Google Updates SEO Starter Guide Documentation

On February 2, 2024, Google announced an update to its SEO starter guide to better cater to beginner audiences.

Originally created in 2008, this guide underwent updates in 2010 and 2017. Now, the document has been refreshed with shorter and simpler content.

What's Updated?

Google's SEO starter guide, initially a 22-page PDF tailored to serve as a reference for SEO novices based on Google's rules, has been given a makeover.

However, in this update, Google declared that the guide is now condensed and focuses on basic SEO topics to aid beginners.

Here are some changes Google made - removals, summarizations, and additions:

Removed Sections

In their announcement, Google listed several sections of the SEO starter guide that were removed:

• Glossary:  Previously, Google included a glossary in its guide. However, now these terms are explained directly within each context, rendering a glossary unnecessary.
• Structured Data: Google deemed this topic too technical for beginners and hence not crucial to include in the SEO starter guide.
• Mobile-Friendliness Topic: Google also considered that by now, most websites have adopted mobile-friendly approaches, making it unnecessary to discuss in this guide.
• Site Performance Analysis: The topic of analyzing site performance is seen as advanced. Therefore, Google recommends mastering the basics of SEO before delving into advanced topics like analyzing a site.

Summarized Sections

Aside from removing some sections deemed irrelevant, Google also condensed certain sections in the guide to keep it concise and focused on the core guidelines. Here are some sections of the SEO starter guide that were summarized:

• "Is Your Site on Google?": This section was simplified into one part covering how to check if a site is on Google.
• "Do I Need SEO?": This part was summarized into just 2 sentences because Google has a separate page discussing this topic comprehensively. Additionally, Google also trimmed the snippet and title link sections for the same reason.
• Image Section: This section was shortened with a focus on alt text for beginners. If users wish to learn more about images and best practices, Google provides a separate guide.
• Link Section: Without compromising the conveyed message, Google concentrated more on the benefits of link usage.

Added Content

In addition to removals and summarizations, Google also added new discussions to the SEO starter guide. Here's the list:

• Duplicate Content Discussion: Google added a definition of duplicate content and ways to fix it.
• SEO Theories: A new addition by Google is the section "Things you should not focus on." In this section, Google emphasizes some theories that shouldn't be overly focused on in SEO techniques. Some of these include meta keywords, keyword stuffing, PageRank, content length, and others.

Some of the above updates are deemed to simplify the learning process of SEO basics in line with Google's values. However, for SEO experts, the guide may seem too basic.

SEO Specialists' Response

As usual, when Google makes updates, SEO experts discuss and share their opinions. Here are some user opinions we gathered from forum X:

Google's E-A-T is one of the points emphasized by SEO practitioners. This is because Google mentions it in the "things not to focus on" category. However, this contradicts the theory that E-A-T is an important ranking factor.

From the X discussion screenshot above, it's evident that users are still confused about understanding Google's intent regarding content.

On several occasions, Google has encouraged website owners to write content solely to meet user needs. However, with this guide, Google seems to be pushing web owners to write content with the aim of getting rankings.

In addition to criticizing Google, many X users also expressed that this guide can assist beginners in implementing SEO. Fortunately, Google also includes SEO theories that don't need attention.

Thus, here's the announcement regarding Google's SEO starter guide changes aimed at beginners. Moving forward, Google will also create clearer documentation as a guide for website owners and marketing teams to understand how Google works.