Thursday, October 13, 2022
In 2002 we launched a page with a set of guidelines
for site owners that gave an overview of best practices when it came to building a site. We called
this page “Webmaster Guidelines” and it’s been with us ever since. Since then we added a lot of
information to these guidelines to help site owners build the site that’s right for their users
who visit through Google Search.
A lot has changed since 2002, so today we’re launching a refreshed, simplified version of the
Webmaster Guidelines, and we’re changing its name as well.
Introducing the Google Search Essentials
We moved away from using the term “webmaster” in the name of this site (stop looking: it’s Search
Central) and the only remainder was the “Webmaster Guidelines”. As we mentioned previously,
“webmaster” is an outdated term and very few people identify with it. For the new name we wanted
something generic, something that’s not focusing on just one slice of our visitors, but rather all
creators on the internet who wish to see their content in Google Search. We also wanted the new
name to highlight the importance of the points covered on these pages. That’s how we landed on
the new name: Google Search Essentials.
What’s changed
The refresh comes with a few changes. Since the whole Search Central site is, by definition, a set
of guidelines and best practices, we simplified the site by moving many of the former guidelines
to specific sections where they belong. Then, we introduced a categorization of the points covered in the former Webmaster Guidelines:
A new focused section on the technical requirements
The technical requirements are few and simple:
publish content in a format that Google can index, and allow Google to access that content.
This is the bare minimum for getting into Google’s search results; we do realize however that
there’s more to getting your site indexed and served, and we encourage creators to also think
about the key best practices.
Spam Policies: more examples and new topics
The spam policies cover common forms of spam
and behavior that could lead to a site ranking lower or not appearing at all in Google web search
results. Most topics were taken from the former “Quality Guidelines” and other closely related
existing guidelines published on Search Central that were originally stand-alone, like malware and
hacked content. The new additions and notable modifications are:
We asked the Search Quality team
to rewrite the content to address spam that they see on the internet today, and when possible,
use more precise language, and add more concrete examples that are relevant in 2022. We believe
that they delivered and the new version will help site owners avoid creating content that Search
users absolutely hate.
Key best practices for success
Finally, the key best practices are a set
of practices that we believe people really should consider when creating sites. While following
the requirements can get (and keep!) sites in Search, it’s the best practices that breathe life
into sites so they can be more easily found through Search.
You might have also noticed that over the past couple of months we’ve been moving pages around on
Search Central. We organized the information into a more logical structure, and consolidated similar
pages, but generally we haven’t changed the content.
We hope you find the new set of Search Essentials useful
and easier to understand, and that it will help you focus on things that matter for your site.
If you have any questions, leave a comment on Twitter
or in the Search Central Help forums.
You can also send feedback on the documentation page itself by clicking the Send Feedback button.