It’s interesting that if you Google the words “How to get your website quickly into Google” or “Secrets for Getting Indexed by Google fast“, you get 1000 of results. And unsurprisingly, many of these web pages will require you to pay sums of money for their secret formula. But buyer beware! There is plenty of free advice available for you and your company. Yes, you read that. Free advice. Unbelievably, not only is it free, it’s actually written by Google themselves. I know, you’re shocked. So where foretell is this advice? Right here, of course: Google’s Webmaster Guidelines

These webmaster guidelines should be read by anyone with a website looking to get into Google. As they state: “Following these guidelines will help Google find, index, and rank your site. Even if you choose not to implement any of these suggestions, we strongly encourage you to pay very close attention to the “Quality Guidelines,” which outline some of the illicit practices that may lead to a site being removed entirely from the Google index or otherwise penalized. If a site has been penalized, it may no longer show up in results on Google.com or on any of Google’s partner sites.”

I know you’re busy, and some of the language might be complex, so let us give you a coles notes version. To start, Google does not require you to pay to submit your site. Nor should you pay for any such sevrice. To get added to the Google index, all you need to do it go to Add your URL to Google, and submit.

But beware of adding an unfinished site to Google. Wait until your site is ready for Google, or ypou will be penalized. You should have relatively finished product before you send Google to look at your site. You also need to have patience for Google to get there once you have submitted your site. Having link from your partners or customer should help you get indexed faster, but choosing where you get your links is like choosing you neighbors. You want nice good behaving neighbors, not loud music at 4 am, drunk passed out on the lawn neighbors. Don’t pay for links and don’t add your url to a link farm. A link farm, is just what is sounds like. A place where there are tons and tons of links–and not much else.

Another to speed up indexing is submitting a sitemap to Google, which will allow you to tell Google where to go, and a robots.txt to tell it where not to. Even if you don’t have a sitemap submitted via Webmaster Tools, consider creating a simple HTML page or text file with all the links of your website (at least to start). Later on, you’ll want to use a software such as gsitecrawler to make this easier for you.

If you did not design the site yourself, make sure you use a quality firm. More on Google’s quality Guidelines later. In terms of content, which is under your control, make sure what a visitor on your site is of quality. A website about cars, should talk about cars. Maybe articles about how to buy and sell them.  Or a listing of cars for sale. It should not have pages about muffin recipes.

By far the most important section of Google’s Webmaster are the Quality Guidelines. Even some seasoned webmasters have not taken the time to read them.  It’s a good idea to read them at least once. Ignorance will not be a defense if you are removed from the Google  index. Below are Google’s Guidelines on Quality:

Quality guidelines - basic principles

• Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don’t deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as “cloaking.”
• Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, “Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?”
• Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
• Don’t use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our Terms of Service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.

Quality guidelines - specific guidelines

• Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
• Don’t use cloaking or sneaky redirects.
• Don’t send automated queries to Google.
• Don’t load pages with irrelevant keywords.
• Don’t create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
• Don’t create pages with malicious behavior, such as phishing or installing viruses, trojans, or other badware.
• Avoid “doorway” pages created just for search engines, or other “cookie cutter” approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.
• If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.

If you determine that your site doesn’t meet these guidelines, you can modify your site so that it does and then submit your site for reconsideration.

As you can see, Google takes quality very seriously. If you have any interest in the success of your company or the company website, it’s important to ensure your website follows these guidelines.  Should you need more help or have questions about these guidelines, leave a message below or contact Mark8t E-Marketing Solutions today.