Google enters the SEO business

Google just entered the SEO business with a guide announced at PUBcon 08 on SEO 101.  To my surprise they included a section on the use of the ‘nofollow’ tag that can be added to a link to not pass PageRank to the site on the receiving end.  To me this is the nail in the coffin in the debate over using ‘nofollows’ to sculpt your PageRank and make it flow to the pages you want juiced.  This was a tacit endorsement to PageRank sculpting that one of my mentors, Stephen Spencer, coined and was the first to recommended nearly a year ago.  Stephan, kudos on being a visionary in this field.  You can download the Google guide here.

For the most part it is really not anything too surprising.  For your perusing I have taken the five best tips and summarized below:

1. Create unique, accurate page titles

• Use brief, but descriptive titles - Titles can be both short and informative. If the title is too long, Google will show only a portion of it in the search result.  

2. Make use of the “description” meta tag

• Accurately summarize the page’s content
• Use unique descriptions for each page

3. Improve the structure of your URLs

• Use words in your URLs
• Keep your directory structure flat

4. Good practices for site navigation

• Create a naturally flowing hierarchy Use mostly text for navigation
• Use “breadcrumb” navigation - A breadcrumb is a row of internal links at the top or bottom
• Use sitemaps: HTML and XML
• Create a custom 404 page

5. Create great content

• Write clear, organized, using accepted relevant language
• Make fresh unique content