Use Google's search guidance beyond the PageRank story
Read the early search paper, then check your page against current Google Search Essentials.
Originally posted · Published here · 3 sources · Resume reading
Brin and Page's 1998 paper describes a Google prototype that used hyperlink structure alongside page text. Its database covered at least 24 million pages. That historical design helps explain the interest in links, but it is not a checklist for ranking a page today. [1]
Check the page people will read
Google's current Search Essentials recommends useful content, words people search for in titles and headings, and crawlable links. [2] Apply that to one page before changing your whole site:
- Give it a title that names the question it answers.
- Put the answer near the start, with enough detail for someone to act.
- Link to it from a relevant page using descriptive link text.
- Check that images and videos follow Google's guidance for those formats.
Avoid manufactured signals
Google's spam policies cover keyword stuffing and links created to manipulate rankings. [3] Repeating a phrase or buying links does not improve the explanation your reader came for.
I would spend that effort on an original example, a documented result or a clear comparison someone else can reference. Then check the page against Search Essentials again. Meeting its requirements makes content eligible; Google explicitly says it does not guarantee crawling, indexing or serving the page. [2]
Keep this guide
Filed under Dev tools
Sources
- Brin and Page search engine paperresearch.google
- Google Search Essentialsdevelopers.google.com
- Google Search spam policiesdevelopers.google.com
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