23 SEO Commandments by Google

We wrote about focusing on content and forgeting about SEO. That’s because the content creates 80% of your traffic. But it’s good to get that 20% right also.

Google serves 80% of all the searches, so they’re pretty much the alpha and omega of SEO. They published a 32-page Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. If you don’t have the time to read it, here’s the gist.

SEO Helps Organic Search Only

Google lets you “rent” keywords with Google AdWords. When someone searches for the keywords that you bought, Google displays your website at the top, in the paid search part of the page. Organic searches come after that. Many SEO “experts” claim to have hacked the search algorithm. They haven’t, don’t fall for it. You have to either pay for good ranking, or work hard to get to the top.

Technical Recommendations

1. Use a unique <title> tag for every page description. That title will be the first line in the search results, so make sure it’s what the visitor would type to find it. Also, keep it short and avoid keyword stuffing.
2. Provide unique and relevant snippets for pages. Snippets appear in search results below the page title. Google may also use a snippet from the Open Directory Project if your site is listed there. Don’t write “Page about company” or stuff keywords. Instead, use something like this for every page on your website: <meta name=”description” content=”Few sentences about the page. Test several snippets and see which gets more clicks”>
3. Use meaningful and friendly URLs that describe the page. Users should easily tell where they are from the URL and recall it later. Search engines take this into account too. Avoid capitalization, backend variables, excessive keywords, or deep nesting like: “www.site.com/dir1/dir2/page.html".
4. Google doesn’t like duplicates, so make sure you provide one version of a URL to reach a document. Avoid alternative paths to the same document like “domain.com/page.htm” and “sub.domain.com/page.htm”.
5. Think about navigation and how the user will go from the homepage to a more specific page. Breadcrumb lists are useful for that.
6. Structure the URL as a navigable path. A visitor might be on “site.com/products/new/widget1” and decide to see all the products by going to “site.com/products”, so be sure to show them that.
7. Prepare two sitemaps: one for users (a simple hierarchical page list), one for search engines (XML sitemap).
8. Use text for navigation and rely less on images, flash, drop-down menus, and Javascript. This will make it easier for search engines to scan it.
9. Have a 404 page with useful links to other parts of the website.
10. Use descriptive text in anchors like this: <a href=”site.com/products”>List of all our products</a>
11. Use alt property for your images. It provides the description of the image in case it doesn’t render.
12. Properly structure your headings and subheadings, and don’t overuse them.
13. Lists of keywords are meaningless. Keywords should appear inside the text several times, and should feel natural.
14. Avoid embedding text in images — search engines can’t read it and it prevents users from copying it.
15. The “robots.txt” file is useful to tell search engines which pages you don’t want them to index. This will prevent them from showing less useful pages.
16. Provide a mobile-friendly version of the site and design with Mobile First mindset — there are more smartphones than toothbrushes in the world.

Content is King

1. Useful content is the number one factor that will make your site popular. If it’s interesting you’ll get lots of references that will affect your popularity. It’s like high school: if a popular kid likes you, you move up the ladder.
2. Know the behavior of your target users, what they would search for, and create content tailored to them. Knowing which keywords they use is half the battle.
3. Use a good layout in your documents, meaning: break up text in paragraphs, use subheadings, and divide content into meaningful units.
4. Provide unique content. Avoid copying it from somewhere else or using the same content across your site.

Promoting Website & Link Building

1. Promote your site offline (by showing links on your business card or company letters), and let users share it and write about it. When someone links to your site it’s called a backlink and it promotes your website and affects your reputation score.
2. Don’t let anyone artificially promote your website using “SEO techniques” or purchase referral links from someone, search engines pick up on it and it will damage your reputation.
3. Be careful who you link to and who links to you. Spammy websites have a bad reputation and when they link to you, they damage yours. This is especially important for the comments section where spammers post links to their website. Your reputation is important and you shouldn’t give it away. You can set all the links to “nofollow” like this: <meta name=”robots” content=”nofollow”>