Google SEO Starter Guide Updated

DiTesco 2454 Views, , ,
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About two years ago, Google has published the first SEO Starter Guide. This guide has been proven valuable for users who were just starting to understand how to optimize for search engines. Further along the way, Google has also released the Google report card, a more advanced guide and in my opinion one of the best SEO tips ever.

Yesterday, Google has released an updated version of the SEO Starter Guide which provides more content and examples to get you rolling. While this is for the beginner, I believe that it is also interesting for advanced users to give it a peak as there is always something new to learn. Although it is suppose to be for beginners, I have to admit that after reading it, it is not as “beginner” as it is may sound like. At the very least, you can always recycle what you already know. Often times, this is where we tend to neglect our actions, from the basics.

Anyway, here’s a glimpse of what’s new in this updated version:

  • Glossary to define terms throughout the guide
  • Examples are illustrated with images that makes it much easier to comprehend.
  • Ways to optimize your site for mobile devices. Mobile searches seems to have conquered some space and this guide will get you introduces to doing your Mobile SEO.
  • Clearer wording for better readability
  • Links to additional resources as recommended by Google

Although this guide won’t provide you with secrets that’ll automatically rank your site first for queries in Google (sorry!), following the best practices contained herein will make it easier for search engines to crawl, index and understand your content. You do know that this is one of the most important aspects of ranking well on the SERPs.

The contents:

SEO Basics SEO navigation
Create unique, accurate page titles
Make use of the “description” meta tag
Improving Site Structure
Improve the structure of your URLs
Make your site easier to navigate
Optimizing Content
Offer quality content and services
Write better anchor text
Optimize your use of images
Use heading tags appropriately
Dealing with Crawlers
Make effective use of robots.txt
Be aware of rel=”nofollow” for links
SEO for Mobile Phones
Notify Google of mobile sites
Guide mobile users accurately
Promotions and Analysis
Promote your website in the right ways
Make use of free webmaster tools

You can download the new version here [PDF]. Let me know what you think.

DiTesco

DiTesco is a Business and Inbound Marketing Consultant, and founder of iBlogzone.com. iBlogzone's main objective is to help startups and small business owners achieve success in their online ventures. | More About Me and my Digital Marketing Services in SP Brazil.

21 thoughts on “Google SEO Starter Guide Updated”

  • DiTesco,

    Thanks for sharing. I refer back to that copy several times a month. Its good that they have new out now…

    • Hi there. You are welcome. Occasionally I will also refer to the previous guide just to refresh my memory. With this new guide however, I have found it easier to further understand certain things, such as the tips for mobile SEO. Glad you found this useful

  • Thanks for the two links to the Google SEO tips. SEO is something that I think is kind of confusing to learn in the beginning. Any tips/guidelines are all very useful for those who are wanting to learn.

    • Hi Mandy. Welcome to my blog. These guides are very useful and they work if implemented. Let me know how it goes for you.

  • Thanks for heads up. I found their guide quite useful in past and containing all the info one need. Coming from the source – it makes sense to conform to what they are looking for.

    • Hello Alex. Can’t agree with you more. If there is any place we should be starting from when it comes to SEO, there is no doubt that the “source” is definitely the first place to go. Makes total sense. thanks for your comment

  • I think I’m going to take a look at SEO for mobile phones. Didn’t think it was that necessary initially but since everyone’s starting to use their phones more, could be beneficial.

  • Hi DiTesco,

    Thanks for the heads up on the updated guide! I love reading about SEO =)

    Also, it’ s so great that it includes a section on mobile devices since more and more people are utilizing their phones to connect to the internet on a regular basis. It’s important to start thinking how to optimize your site for this.

    Thanks for sharing!

    • Hi Michelle. Glad you liked the “heads up”. I’ve read this guide already and it still amazes me how there are “things” that I sometimes keep ignoring. The mobile SEO while not thorough is a good start. I did not know anything about this before.

  • Hi DiTesco, thanks for the link to this guide. I’m glad to see that Google has updated this because there is so much confusion over some SEO tactics that are based on old practices. This will be a great time for me to focus on improving my SEO skills. I have a question for you, do you have a plugin that you recommend for optimizing your blog for mobile users? I see more traffic coming to my blog from phones when I check my Google Analytics, but I’m not sure which plugin is good for iPhone and Android too.

    Thanks again.

    • Hi Ileane. This updated guide gives you some information on how to optimize your website for mobile SEO. I have really not yet dove into mobile SEO before as my traffic stats are not relevant (yet :)). I will however do some research for you and once I find something that is useful, I’ll let you know. meanwhile if you do find something, please let me know. Thanks and as always good to see you here.

  • Now the new Starter Guide is looking more professional and glossary added more importance in the guide.

    • Hi there Pankaj. You have a point and one that I totally missed out. This feature only works well if you are using AdSense, in this case, on one or more websites which have different topics. I for example have two blogs with the same topic, but with different marketing approaches. Anyway, it is a valid point and I hope users will pay attention to this. Thanks.

  • Hi DiTesco, I’m about to head over and check it out now. Thanks for the heads up!

    • You are welcome Benin. Hope you find some good use for it. Good luck and thanks for stopping by.

  • Hello DiTesco,

    Thanks for sharing these updates. I agree that this in not only for beginners , going back to the basic is always important.

    Cheers,

    Ana

    • Hi Ana. Good to see you here. Yes, this guide goes far beyond just a starter kit and if implemented by anyone would definitely make them stand out from those that don’t. Thanks for stopping by.

  • Hi.

    10 years making websites and trying to understanding on my own the SEO part of it, but finding this is just great. A client wants SEO services for his website and had to do my homework looking for the beginners formula.

    thanks for posting smart things!

    • You are welcome Alejandro and good luck with that client. Hope everything goes well

  • HI, DITESCO
    Thanks for this starter guide. I was facing a lots of problem while doing seo as I am new in this field. This guide is really helpful for me. This will help me a lot in my work. Again thanks for this starter guide.

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