Google Opens the Lid on SEO

New to SEO and not sure where to start?

Experienced, but looking for insight into the Google group mind?

Either way, you'll be excited to learn that today Google released a Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.

I haven't had time to read it all the way through yet, but upon cursory inspection it looks like a great resource and something I wish I had been able to read a long time ago. There's definitely some new information that I haven't come across before. Awesome. If nothing else, at least it levels the playing field a bit by taking some of the mystery out of SEO and gives beginners a good place to start.

(Although, it does lack the cartoon fun of the Chrome .pdf. But hey, maybe that's not so bad.)

Anyway, according to the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog:

Our Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide covers around a dozen common areas that webmasters might consider optimizing. We felt that these areas (like improving title and description meta tags, URL structure, site navigation, content creation, anchor text, and more) would apply to webmasters of all experience levels and sites of all sizes and types. Throughout the guide, we also worked in many illustrations, pitfalls to avoid, and links to other resources that help expand our explanation of the topics. We plan on updating the guide at regular intervals with new optimization suggestions and to keep the technical advice current.

So, the next time we get the question, "I'm new to SEO, how do I improve my site?", we can say, "Well, here's a list of best practices that we use inside Google that you might want to check out."

Written by Brandon Falls, Search Quality Team