An unofficial blog that watches Google's attempts to move your operating system online since 2005. Not affiliated with Google.

Send your tips to gostips@gmail.com.

September 15, 2006

SEO Tips From Google

SEO Egghead compiled 21 tips from Google's Matt Cutts and Vanessa Fox. Some of the most interesting:

* Hiding text using similar colors and background colors can actually be worse than using the same colors.

* If you sell links, Matt says you should use link condoms [rel="nofollow"]. Otherwise your reputation may fall. I assume this means they will devalue your outbound links.

* Assign unique, descriptive title tag and headings to every page.

* Use user-friendly URLs like "african-elephants.html," and not "343432ffsdfsdfdfasffgddddd.html." Don't overdo it either — african-elephants-and-their-habitats-etc-etc-etc-etc.html.

* Minimize the number of URL parameters — 1-2 parameters if possible.

If you think a little, it makes sense: all these tips improve the user experience. Hidden text is not visible to the user, so the page would not be relevant to the search result. The title and the URL are also an indication of the page content. Redirections slow down loading of a page. So if you don't know what to choose in a situation, think what your visitors would choose.

* SEO = optimizing a web page to rank well in search engines

3 comments:

  1. As usual, Matt is ignoring some of the benefits that can be gained in certain circumstances.

    Take, for instance, the use of redirects. If properly done, they can be a fantastic way to keep track of links that are going out from your site.

    To me that is not a bad thing at all and I use it on my blog all the time.

    Some of the stuff that Matt says, however is solid. Unless you want to do black hat seo I wouldn't recommend hidden links and other weird stuff like making the colors match the background. Cloak it instead :)

    G-Man

    ReplyDelete
  2. search engine optimization is important to any website or blog because it helps you rank better in search engines

    ReplyDelete
  3. makes sense to use these and other search methods

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.