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The Good or Bad of SEO — From Google’s Mouth
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I recently had the opportunity to ask questions of some Google staffers. There were some questions I felt I needed to get verification on, so when I had the opportunity via a conference call, I took it. In this article I highlight some of the points made during the call so you know what Google thinks.
You know it’s bad when you take time from your holidays to come into work to attend a conference call. But that’s what I did a few weeks ago — I had the opportunity to ask some Google employees specific questions on things that I’d been pretty sure about, but wanted to hear it right from the horse’s mouth.
The call lasted less than an hour, but in that time I found that many things I figured were indeed true. So let’s start with the most obvious:
Is PageRank Still Important?
The short answer is yes — PageRank has always been important to Google. Naturally they couldn’t go into details, but it is as I suspected. Google still uses the algorithm to help determine rankings. Where it falls in the algo mix, though, is up for speculation. My feeling is that they’ve simply moved where the PageRank value is applied in the grand scheme of things.
Are Dynamic URLs Bad?
Google says that a dynamic URL with 2 parameters should get indexed. When we pressed a bit on the issue we also found that URLs themselves don’t contribute too much to the overall ranking algorithms. In other words, a page named page1.asp will likely perform as well as keyword.asp.
It is true that Google will indeed index dynamic URLs and I’ve seen sites with as many as 4 variables get indexed. The difference however is that in almost all cases I’ve seen the static URLs outrank the dynamic URLs especially in highly competitive keyword spaces.
Is URL Rewriting OK in Google’s Eyes?
Again, the answer is yes, provided the URLs aren’t too long. A common theme throughout the call was: content is king. Sure, optimized meta tags, effective interlinking, and externalizing JavaScript all help, but in the end if the content isn’t there the site won’t do well.
Do You Need to Use the Google Sitemap Tool?
If your site is already getting crawled effectively by Google you do not need to use the Google sitemap submission tool. The sitemap tool was created by Google to provide a way for sites that normally don’t get crawled effectively to become indexed. If you must use the Google sitemap to get your site indexed, you have some serious architectural issues to solve.
Use a free tool like Xenu and spider your own site. If Xenu has problems, you can almost be assured of Googlebot crawling problems too. Xenu can help you find broken links so you can fix them. Once your site becomes fully crawlable by Xenu, it will almost certainly be crawlable by the major search engine spiders.
Does Clean Code Make a Difference?
Again, yes. By externalizing any code you can and cleaning up tables, you can greatly improve your site. Externalizing JavaScript and CSS helps reduce code bloat which makes the visible text more important — your keyword density goes up, making the page more authoritative. Also, your visible text should appear as close to the top of your HTML code as possible.
Do Keywords in the Domain Name Harm or Help?
The short answer is neither. However, too many keywords in a domain can set off review flags. For example, blue-widgets.com won’t hurt you, but discount-and-cheap-blue-and-red-widgets.com will likely raise flags and trigger a review.
How Many Links Should You Have on Your Sitemap?
Google recommends 100 links per page. While pages with more links can get indexed, it takes much longer. If your site is larger than 100 pages, consider splitting your sitemap into multiple interlinked pages, or create a logical directory structure within your sitemap.
Can Googlebot Follow Links in Flash or JavaScript?
While Googlebot can identify links in JavaScript, it cannot follow them. Nor can it follow links in Flash. Therefore, make sure your navigation links also appear as static HTML somewhere on the page. Research CSS-based menus that output spiderable static hyperlinks as an alternative to JavaScript navigation.
Overall, while nothing earth-shattering was revealed, it was good to get validation from the horse’s mouth. There is enough information out there on forums and blogs — the key is determining which information is valid, and that usually comes with time and experience.
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