Everything You Need to Know About Google Search Essentials (formerly Google Webmaster Guidelines)
One of the most important parts of having a website is making sure your audience can find your site (and find what they’re looking for).
The good news is that Google Search Essentials, formerly called Google Webmaster Guidelines, simplifies the process of optimizing your site for search performance.
After all, getting your target audience to your site and converting them is the whole point of having a website in the first place.
In fact, big-picture marketing strategy is one of the most important conversations I have with clients when they come to me for messaging and website copy.
Sure, I focus on creating conversion-focused site maps and website copy. Still, it’s also about SEO optimization and having an effective long-term content strategy so that cold traffic can find the site once it goes live.
Even though I use best SEO practices on the main pages, optimizing blog content (and future articles) is an ongoing process that requires staying on top of the latest guidelines.
That’s why Google Search Essentials is a helpful tool for anyone with a website. So, let’s dive into what they are and how to use them.
What are Google Webmaster Guidelines?
What’s actually in the guidelines?
More key webmaster guidelines of Google Search Central
What are Google Webmaster Guidelines?
Because most people don’t use the term “webmaster” anymore, the name shifted from Google Webmaster Guidelines to Google Search Essentials.
And if you have a website, it’s Google pulling back the curtain and giving you a rundown of exactly what it’s looking for when it indexes sites so you can make your site perform better in search results.
Realistically, you can use Search Essentials as a foundation for developing your content and overall marketing strategy.
Sarah Blocksidge from Sixth City Marketing says, “It’s just like having the answers in the back of a textbook or having an open note exam.”
Because Search Essentials unlocks the mystery behind what Google prioritizes, they make it relatively easy to make sure your site is findable, crawlable, and can perform well when people search for related topics.
What’s actually in the guidelines?
If you think of Google Search Essentials as a website 101 primer, you can develop an understanding of how Google works so you can use it to get results.
Because I often look at Google Search Essentials from a writing perspective, I caught up with Michelle Bourbonniere of Words on the Rise, a friend and colleague I often consult for SEO.
“I love Search Essentials — they provide Google’s official documentation for SEO from a technical standpoint,” says Bourbonniere.
She also noted that these guidelines help define what not to do with clear guidelines around what counts as spam and learning actions that will get you in trouble in the long run.
Ultimately, Google Search Essentials is part of the documentation for Google …read more
Source:: HubSpot Blog
