In November 2015 Google release a 120 page document explaining how they judge the quality of content.
For those of you that don’t know the quality of content plays a big part in how well your website is ranked by the Globe’s leading website (Google obviously).
As an all knowing consultant in this field I have been saying to clients ‘all content needs to be good – just assume your teacher has to read it first’ Having scanned through the new Gooogle Quality document I am, with all the smugness I can muster, right.
As evidence of my rightness (that is in the dictionary), here are a few highlights from the new document.
– do not copy (and paste) as that is cheating and, unlike your teacher, Google will probably find out
– typos and grammar is important and easy for Google to check (I wonder if that is UK English or the US’s slang version of English)
– check your facts. No idea how Google does it but they say they do cross reference information and penalise you if you have blatantly made stuff up
– turns out Google like content to have an author
– substance over beauty; design is important to the user but not to Google
– look after good content, doesn’t matter if its old, if its good then keep it
– let the viewer contact the writer, they may not actually contact them but trust is considered to be directly linked to availability (eg. anonymous content is not trusted.., there’s a surprise)
– have a well thought out 404 page, because viewers will get lost and you need to help them get back on track
I still think most of this is common sense, but we often find people leave go of their senses when it comes to new technology related stuff. Don’t believe me – just research how many companies have empty Twitter accounts.
Having said that, whilst most of the rules are common sense the SEO game is hugely complex, and this is purely down to the fact that you are competing with your neighbours.
If you want to better understand how to plan your Search Engine Optimisation effort then please get in touch with me, the author, Jonathan Worsley.