A Guide on Google’s Webmaster Guidelines

A constant thought for most digital marketers is how to get websites to rank higher on Google and how to master the inscrutable algorithm. Well,  a significant part of this enigma lies in understanding and adhering to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, now known as Google Search Essentials. These basically allow you to build and maintain a website that’s both search engine friendly but also provides an excellent user experience. It’s the best of both worlds! 🤩

In this guide, we’ll break down these often-talked-about yet sometimes misunderstood guidelines into simple, actionable insights so that you can ensure your readers are engaging with your website positively. ⚡️

What exactly are Google’s Search Essentials?

At their core, Google’s search essentials are a set of recommendations that help you create a wicked website that is authoritative and provides your readers with the most relevant and useful information. Basically, these guidelines are like a cheat sheet of what’s made Google’s ick-list and how to ensure your site never makes it onto that list. ❌

These guidelines essentially tell you what Google likes (and dislikes) when it comes to how your website is structured, the content you create, and the overall user experience you offer.

So, where do we begin? There are a few categories that need to be  taken into consideration:

• Technical guidelines: These focus on the nuts and bolts of your website – how effectively can Googlebot crawl and index your content?
• Content guidelines: How relevant and original is your content and the information you present on your site?
• Quality guidelines: Are you sneakily using ‘black-hate’ SEO tactics? Well, don’t 💁🏽‍♀️Sass aside, you want to ensure that your website is as original and transparent as possible.

Core principles

But how do you do this? Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty, shall we!

Technical foundations

Foundation is everything! Google needs to be able to read your website like a book 📖🤓

• Site structure and navigation: Make it easy for users (and Googlebot) to navigate your site. A clear and logical hierarchy with well-defined internal linking is going to be your bread and butter.
• Crawlability and indexing: You want to make sure that your site is as easy as possible to understand. So, make sure you have a killer strategy in place to fix broken links, and submit your sitemaps via Google Search Console (GSC). You need every inch of your website to be accessible for Google’s arachnids. 🕷️
• Mobile-friendliness: Let’s face it, mobile phones can just about do anything these days, so you need to ensure your website is super compatible with them. Google will send you straight to that ick list if your site doesn’t offer a seamless experience across all devices.
• Site speed and performance: We’ve all heard the story about the hare and the tortoise, right? This is the one time that morale does not fit, unfortunately. A slow-loading website can frustrate users and negatively impact your rankings. Optimise your images, leverage browser caching, and consider a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to improve loading times.

Content is king (but quality reigns supreme – always)

• Create high-quality, original content: Write content that your audience cares about. AI is great for many things, but not copy + paste. You want to be a thought leader in your niche, so dig deep into research and come up with something golden. ☀️
• Relevance and accuracy: Ensure your content is relevant to your website’s topic and that the information presented is accurate and trustworthy. Misleading or false information can harm your reputation and rankings. Nobody likes a liar 🫠
• User intent: Understand what your users are searching for and create content that directly answers their queries. Think about the “why” behind their searches. Mind readers are always great for situations such as these!

Google’s search essentials and SEO

This is where your site can get caught out, which will lead to penalties and lower rankings. So pay attention.

NEVER:

• Keyword stuff: cramming in keywords to boost your search rankings. Your content needs to sound as natural and original as possible.
• Hidetext and links: Making text or links invisible to users but visible to search engines is very much deceptive and is a major red flag for Google. 🚩
• Duplicate content: Avoid publishing the same or very similar content across multiple pages on your site or on other websites. Aim for unique and original content, as always!
• Use link schemes: Never try to manipulate PageRank through unnatural linking practices, such as buying or selling links, or participating in excessive link exchanges. Instead, focus on earning links the right way through high-quality content.
• Cloak: Showing different content to search engines than to users is considered cloaking and is also a deceptive tactic, and can lead to severe penalties.

Why following the guidelines is your winning strategy

Adhering to Google’s Search Essentials will most definitely build a strong foundation for your site while pleasing Google. Easy right?

By making sure you’re doing everything above board, your search engine rankings will improve because Google will find it easy to understand and index your site. With high-quality content, you naturally increase your chances of ranking higher for relevant searches. Now, you’ll have a reduced risk of penalties and won’t need to worry about significant drops in your visibility.

Not only will you avoid penalties, but you’ll also make sure that your readers are happy and remain engaged with your content. Return customers, anyone? Be a website that is trustworthy and authoritative.

So, how do you make sure you’re playing by Google’s rules?

✅Regular website audits are the way forward! Make sure all the technical aspects of your website are in check, that your content is of high quality and that your linking profile is fire. 🔥  🔥 🔥
✅Stay updated because Google tends to change its mind like the weather.
✅Utilise Google Search Console, because first of all it’s free 💸 and secondly, it gives you all the info you need to fix issues.
✅Focus on the user and create a website for your readers.

Your roadmap to online success

Google’s Search Essentials might seem like a long list of rules, but they are the oracle when it comes to the success of your website. You want to ensure that you maintain a successful and sustainable online presence, and by staying in line with these guidelines, you’re optimising your website and building a better site for your users.

So, take the time to familiarise yourself with these guidelines – your future search rankings and website visitors will thank you for it.  Also, no one wants to be on an ick-list, so be cool 😎 and follow the rules. For your next 🔥 lit 🔥 digital marketing strategy, be sure to get in touch with our team of experts at Assisted! We play by the rules and scale businesses. It’s our thing!