2. Your site and Google
Ranking and
Serving
IndexingCrawlingDiscovering
3. Your content and Google
Getting pages in (and out) of Googleâs index
Making your site accessible
âŚAnd smartly labeled
4. How Google discovers your site
Organic links
Add URL tool: http://www.google.com/addurl/
Sitemaps
5. Discoverability â Sitemaps
XML Sitemaps
Useful for:
o Dynamic content
o Websites with few incoming links
o Large archive of content pages
Provides Google with information on:
o When the site was last updated
o How often it changes
o The relative importance of pages on your site
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40318
And http://www.sitemaps.org
6. You may wish to block from search enginesâŚ
o Private information
o Sections or pages âunder constructionâ
Blocking options includeâŚ
o Robots.txt
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?
answer=35302
o Meta tags
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=93710
NOTE: Not to be used simultaneously to block the same set of pages.
Telling Google what not to index
7. Accessibility is a critical component of web sites, enablingâŚ
⢠Effective crawling by Googlebot
⢠Browsing and interacting on a mobile device
⢠Understanding of content by the sight-impaired
Understanding accessibility
8. Accessibility and Googlebot
Googlebot is good at crawling text:
⢠HTML
⢠PDFs, docs, txts, etc
More challenging for Googlebot:
⢠Images and movies
⢠Dynamic and rich content: Flash, JavaScript, frames, or dynamically generated
URLs
Advice: View your site in a text-only browser:
9. Making your images more accessible
<img src=âgooglebot.jpgâ alt=âgooglebot with flowersâ>
âGooglebot -- what a dreamboat. It's like he knows us <head>, <body>, and
soul.â
⢠Describe the important content of each image in text
⢠Use alt-text
⢠Descriptive file names
10. Dynamic & media rich content suggestions
Design for accessibility
o Focus on users
o Multiple browsers
ď§ Mobile phone
ď§ Screen readers
Design with progressive
enhancement
o Navigation in HTML, then add
your rich content
o Example: YouTube
For best uses of Flash:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/07/best-uses-of-flash.html
For best uses of Ajax:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/11/spiders-view-of-web-20.html
11. Importance of titles and descriptions
HTML Code:
<title>Google Webmaster Central</title>
12. Duplicate content
What is duplicate content?
Example: article and printer version of the site
Best practices:
o 301s
o Preferred domain feature
o Robots.txt file
For more helpful tips:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/09/demystifying-duplicate-content-penalty.html
13. Ranking â Relevance and importance
Sites listings are prioritized algorithmically according to pagesââŚ
⢠Relevance
o Matching the search to the page
o Taking into account geography
o In some cases, considering a userâs web history
⢠Importance
http://www.google.com/technology
http://www.google.com/history
Pigeons
(http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.h
tml)
14. Understanding PageRank
Now just one of more than two hundred ranking components
Based more upon quality (rather than quantity) of incoming and natural links
o Buying or selling links to pass PageRank is against Googleâs Webmaster Guidelines
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66356
Best methods to increase PageRank:
o Create great content
o Participate thoughtfully in relevant communities online and offline
15. Fluctuations in PageRank and ranking
Rankings fluctuate!
(Hundreds of ranking signals, with over 450 updated last year alone)
o Algorithmic updates
o Changes in your siteâs contents
o Changes in other sitesâ contents
o Violation of Google Webmaster Guidelines
16. Keeping your site strong: Webmaster Guidelines
⢠Put yourself in your usersâ shoes
⢠Treat Googlebot the same way as your human users (donât cloak!)
⢠Make sure outgoing links point to relevant resources that reflect well on you
⢠Read our Webmaster Guidelines:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769
17. Googleâs resources for webmasters
Googleâs official blog, help center, discussion group, and beyond
18. Webmaster Central aims to provide relevant resources and tools to help
webmasters get the best experience with Google.
http://www.google.com/webmasters
Webmaster Central
⢠Tools
⢠Submit your content to Google
⢠Blog
⢠Help Center Documentation
⢠Discussion Group
19. Webmaster Tools â An insiderâs view of your site
Google Webmaster Tools provides you a free and easy way to make your site
more Google-friendly. Using this tool, you and other site owners can:
⢠Get Googleâs view of your
website and diagnose
potential problems
⢠See how your site is
performing
⢠Add a Sitemap
20. Webmaster Tools â Helping Google help you
⢠Communicate with Google
⢠Adjust crawl rates
⢠Delete outdated sitelinks
⢠Report spam and paid links
⢠File a reconsideration request
21. Webmaster Tools â Discover more
Learn how to use Webmaster Tools more in depth:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/edu/quickstartguide/index.html
22. Google Webmaster Central Blog
⢠The Google Webmaster Central Blog
⢠Official Google communications directed at
Webmasters
o Announcements
o New Features
o Information on indexing, ranking, guidelines
English: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/
German: http://googlewebmastercentral-de.blogspot.com/
Chinese: http://www.googlechinawebmaster.com/
23. Google Webmaster Help Center
⢠Hundreds of articles in more than two dozen languages
⢠Getting started guides, tips, guidelines, and more
24. ⢠The Webmaster Help Group can be
reached via the link in Webmaster
Central
⢠Experienced webmasters and
Googlers answer your questions.
16 languages supported as of July 2008:
English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Dutch, Swedish,
Finnish, Danish, Russian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Turkish, and Chinese
Google Webmaster Help Group
26. Other useful tools and resources
Google offers many tools and products that can help you better
understand your site and enhance your usersâ experiences.
o Create and share compelling content
o Gain a deeper understanding of your siteâs visitors
o Get insight into your competitors and competitive space
28. Deeper understanding of your siteâs visitors
Google Analytics
http://www.google.com/analytics/
o Discover where your visitors come from
o Learn how they interact with your site
Website Optimizer
http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer/
o Test different combinations of site content
o Increase visitor conversion rates and
satisfaction
29. Research and keep track of your market
Trends â http://www.google.com/trends
Reader â http://www.google.com/reader
Alerts â http://www.google.com/alerts
http://www.google.com/options