-search-engine-optimization-starter-guide

Google'sSearchEngineOptimizationStarterGuideVersion1.1,published13November2008WelcometoGoogle'sSearchEngineOptimizationStarterGuide.ThisdocumentfirstbeganasanefforttohelpteamswithinGoogle,butwethoughtit'dbejustasusefultowebmastersthatarenewtothetopicofsearchengineoptimizationandwishtoimprovetheirsites'interactionwithbothusersandsearchengines.Althoughthisguidewon'ttellyouanysecretsthat'llautomaticallyrankyoursitefirstforqueriesinGoogle(sorry!),followingthebestpracticesoutlinedbelowwillmakeiteasierforsearchenginestobothcrawlandindexyourcontent.Searchengineoptimizationisoftenaboutmakingsmallmodificationstopartsofyourwebsite.Whenviewedindividually,thesechangesmightseemlikeincrementalimprovements,butwhencombinedwithotheroptimizations,theycouldhaveanoticeableimpactonyoursite'suserexperienceandperformanceinorganicsearchresults.You'relikelyalreadyfamiliarwithmanyofthetopicsinthisguide,becausethey'reessentialingredientsforanywebpage,butyoumaynotbemakingthemostoutofthem.Searchengineoptimizationaffectsonlyorganicsearchresults,notpaidorsponsoredresults,suchasGoogleAdWordsGoogle'sSearchEngineOptimizationStarterGuide,Version1.1,published13November2008Eventhoughthisguide'stitlecontainsthewordssearchengine,we'dliketosaythatyoushouldbaseyouroptimizationdecisionsfirstandforemostonwhat'sbestforthevisitorsofyoursite.They'rethemainconsumersofyourcontentandareusingsearchenginestofindyourwork.Focusingtoohardonspecifictweakstogainrankingintheorganicresultsofsearchenginesmaynotdeliverthedesiredresults.Searchengineoptimizationisaboutputtingyoursite'sbestfootforwardwhenitcomestovisibilityinsearchengines.Anexamplemayhelpourexplanations,sowe'vecreatedafictitiouswebsitetofollowthroughouttheguide.Foreachtopic,we'vefleshedoutenoughinformationaboutthesitetoillustratethepointbeingcovered.Here'ssomebackgroundinformationaboutthesitewe'lluse:•Website/businessname:Brandon'sBaseballCards•Domainname:brandonsbaseballcards.com•Focus:Online-onlybaseballcardsales,priceguides,articles,andnewscontent•Size:Small,~250pagesYoursitemaybesmallerorlargerthanthisandoffervastlydifferentcontent,buttheoptimizationtopicswediscussedbelowshouldapplytositesofallsizesandtypes.Wehopeourguidegivesyousomefreshideasonhowtoimproveyourwebsite,andwe'dlovetohearyourquestions,feedback,andsuccessstoriesintheGoogleWebmasterHelpGroup.Createunique,accuratepagetitlesAtitletagtellsbothusersandsearchengineswhatthetopicofaparticularpageis.ThetitletagshouldbeplacedwithintheheadtagoftheHTMLdocument.Ideally,youshouldcreateauniquetitleforeachpageonyoursite.Thetitleofthehomepageforourbaseballcardsite,whichliststhebusinessnameandthreemainfocusareasGoogle'sSearchEngineOptimizationStarterGuide,Version1.1,published13November2008Ifyourdocumentappearsinasearchresultspage,thecontentsofthetitletagwillusuallyappearinthefirstlineoftheresults(Ifyou'reunfamiliarwiththedifferentpartsofaGooglesearchresult,youmightwanttocheckouttheanatomyofasearchresultvideobyGoogleengineerMattCutts,andthishelpfuldiagramofaGooglesearchresultspage.)Wordsinthetitleareboldediftheyappearintheuser'ssearchquery.Thiscanhelpusersrecognizeifthepageislikelytoberelevanttotheirsearch.Thetitleforyourhomepagecanlistthenameofyourwebsite/businessandcouldincludeotherbitsofimportantinformationlikethephysicallocationofthebusinessormaybeafewofitsmainfocusesorofferings.Auserperformsthequery[baseballcards]Ourhomepageshowsupasaresult,withthetitlelistedonthefirstline(noticethatthequerytermstheusersearchedforappearinbold)Iftheuserclickstheresultandvisitsthepage,thepage'stitlewillappearatthetopofthebrowserTitlesfordeeperpagesonyoursiteshouldaccuratelydescribethefocusofthatparticularpageandalsomightincludeyoursiteorbusinessname.Auserperformsthequery[rarestbaseballcards]Google'sSearchEngineOptimizationStarterGuide,Version1.1,published13November2008Arelevant,deeperpage(itstitleisuniquetothecontentofthepage)onoursiteappearsasaresultGoodpracticesforpagetitletags•Accuratelydescribethepage'scontent-Chooseatitlethateffectivelycommunicatesthetopicofthepage'scontent.Avoid:•choosingatitlethathasnorelationtothecontentonthepage•usingdefaultorvaguetitleslikeUntitledorNewPage1•Createuniquetitletagsforeachpage-Eachofyourpagesshouldideallyhaveauniquetitletag,whichhelpsGoogleknowhowthepageisdistinctfromtheothersonyoursite.Avoid:•usingasingletitletagacrossallofyoursite'spagesoralargegroupofpages•Usebrief,butdescriptivetitles-Titlescanbebothshortandinformative.Ifthetitleistoolong,Googlewillshowonlyaportionofitinthesearchresult.Avoid:•usingextremelylengthytitlesthatareunhelpfultousers•stuffingunneededkeywordsinyourtitletagsMakeuseofthedescriptionmetatagApage'sdescriptionmetataggivesGoogleandothersearchenginesasummaryofwhatthepageisabout.Whereasapage'stitlemaybeafewwordsoraphrase,apage'sdescriptionmetatagmightbeasentenceortwoorashortparagraph.GoogleWebmasterToolsprovidesahandycontentanalysissectionthat'lltellyouaboutanydescriptionmetatagsthatareeithertooshort,long,orduplicatedtoomanytimes(thesameinformationisalsoshownfortitletags).Likethetitletag,thedescripti