Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Evan Carmichael Top Header about About Home Profiles articles Tools forums inspirational quotes About facebook Twitter YouTube Blog
Share for a Cause











What Google Wants You to Do On Your Web Site

Guest post by: Gihan Perera

Article Overview: Google recently released a list of 23 guidelines for Web site owners, to help them build Google-friendly Web pages. These aren't Google's exact rules (which would be too complex to explain anyway), but they are probably the most specific guidelines Google has ever given to Web site owners.

Free Download - Who the heck are YOU, anyway? By Gihan Perera
Name: Email:

What Google Wants You to Do On Your Web Site

As you can imagine, everybody wants to know the rules Google uses to rank Web sites. But - as you can also imagine - Google is very careful not to disclose these rules, because it makes it easier for unscrupulous Web site owners to unfairly exploit them. So it's always been a matter of marketers trying to guess what Google wants.

Until now.

Google recently released a list of 23 guidelines for Web site owners, to help them build Google-friendly Web pages. These aren't Google's exact rules (which would be too complex to explain anyway), but they are probably the most specific guidelines Google has ever given to Web site owners.

The nice thing is that, even if your Web site isn't based on getting tons of Google traffic, these guidelines are still useful. Why? Because Google's biggest piece of advice is this:

"... focus on delivering the best possible user experience on your websites, not on what you think are Google’s current ranking algorithms."
So with that in mind, let's look at Google's guidelines ...

I've grouped them into three categories, omitted a few that aren't relevant to most of us, and slightly re-worded them so you can use them as a checklist.

High-Quality Content
  1. Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
  2. Does the page provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
  3. Does this page provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
  4. Does this page contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
  5. Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
  6. Would you expect to see this material in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
  7. Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site (not just created by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines)?
Trusted Authority
  1. Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well?
  2. Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
  3. Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
  4. Would you trust the information presented in this article?
Presentation
  1. Has the page been checked for spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
  2. Was the page edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
  3. Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail?
  4. Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
How does your site stack up? As you can see, Google's guidelines are about the content of your pages, not about META tags, incoming links, keyword density, URL naming, and the other "tricks" you sometimes hear about from search engine marketing "experts". This should be music to your ears! Google is telling you not to worry about all those tricks and gimmicks. Instead, focus on writing high-quality content that positions you as an authority.

If you're truly an expert, authority or thought leader - that's a cinch!

Related Articles
  Does a Domain Name Help with Higher Rankings?
  How to Get Indexed By Google
  Google AdWords - 4 Factors That Determine How Much Money You Make (Or Lose)
  How Google Indexes Your Site
  Google Adsense and How It Works
  SEO - How Important is Your Google Page Rank?
  The SEO Halo Effect
  Pros And Cons Of Setting Up A Free Website On Google
  Getting Into Google News
  ••••••> Using Local Search to Get Top 10 Rankings on Google and Yahoo
  Create a Sitemap to Get your Site Indexed
  SEO: How To Avoid Your Website Being Canned In The Google Supplemental Results
  Site Speed
  How To Easily Improve Your Google Rankings
  Google Primer: 10 things you need to know (Part 1)
  Submit your Website to the SEO's
  How to Get Listed in Yahoo and Google
  The Insider Secrets to Google
  Why Is Google So Important
  How Does Google Search Engine Works?

Home > Small-Business-Consulting > Gihan Perera > What Google Wants You to Do On Your Web Site >
Article Tags: getting traffic, google, internet marketing, SEO

About the Author: Gihan Perera
RSS for Gihan's articles - Visit Gihan's website

I'm an Internet coach for speakers, trainers, thought leaders and other business professionals. Business owners often ask me what to do about the Internet. They know it's important, they know it's affecting their business, but they don't know how - and they don't know what to do about it. I'm an author, speaker, trainer and consultant. Since 1997, I've worked with leading thought leaders, change agents and entrepreneurs, helping them reach more people and leverage their expertise, on and off the Internet.

Click here to visit Gihan's website
Dashed Line

More from Gihan Perera
Make It Easy for Web Site Visitors to Take Action
A Webcast Vs a Webinar
Are You Trying to Use NewStyle Marketing for an OldStyle Business
Spin One Article Into Multiple Marketing Channels
Better Later Than Now or Never


Related Forum Posts
Most Useful SEO Tools For Webmasters Most Useful SEO Tools For Webmasters - Hi, My name is Jeff, I work for WebBizIdeas.com and we are developing an article called "50 Most Useful SEO Tools for Webmasters." We have ranked & listed our top 30 SEO Tools but want to get your opinion on what SEO Tools are most useful to you; as Internet Business Owners. Google Webmaster Tools Google Analytics Google Alerts Yahoo Site Explorer SEOBook.com Keyword Research SEOBOOK.com SEO For Firefox Tool SEOBOOK.com Search Engine Rank Checker SEOBOOK.com Back Link Analyzer SEOChat.com Keyword Difficulty Compete.com Quantcast.com Alexa.com Archive.org Stompernet Site Seer Technorati.com PRWEB.com ADDTHIS.com SHARETHIS.com EzineArticles.com Scribd.com Squidoo.com YouTube.com StumbleUpon.com Reddit.com Digg.com Del.icio.us Wikipedia.org Flickr.com NewsVine.com Yahoo Answers NOTE: When you list your answers please include a description on what the site is, why it is important to you, and your experience please....we may include it in our article. Jeff
Re: SEO... Re: SEO... - 1: Find the Best Keywords 2: Discover Your Competitors 3: Optimize Your Title 4: Optimize Your META Tags 5: Use Headings 6: Use Title and ALT Attributes 7: Nomenclatures 8: Create a Site Map Page 9: Include a robots.txt File 10: Install a sitemap.xml for Google MySQL/Oracle:
How Do You Check Google Ranking? How Do You Check Google Ranking? - Now that Google is so responsive to your own search history, how can you get a good idea of what your Google ranking really is for your web pages? Whenever I check my ranking for specific keywords on Google, my web pages appear on the front page, or suspiciously high. My way around this is to check Google ranking via other computer Internet links, i.e., whenever I'm working in a library I will use a library computer to check. I check Google ranking before logging into my Gmail or other Google-related accounts. Does anybody else have any other tips for discovering your Google ranking? Nowadays, I check Bing.com for my webpage ranking as it gives a much less favourable (and so, I guess, "truer") ranking for my webpages than Google does...
Re: Cool Video - How Google Updates it's Search Algorithm Re: Cool Video - How Google Updates it's Search Algorithm - Great Video Evan! As per the recent Google Algorithm update. Google also give more value to content and even shows rich snippet in Google SERP's.
Re: From $0.30 to $300 / Day on Google AdSense Part 1 - How To M Re: From $0.30 to $300 / Day on Google AdSense Part 1 - How To M - HI Evan, Look forward to hearing more. I like the point that you brought out with "testing." Google has some amazing tools that can help website owners track everything. From Google Adsense reporting to Google Analytic to Google Conversion and most recently Google Goal Tracking. Between all of those tools a website owner should know exactly what type of traffic is converting & making them money and what type of traffic is not. I even use Google PPC to estimate organic search engine traffic! Website owners would do well to follow your lead and create a base, and then test off that base in regards to advertising. Jeff


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.



Featured Article

Bottom Footer



Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

Sales is a Flawed Model

9 tips to increase ROI in PPC Campaigns

Word of Mouth Marketing Tips Fuel Success

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.