Tutorial Google For Webmasters

Google for Webmasters

Your site and Google Discovering Crawling Indexing Ranking and Serving

Your content and Google Getting pages in (and out) of Google’s index Making your site accessible …And smartly labeled

How Google discovers your site Organic links Add URL tool: http://www.google.com/addurl/ Sitemaps

Discoverability – 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

Telling Google what not to index You may wish to block from search engines… o Private information o Sections or pages “under construction” Blocking options include… 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.

Understanding accessibility Accessibility is a critical component of web sites, enabling… • Effective crawling by Googlebot • Browsing and interacting on a mobile device • Understanding of content by the sight-impaired

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:

Making your images more accessible <img src=“googlebot.jpg” alt=“googlebot with flowers”> “Googlebot -- what a dreamboat. It's like he knows us <head>, <body>, and soul.” • Describe the important content of each image in text • Use alt-text • Descriptive file names

Dynamic & media rich content suggestions Design for accessibility Design with progressive o Focus on users enhancement o Multiple browsers o Navigation in HTML, then add  Mobile phone  Screen readers 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

Importance of titles and descriptions HTML Code: <title>Google Webmaster Central</title>

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

Ranking – Relevance and importance Sites listings are prioritized algorithmically according to pages’… • Relevance o Matching the search to the page o Taking into account geography o In some cases, considering a user’s web history • Importance http://www.google.com/technology http://www.google.com/history Pigeons (http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank. html)

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 Google’s 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

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 site’s contents o Changes in other sites’ contents o Violation of Google Webmaster Guidelines

Keeping your site strong: Webmaster Guidelines • Put yourself in your users’ shoes • Treat Googlebot the same way as your human users (don’t 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

Google’s resources for webmasters Google’s official blog, help center, discussion group, and beyond

Webmaster Central • Tools • Submit your content to Google • Blog • Help Center Documentation • Discussion Group Webmaster Central aims to provide relevant resources and tools to help webmasters get the best experience with Google. http://www.google.com/webmasters

Webmaster Tools – An insider’s 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 Google’s view of your website and diagnose potential problems • See how your site is performing • Add a Sitemap

Webmaster Tools – Helping Google help you • Communicate with Google • Adjust crawl rates • Delete outdated sitelinks • Report spam and paid links • File a reconsideration request

Webmaster Tools – Discover more Learn how to use Webmaster Tools more in depth: http://www.google.com/webmasters/edu/quickstartguide/index.html

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/

Google Webmaster Help Center • Hundreds of articles in more than two dozen languages • Getting started guides, tips, guidelines, and more

Google Webmaster Help Group • 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 Central www.google.com/webmasters

Other useful tools and resources Google offers many tools and products that can help you better understand your site and enhance your users’ experiences. o Create and share compelling content o Gain a deeper understanding of your site’s visitors o Get insight into your competitors and competitive space

Creating and sharing compelling content

Deeper understanding of your site’s 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

Research and keep track of your market Trends – http://www.google.com/trends Reader – http://www.google.com/reader Alerts – http://www.google.com/alerts http://www.google.com/options

Thank You

Tutorial Google For Webmasters

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