Are you looking for the best ways to optimize SEO for google sites? You will learn everything you need to know about how to improve SEO for your google site and how to make it more SEO-friendly. So that your websites get indexed and rank better in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for certain keywords.
Google Sites, like any other type of website created with a content management system (CMS), such as WordPress and Wix, are optimized for SEO and can be ranked in the SERPs for relevant search queries. In the following guide (part ), you will learn how to optimize SEO for Google sites.
What is SEO for Google Sites?
SEO for Google Sites is the process of optimizing Google Sites so that they rank better in search engines for relevant keywords. A good SEO strategy for Google Sites focuses on important HTML elements that are used by search engines for indexing and ranking content in the SERPs.
How To Optimize SEO for Google Sites?
Here are the best ways to optimize SEO for google sites that will make your blog post rank high in SERPs:
- Optimize the Page Title for SEO
- Optimize the Headings
- Use SEO Keywords in the Content
- Use Keywords in the URL
- Use Good Image SEO
- Improve Thematic Relevance for SEO
- Create Internal Links
- Optimize Google Page Navigation
- Use Google Stacking for SEO
- Build Backlinks to Google Sites
- Keep the Google Pages up to Date
1. Optimize the Page Title for SEO.
The next tip for effective Google Sites SEO is to optimize the page title for your main keyword. The page title is also known as the "meta title" because it appears in the meta title tag of the HTML code. And this title tag is one of the most important ranking factors for on-page SEO.
When properly optimized, Google will display your custom SEO page title in the SERPs for your website, i.e. the link that visitors click on to visit your website. Therefore, it is important to use your main landing page keyword in this HTML position as this will improve on-page SEO and user click-through rates (CTR).
Click on the title of the page that is currently displayed at the top of the Google Sites template and alter it to contain your most crucial keyword for the page. You can also include a brand name if you want, but the most important keyword should be the first piece of text in that HTML location.
2. Optimize the Headings.
There are three types of headings you can utilize on a Google Sites page: H1, H2, and H3. These headings are important for search engine optimization because Google crawls these HTML tags to understand the outline, structure, and content of the page. So, using your target keywords in the headings of a Google site will improve search engine optimization for higher rankings in SERPs.
Unlike other CMS platforms like WordPress where you can choose the right HTML heading for your content (H1, H2, and H3), Google Sites does not refer to these headings in the same way; however, they are properly coded in the HTML code after the site is published.
Google Sites uses its own naming system in the page editor, as described below:
- Title = H1
- Heading = H2
- Subheading = H3
When optimizing your Google pages for search engine optimization, you should follow these guidelines for headings:
- Title: use only one title for each page and make it the first piece of text at the top of the page. Use your main target keyword in the title section, which becomes the H1 tag.
- Heading: Use as many headings as necessary to outline the content for the reader. Try to put one of your secondary keywords in each heading so that each secondary keyword can be crawled in its own H2 tag.
- Subheadings: use as many subheadings (H3) as necessary under each heading (H2). Subheadings are meant to be subsets of headings, so don't just randomly create subheadings on the page. Include variations (synonyms) of your keywords in the subheadings so you don't over-optimize the H3 tags for exact match keywords in SEO.
3. Use SEO Keywords in the Content.
After providing your Google pages with an optimized title, headings and subheadings, the next step is to include each of your keywords in the main content of the page. Google's web crawler scans the words on the page to understand what the content is about so it can be indexed for relevant keywords in the SERPs.
To optimize the content of a Google site for SEO, add your keywords to the following sections:
- Introduction: include as many of your keywords in the introduction as you can without sounding unnatural. You can usually include 2-3 keywords in this section of the page for search engine optimization.
- Body Content: Spread your keywords throughout the main content of the page. For shorter pages (under 1,000 words), insert your main and secondary keywords once. For longer pages (over 1,000 words), insert your target SEO keywords 1-2 times naturally.
- Summary: Include a summary (or conclusion) on each Google Sites page. Then try to put as many of your keywords as possible in the last 100-200 words, making the text sound natural.
4. Use Keywords in the URL.
Many SEO experts believe that the URL is another important factor in search engine optimization. Therefore, you should maximize the search engine optimization of this field for your most important keywords on Google Sites.
Each web page on your Google Sites should be optimized for its own main keyword, and the URL should reflect that. For example, if your target SEO keyword is "pay-for-performance SEO," the URL structure for that page should be "/pay-for-performance-seo." And remember to use hyphens (-) between words, not underscores, which Google doesn't recognize as word separators.
To customize new page URLs on Google Sites, click the "Publish" button and add your main target keyword with hyphens in the "Web Address" field to make it SEO-friendly. To edit the URL for an existing page, click the "Publish Settings" option under the "Publish" button. This is what the URL should look like when you're done: https://sites.google.com/view/your-keyword-here
Note: Each URL must be unique and the keyword structure you choose may be taken from another Google site. If that's the case, simply add one or two more words to the end of your URL until it passes inspection.
5. Use Good Image SEO.
Another area where you can optimize Google Sites is the images you upload. Google crawls the readable text attached to these images and uses it to index your site for relevant keywords. The images also appear in Google Image Search when properly optimized for SEO, giving your Google Sites another source of organic search traffic.
Before uploading an image to your Google site, you need to select a target keyword for the image that's relevant to the page. Then you need to name the image file after that target keyword, with hyphens (-) between each word. For example, if your SEO keyword is "Google Sites Tips", the file name for a corresponding image should be "google-sites-tips.jpg".
Next, you need to upload the image to the Google Sites page. After that, you need to optimize the ALT text box for the corresponding keyword. However, you must also make sure that you describe the image correctly because this field is used by screen readers to interpret the image for people with disabilities who cannot see the image on the screen.
A good way to optimize ALT text for search engine optimization is to include your target keyword while accurately describing the image. For example, you could use a website app like Canva to create a custom image with the words "Google Sites Tips" over a background with a smiling business owner. A good ALT text might then read, "Google Sites Tips: Smiling Business Owner".
6. Improve Thematic Relevance for SEO.
If you're serious about optimizing your Google sites for SEO, you need more than one page on your site. It's very rare for one-page websites to rank in Google for their target keywords.
A simple SEO strategy you can use to improve rankings for your Google Sites is to improve thematic relevance. This is done by creating new web pages that deal with the same topic. This signals to the Google algorithm that your Google Sites are an authority in the field.
7. Create Internal Links.
Following on from the last Google Sites SEO tip, you can further improve your website's search engine optimization by creating internal links that are optimized for your target keywords. SEO tests show that Google's crawler uses the anchor text for internal links to understand which keywords the target page should rank for in the search engine.
To use this SEO strategy, you simply need to link relevant pages with keyword-rich anchor text. These internal links contain the target keyword, which gives the Google algorithm the signals it needs to rank the page better in the SERPs.
8. Optimize Google Page Navigation.
The navigation menu for your Google Sites is not only important to users but also an area you can optimize for SEO. Links that appear in the main navigation signal to Google and other search engines that the content is very important to the user and should be given more visibility in the SERPs.
You should ensure that the most important pages on your Google Sites are included in the main navigation menu and optimized for SEO accordingly. The pages are automatically added to the navigation, but they do not always have the best anchor text.
As already mentioned in the previous tip, Google uses the anchor text for internal links to find out for which keywords the target page should rank in the SERPs. Therefore, you should change the name of the menu item for each page so that it is your most important target keyword for that page.
To optimize your Google Sites navigation menu items, click on the Pages tab in the right sidebar. Then click on the three dots (...) next to a menu item. Then click on "Properties" and change the name to the most important target SEO keyword. Click on "Done" to save the change.
9. Use Google Stacking for SEO.
Google Stacking is an advanced SEO strategy for Google Sites that allows you to build on the existing authority of the Google domain. This technique builds (or stacks) links on Google platforms to other entity assets such as a company's website to improve its backlink profile. Common platforms for Google Stacking include Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms, and Slides, which are stacked for SEO.
This method works because Google properties have high domain authority. In addition, some of this validity can be passed to the target website through backlinks, which will increase the value of PageRank for SEO. This is especially useful for local search engine optimization, where competition for local SEO keywords is usually easier.
10. Build Backlinks to Google Sites.
When it comes to ranking in the SERPs, . And for some competitive keywords, a Google site needs quality backlinks to improve keyword positions.
Therefore, you should actively build links to your Google sites to improve off-page SEO, which is a ranking factor in Google's algorithm. Check out these related guides for link-building tips:
- List of free backlink sites
- How to build backlinks for free.
- How to get high-quality backlinks
- How to get backlinks from Google
11. Keep the Google Pages up to Date.
After you have properly optimized your Google pages for search engine optimization, you also need to update the website regularly to get high keyword rankings. Otherwise, your visibility in the SERPs may drop.
For some topics, Google has found that users want to see new and up-to-date content. Therefore, the algorithm uses a process called Query Deserves Freshness (QDF) to increase visibility in the SERPs for web pages that meet the QDF requirements. This means that you should constantly update the content on Google Sites to keep it relevant to searchers.
The same goes for adding new content to the site. Outdated websites tend to drop in rankings over time. A good habit to get into for search engine optimization, therefore, is to publish at least 1-2 new pages per month on your Google Sites that are optimized for the target keywords that help strengthen the site's topical relevance.
Conclusion
As you have learned, Google Sites SEO is the process of optimizing Google Sites to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords. And just like other popular CMS platforms such as Wix and WordPress, certain HTML elements can be optimized for SEO on Google Sites to increase the visibility of the content to search engine users. Go to SEO on-page and off-page optimization
