Google Offers New Businesses Advice on Search Engine Optimisation

If you’ve heard the oft-repeated claim that Google ‘frowns upon’ search engine optimisation (SEO) then you may be surprised to know that this month the search giant has been offering start-up businesses advice on that very subject.

In a video post on the official Google Webmaster Central Blog, entitled ‘SEO essentials for start-ups in under 10 minutes’ (http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/seo-essentials-for-startups-in-under-10.html), Google’s Developer Programs Tech Lead, Maile Ohye presents her SEO tips for new businesses.

After going over the basics of setting up your domain and submitting your website to Google, Ohye goes on to offer specific advice on what businesses can do to improve their position in the search rankings. Though it’s aimed at start-ups, it’s a worthwhile watch for any business as it illuminates further Google’s attitude towards SEO, and what it views as important in a website.

Key points include:

• The need to provide a great experience to web users, and to, “meet the needs of each persona” (i.e. new and existing customers, investors and the press). Ease of navigation between different pages in the site is also discussed as an important issue.
• The importance of focus – “does each page contain one logical topic obvious to visitors,” – and of breaking up large quantities of information into separate pages.
• “Define your conversion” – Have a clear idea of what action you want visitors to a specific page to take (eg purchase a product or subscribe to a service). Ohye also stresses the importance of having “a relevant conversion possible on every page – don’t force users to make extra clicks.”
•  “Include relevant keywords naturally in your text.” When doing so, Ohye recommends sticking to words people are likely to search for, rather than jargon and generic terms.
• Perhaps providing particular insight into how Google’s algorithms work, she lists the things that should be included on every single page of your website. These are:
  • “Unique topic”
  • “Unique title (displays in search results)”
  • “Unique meta description for the snippet”
  • “Keywords in the filename”
  • “Descriptive anchor text for every link”

She also goes on to stress the importance of having, “indexable/ searchable text,” over “site fanciness.”

None of these points should be revolutionary to anyone with a basic grounding in SEO, but they are a timely reminder of what the world’s largest search engine believes is important in a website.

Ref:  Google Webmaster Central Blog, ‘SEO essentials for start-ups in under 10 minutes’