Google’s Newly Revamped SEO Starter Guide: Bringing Best Practices Into the Mobile Era

December 16, 2017

The SEO Starter Guide

A lot has changed since Google released its SEO Starter Guide. Even though it was published just seven years ago, that’s essentially an eon online.

The SEO Starter Guide has long been a go-to resource for search optimization. It, along with the Webmaster Academy, outlined all of the best practices that make a website search-friendly. Today, that’s no longer the case.

In an effort to reduce duplicate information and make the resources more useful, Google has done away with the Webmaster Academy entirely and revamped the SEO Starter Guide. The guide now contains the contents of both resources along with a number of other additions that bring SEO best practices into our modern era of Internet use.

The SearchRPM team is here to decipher what’s new and why it matters for your SEO. Here’s a closer look at why the SEO Starter Guide was updated and a few of the big takeaways.

The Major Reason Behind Revamping the SEO Starter Guide

If the revamp can be chalked up to a single reason it’s mobile. Google has made big moves in recent years to reflect the importance of mobile search. Now that people are surfing the Internet on mobile devices more than desktop computers, Google is shaping their rankings around mobile websites. 

In 2015 Google expanded mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. Then in 2016 Google announced the mobile-first index. Now, the SEO Starter Guide has been rewritten to put emphasis on mobile optimization.

Google cited that they updated the SEO starter guide to “help webmasters create modern, search-engine-friendly websites.” A new section on building mobile-friendly websites is one of the major updates for the SEO Starter Guide. Google makes it pretty clear mobile websites should take priority in terms of optimization.

Another key addition to the guide is advice on how to piggyback on another website’s strong reputation. In other words, more ways links are vital for optimization. And surprisingly, in the updated guide Google highly recommends that website owners hire SEO experts. There’s an entire section on the importance of SEO and implementing it correctly. It also stresses that website owners should understand why certain strategies work in order to find a reputable SEO professional.

Our Austin SEO company, like all effective SEO companies, has to stay on top of Google updates. While we fully understand how to implement SEO best practices, the updated SEO Starter Guide gives us insight into what Google considers to be the most important factors for search success. Clearly, Google is once again making mobile the centerpiece for search engine rankings. 

Need help putting Google’s latest SEO advice to use? SearchRPM’s SEO consulting service provides the guidance you need to compete in the search results. Start today by using our online tool to audit your website.