2025.
Domain Age: Does It Matter or Not?
Here’s another Mueller moment. Someone asked if a one-year-old website can outrank an older site. His response: “I think I’m trying to say ‘it depends’?”
Is domain age a direct ranking factor? No. Can a newer website outrank an older one? Absolutely. But it depends on:
- Content quality: is the newer site producing better material?
- Search intent: is it targeting underserved keywords with less competition?
- Brand presence: does it have stronger visibility on social channels or in media?
- Backlink profile: are high-authority sites linking to it?
- User behavior: are people spending time on it and coming back?
Too many moving parts exist to give a universal answer. That’s exactly the point.
The 404 Trap: When the “Right Answer” Changes
Technical SEO checklists always mention 404s. Fix them, right? But here’s the thing: 404s don’t automatically hurt your search performance. Google understands that pages retire naturally. Products go out of stock. Articles get deleted. Content evolves. A 404 status code by itself isn’t a penalty trigger.
So should you ignore them? Sometimes, yes. A website with millions of pages that has ten 404s? Not a priority. Your dev team has better things to do.
But then the context shifts. What if those 404 URLs have valuable backlinks pointing to them? What if they’re heavily linked internally? What if you’re a news site and those 404 pages rank for time-sensitive keywords instead of your live content?
Now the answer changes completely. Suddenly those 404s matter a lot.
To handle this properly, you need to ask:
- How many 404s exist?
- Did they appear suddenly or gradually?
- Do they have backlinks?
- Are they indexed in Google?
- Are users hitting them?
- What’s the cost of fixing them versus other tasks?
Answer those questions, and your next move becomes clear. Skip the questions, and you’ll make the wrong call.
SEO vs. GEO: The 2025 Debate
One of the biggest arguments heading into 2025 is whether SEO and GEO (generative engine optimization) are the same thing. The real answer? It depends on what you’re comparing.
Core tactics overlap significantly. Both care about content quality, structured data, entity relationships, internal linking, and bot accessibility. If you’re talking about those fundamentals, there’s huge overlap.
But the platforms work differently. Traditional search engines like Google retrieve and rank existing documents. Generative systems like ChatGPT retrieve information, synthesize it, and generate new responses. Those mechanics are different enough that the optimization approach changes.
So do you still need SEO if you’re also optimizing for AI systems? Yes, no, and it depends are all correct answers because the context determines everything.
What Separates Good SEOs from Great Ones
The real skill in SEO isn’t memorizing a checklist or knowing every best practice. Every tool vendor has checklists now. That’s easy.
The actual skill is knowing when different things apply. It’s understanding:
- Which factors matter for this specific situation
- Which tactics are actual leverage points for this business model
- Which platform you’re optimizing for
- What your technical backend looks like
- Who your competitors are and what they’re doing
- Where your audience actually searches
Saying “it depends” means you actually understand the question deeply enough to know it doesn’t have one answer. You’re not reciting a rule. You’re thinking through context.
In an industry shaped by algorithm changes, multiple platforms, and constantly shifting user behavior, that thinking is foundational. It’s not a cop-out. It’s expertise.
FAQs
Does schema markup help with Google rankings?
Not directly. Schema doesn’t boost your ranking position in most cases. But it’s essential for rich results eligibility product snippets, review stars, pricing info, and news features all require schema. So it matters, but in a different way than you might think.
Can a new website rank faster than an old one?
Yes, absolutely. Domain age isn’t a direct ranking factor. If your site has better content, stronger branding, and targets underserved keywords, it can outrank older competitors. The key is what you build, not how long you’ve owned the domain.
Should I fix all my 404 errors?
Not necessarily. If you have thousands of 404s, prioritize ones with backlinks, internal links, or ranking keywords. A handful of 404s on a massive site isn’t worth engineering resources. Focus on the 404s actually hurting visibility or user experience.
Is SEO dying because of AI and ChatGPT?
No, but it’s evolving. SEO fundamentals like content quality and structure still matter for both search engines and AI systems. You may need to optimize for both Google and generative AI, but they share enough core principles that you’re not starting from scratch.
What’s the most important SEO factor in 2025?
It depends on your website, industry, and audience. For ecommerce, technical SEO and product data matter most. For content sites, topical authority and backlinks matter most. For news publishers, freshness and structured data matter most. Start with what actually drives traffic to your site.
