SEO: Learn From Google’s Own Report Card

Interested in what Google actually looks at when evaluating a website? The recent SEO report card (PDF) that it issued on itself may offer businesses some insight into what the “Big G” really considers important. Focused on all of the Google properties (i.e. YouTube, GoogleMaps, Adwords, Google Reader, Blogger etc…), the report is broken down into three sections: Search Result Presentation, URLs and Redirects and On-page Optimizations. While each section discusses its performance in several areas, I’d like to focus on the areas in which Google admits poor performance to use as an example of how businesses can improve their websites.

Search Result Presentation

Google feels that it has quite a few areas that need improvement within its presentation of search results; I’m sure that this may be the case for many businesses too. Interestingly the first two focus on basic Search Engine Optimization practices, while the last focuses on something that may not necessarily warrant undue attention:

Title Tag Format and Length

The humble Title tag is among the most powerful SEO tool around and apparently Google doesn’t use the as effectively as it could. Descriptive, keyword-rich Title Tags are important. Only 10% of Google’s pages have adequate Title Tags.

Description Meta Tag Use

67% of Google’s pages do not have an adequate Meta Description – that’s pretty sucky.  While Meta Descriptions Tags reportedly don’t count in Google’s ranking, an informative description means a lot to users and have a dramatic impact.

Appealing Google Sitelinks

While Webmaster’s cannot control when site links are displayed, those that receive them don’t make them appealing. This may not apply to most sites, but Google suggests blocking unwanted or unappealing sitelinks using Google Webmaster Tools.

URLs and Redirects

Google’s products have a variety of URL structures that use both subdomain and directory forms (i.e. http://maps.google.com/ vs http://www.google.com/latitude/) that may or may not include a trailing slash. Most of the metrics in this section were determined not to be  gradable, so rather than geek out highly technical stuff specific to Google, I’ll offer some of their advice that may be more useful:

Avoid Multiple URLs that Serve the Same Content

For example www.google.com/products and www.google.com/products/ are considered two separate pages resulting in diluted reputation.

Prevent 404 “Page Not Found” Errors

Create a 301 Redirect for searches that users commonly employ that result in a Page Not Found error. Businesses can do this by regularly reviewing their analytics information.

Send 301 Redirects to the Canonical URL

Ok. We’re not going to get into a discussion of Canonicalization here, but when it’s necessary to redirect a user’s request, send that request to the canonical URL. This will allow that URL to accumulate reputation rather than spread it out over several (and effectively getting no benefit).

Consolidate Reputation Consolidate Reputation

Use 301 Redirects whenever possible. Also, remember that http://mysite.com is different than http://www.mysite.com so make sure you’ve picked your preferred URL and redirect the other accordingly.

Google had a bunch more, but these pretty much cover it. Sorry if I went off on a tangent, but this is important stuff.

On-page Optimizations

On page optimization can encompass a wide range of areas for most websites, but Google focused on just 5 in its report card.

Heading Tag Use

22% of Google’s pages fail to use Heading Tags; most businesses fail to use them at all. Heading tags provide structure to content for both users and search engines. Unfortunately, most businesses simply style copy on the webpage, rather than use Heading Tags which will help search performance.

Logo Image Alt Text

Using text that is brief, descriptive and keyword rich is important for any image, not just a logo. By Google’s own admission, it makes it easier for their search engine to understand what the page is about.

Descriptive Internal Anchor Text

Using descriptive (& ideally keyword-rich) is a good way to give the search engines a clue as to what exists on the destination page. By the way, Google ranked itself as “Satisfactory” but I thought that this was important enough to throw in.

SEO Report Card: How’s Yours?

Overall, I enjoyed reviewing Google’s own SEO Report Card, but I’m more interested in yours. How would your site perform? Please share you thoughts in our comments section. If you don’t know how well your site would perform, we’d welcome the opportunity to crack the hood and take a look for you; contact us today.

Bill Rowland