In this guide, you will discover the best SEO tips & practices for ranking higher using SEO for Google Sites.
Below is everything you need to know about making Google Sites more SEO-friendly so that your websites are indexed and ranked higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords.
Google Sites is a popular digital marketing platform from Google that you can use to increase your business' organic visibility in search engines. But to do so, you need to know how to properly optimize Google Sites for the ranking algorithm.
Consider this your ultimate Google Sites SEO guide for driving search traffic through Google's search engine.
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What is Google Site Used for?
Google Site is often the preferred choice for experienced Google users when it comes to web hosting. And as always, Google offers plenty of advice and support to help those using its platforms and tools. However, this is not the only resource you have when looking for SEO best practices for your Google Sites website. We've created this guide to help you get the information you need to build your search engine optimization strategy.
What is SEO for Google Sites?
SEO for Google sites is the process of optimizing Google Sites to rank higher in search engines for relevant keywords. A good Google Sites SEO strategy focuses on the important HTML elements that search engines use to index and rank content in the SERPs.
Google Sites are like any other type of website built using a content management system (CMS), such as WordPress and Wix, that can be optimized for SEO and ranked in the SERPs for relevant queries.
Google Sites SEO is a digital marketing strategy utilized to make your Google Sites website more visible to search engine users. Improving your site through search engine optimization improves its ranking in search engine results pages, with higher rankings being associated with increased search traffic.
Since one-third of the world's web traffic comes from search engines, even a small improvement in ranking can result in a significant increase in traffic. Here are some popular SEO techniques that are effective for business websites:
- Claiming a Google My Business listing (excellent for small business SEO).
- Adding Schema Markup to generate rich snippets
- Using HTML meta tags
- Creating custom, memorable domain names.
But these aren't the only tactics Google Sites users can use to improve their search engine rankings. The guide below will teach you how to maximize this (search engine optimization) SEO performance.
Google Sites SEO Guide - 10 Tips & Best Practices
1. Change Google Sites Permissions
The first step in SEO for Google Sites is to change the permissions of the website so that it is publicly accessible on the Internet. This allows users to find and open the site and gives Google's web crawler access to the content. If you do not change this permission setting, your Google Sites will not be indexed in the Google, Yahoo, or Bing search engine.
To make your Google Site publicly accessible, click the "Share with Others" icon at the top of the site creation screen, then change the "Published Site" setting from "Restricted" to "Public" to make the website public, not private. This change allows the Google Site to be crawled, indexed, and ranked in search engines.
2. Create a mobile-friendly design
Mobile is a necessity. Today, it's impossible to create a website that isn't designed for mobile. Over 60% of people access the internet from mobile devices and millions of people don't even own or use a standard desktop computer. That's why many brands are going beyond mobile-friendly and designing their sites in a method called "mobile-first." Essentially, this means that every aspect of the site is designed for mobile access. This method also solves many common SEO problems and removes many obstacles, which is why it's at the top of our list.
A mobile-friendly site should have simple navigation. Buttons, large fonts, and simple navigations with drop-down lists and easy-to-follow menus are all good choices. You can still customize your site, add text and rich media, etc., but in a mobile-friendly way that won't clutter the page or decrease performance.
3. Speed up your pages and eliminate unnecessary elements
Speaking of performance, page speed is an important factor and Google will be the first to tell you. There are even tools to help you check the speed of your pages and find areas for improvement. Be sure to compress images, make them as small as possible and remove any excess content you don't really need. Avoid ads and pop-ups and make sure there is nothing intrusive. These days, you'll lose scores if you have too many intrusive pop-ups.
Page speed is about giving people quick and easy answers. Simplify navigation and use the benefits of mobile design to create a dynamic site that is compatible with all devices and easy to load on all platforms. You can use Google tools or find many other tools to check your page speed and identify areas for improvement.
Related:
Black Hat vs White Hat Link Building
Best Local SEO Tools to Improve your Local Search Rankings
4. Use Google's complimentary SEO audit
Speaking of audits, here's another one you need. All Google Sites pages get a complimentary SEO audit from Google as part of utilizing the platform. The site goes through all of your pages and analyzes all content to make sure it's SEO ready. If there are any discrepancies or areas for improvement, Google will let you know. Of course, keep in mind that this is not the only tool you should use. It's simply one of the ways you can check your own SEO efforts to make sure you're on the right track.
5. Optimize your images and tags
Images and tags are two areas where audits typically identify inconsistencies or missed SEO opportunities. Images should be compressed, in the right format, and designed to display on both mobile and desktop versions of your site. You should also use the image alt text to add keywords and descriptions that will allow your images to be scanned and indexed by search engines.
Tags work the same way: title tags and meta tags should all be optimized for SEO and use the right keywords. These are often the first things people see when they consider clicking on your site in the search results list, so make sure they stand out. You can find lots of best practices and tips for writing meta tags and descriptions and creating great titles for all your blogs and pages to boost your SEO efforts.
6. Use links appropriately
There are two ways to improve your SEO and brand reputation by using links. With internal links, you help promote your own business and drive traffic to other parts of your site. With external links, you provide users with valuable resources that help build your reputation and your own sense of authority. Make sure you use at least 2-3 internal links in each article, but also make sure they are relevant. Otherwise, it looks like shameless self-promotion.
External links should be reputable and add value. This means that you should use sites that are considered educational, credible, or reputable on an institutional level. For example, we're more likely to refer you to Google's SEO tips or the advice offered on a site like SEMRush than to Amin Educate's SEO blog, as the latter is not a highly reputable source, even though the information may seem interesting or useful. Everyone has a different opinion on external links, but we suggest sticking to a range of 2-5 so you don't look like you're overdoing it.
7. Create an XML sitemap
Some website builders automatically generate a sitemap when you publish your site. However, even if they do, it is usually not as detailed as it should be. Also, what if you have pages that you don't want to index yet? That's why you need a dynamic, custom XML sitemap. But don't worry, you don't have to do everything yourself. There are applications and tools that will help you create the file containing the list of all the pages of your site in a few minutes.
Once you have a sitemap, you need to go to Google Search Console to have your site verified and let the world know that it is ready to be found. You can put all the best SEO efforts in place, but if you don't check your site here, no one will ever know to look for it, including the search engine indexers.
8. Use categories and tags correctly in blog posts and pages
Google, like all CMS and website builder tools, offers the ability to categorize or tag your blog posts and pages for easy searchability. You can take advantage of this in a number of ways, but first, you need to make sure you are using the tags correctly.
Categories are general groups that allow you to group similar posts or pages together. Tags are more specific terms that can be utilized to search for content. Tags are where you should use keywords whenever you can, and want to be more technical about what you're offering. Don't forget to use variations and acronyms when relevant (for example, use tags for "AI" and "automation" on a blog about business process automation).
9. Put Google Analytics to work
Using Google Analytics has its benefits for any website, but if you're on Google Sites, it's a necessity. It will not only tell you the state of your site in terms of traffic and rankings but also which SEO efforts are working, which ones are missing the mark, etc. You can generate many custom reports to help you learn more about your own SEO campaigns and what can be changed or what is working effectively.
Google Analytics will connect to your Google Sites CMS to help you create and generate the analytics you need to track your efforts and determine where improvements can be made. That way, you don't even have to wonder what's missing. Of course, you can ask if you want, and that's actually our final tip.
Related:
How to Check Backlinks in Google Analytics
Google Maps SEO Tips and Tricks
10. Improve your user experience
Perhaps one of the best ways to improve your website and overall user experience is to ask people what they want. How do you do this? There are a number of options, including surveys, email feedback, and even the ability to communicate directly via live chat.
Live chat gives you the opportunity to get feedback, solve problems and understand what your users really want. Then, you can turn their questions into a FAQ page and use their suggestions to improve your SEO in other ways. Plus, everything is easier when you have a content management system (CMS) like Google Sites to help you make changes along the way.
SEO for Google Sites - Summary
This was a Google Sites SEO guide, and I hope you enjoyed it.
As you have discovered, Google Sites SEO is the process of optimizing Google Sites to help them rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords. Just like other popular CMS platforms such as Wix and WordPress, certain HTML elements of Google Sites can also be optimized for SEO to increase the visibility of content to search engine users.
