Google Official SEO Guide

Google Official SEO Guide

Comprehensive assistance with Google Search optimization, SEO best practices, and search visibility improvements based on official Google documentation.

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be triggered when users ask about:

SEO & Search Optimization

• Improving website ranking in Google Search
• Implementing SEO best practices
• Optimizing meta tags, titles, and descriptions
• Fixing crawling or indexing issues
• Understanding how Google Search works

Structured Data & Rich Results

• Adding VideoObject, BroadcastEvent, or Clip structured data
• Implementing schema.org markup for rich results
• Creating sitemaps and robots.txt files
• Setting up breadcrumb navigation
• Configuring hreflang for multi-language sites

Technical SEO

• Mobile-first indexing optimization
• JavaScript SEO and rendering issues
• Managing duplicate content with canonical tags
• Configuring robots meta tags
• URL structure and internal linking

Search Console & Monitoring

• Using Google Search Console reports
• Debugging search visibility issues
• Monitoring crawl errors and indexing status
• Analyzing search performance metrics

Content & Links

• Writing effective anchor text
• Internal and external linking strategies
• Avoiding spam policies violations
• Managing site migrations and redirects

Key Concepts

The Three Stages of Google Search

1. Crawling: Googlebot discovers and fetches pages from the web
2. Indexing: Google analyzes page content and stores it in the index
3. Serving: Google returns relevant results for user queries

Important SEO Principles

• Mobile-First Indexing: Google primarily uses the mobile version of content for indexing and ranking
• Canonical URLs: Specify the preferred version of duplicate or similar pages
• Structured Data: Use schema.org markup to help Google understand your content
• Search Essentials: Technical, content, and spam requirements for Google Search eligibility

Common Structured Data Types

• VideoObject: For video content and features
• BroadcastEvent: For livestream videos (LIVE badge)
• Clip: For video key moments/timestamps
• SeekToAction: For auto-detected key moments in videos

Quick Start Examples

Basic VideoObject for Videos

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "VideoObject",
  "name": "Video title",
  "description": "Video description",
  "thumbnailUrl": ["https://example.com/photo.jpg"],
  "uploadDate": "2024-03-31T08:00:00+08:00",
  "duration": "PT1M54S",
  "contentUrl": "https://example.com/video.mp4"
}

LIVE Badge for Livestreams

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "VideoObject",
  "name": "Livestream title",
  "publication": {
    "@type": "BroadcastEvent",
    "isLiveBroadcast": true,
    "startDate": "2024-10-27T14:00:00+00:00"
  }
}

Crawlable Links

<!-- ✅ Recommended -->
<a href="https://example.com">Link text</a>
<a href="/products/category">Link text</a>

<!-- ❌ Not recommended -->
<a routerLink="products/category">Link text</a>
<span href="https://example.com">Link text</span>

Robots Meta Tags

<!-- Don't index this page -->
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

<!-- Don't follow links -->
<meta name="robots" content="nofollow">

More examples: read references/examples.md

Reference Files

This skill includes comprehensive documentation organized into the following categories:

Core Documentation

apis.md - Getting started with Google Search Console, monitoring tools, and APIs
appearance.md - Visual elements and rich results in Google Search (58 pages)
crawling.md - How Google discovers, crawls, and accesses web content
fundamentals.md - Core concepts and essential SEO knowledge
guides.md - Detailed how-to guides for specific SEO tasks
indexing.md - How Google indexes content and troubleshooting indexing issues
other.md - Additional topics, policies, and specialized information
specialty.md - Structured data and specialized search features

Usage Guides

examples.md - 10 detailed examples with code snippets
user-guide.md - How to use this skill for different user levels
best-practices.md - Common pitfalls, tips, and official tools

When to Read Each File

• Starting out: fundamentals.md → guides.md → examples.md
• Structured data: specialty.md → examples.md
• Technical issues: crawling.md → indexing.md
• Rich results: appearance.md → specialty.md
• Best practices: best-practices.md

Key Recommendations

DO ✅

• Create unique, descriptive titles and meta descriptions
• Use meaningful heading structure (H1, H2, H3)
• Optimize images with descriptive alt text
• Submit and maintain XML sitemaps
• Use robots.txt for crawl control (not indexing)
• Implement canonical tags for duplicate content
• Test structured data with validation tools
• Monitor Search Console regularly

DON'T ❌

• Keyword stuffing or hidden text
• Buy/sell links for ranking
• Different content on mobile vs desktop
• Block resources on mobile
• Use generic anchor text ("click here")
• Non-crawlable JavaScript-only links
• Cloaking (different content for Google vs users)

Resources

Official Tools

• Google Search Console: Monitor search presence
• Rich Results Test: Validate structured data
• Mobile-Friendly Test: Check mobile optimization
• Page Speed Insights: Analyze performance

Documentation Access

All reference files preserve links to official Google resources. Use read references/[filename].md to access detailed documentation.

References

Examples & Code Snippets: read references/examples.md (10 detailed examples)
User Guide: read references/user-guide.md (for beginners, marketers, developers, advanced users)
Best Practices: read references/best-practices.md (pitfalls, tips, tools)

Core Documentation:

• read references/apis.md - Search Console setup
• read references/appearance.md - Rich results & visual elements
• read references/crawling.md - Googlebot & crawl optimization
• read references/fundamentals.md - SEO basics
• read references/guides.md - How-to guides
• read references/indexing.md - Index management
• read references/other.md - Policies & updates
• read references/specialty.md - Structured data details