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May 24th, 2010 by Susie
Everybody knows Google. In fact one of the defining moments as to when people really understood the stature of Google was back in 2006 when the Oxford English Dictionary announced that Google had been included as a verb. When you know that your company or brand name could be worth six points in a game of countdown, you know you have made it.
The fact that Google is so successful is what makes it so popular, and in turn, its popularity is what makes it so successful. What a fantastic position to be in. For this reason alone, it is easy to understand why a lot of people either embarking on some new search engine optimization techniques or just updating their website effectiveness, turn to Google for help and advice.
Granted, if you are new to the world of search engine optimization or need a bit of a helping hand, Google has some great tools and tips to help you get started. Of course, being the world’s largest online search engine, if anybody knows how to do SEO, Google do.
In a rather ironic turn of events, there have been several identifications of Google not really following its own SEO advice. Of course Google must be doing something right, however if you go back to the basics of web development and creation, is Google actually following its own methods?
If you look at the basic advice Google has to offer for creating a successful website for search engine results pages (SERPs), some of the key things that Google tells us to focus on are title tags and meta tags. Remember the golden rule, your title tag should inform search engines and users what your website or company is and what exactly they do. So, bearing this in mind you would think the title tag for Google would be a little more descriptive than just, Google. Yes that is correct; this one Oxford English Dictionary verb is the actual title tag for this company.
Ok, so you may be wondering what the fuss is, we all understand what Google is, yet surely including the term ‘search engine’ within the title tag would make for a more effective search. The majority of people would search for the Google name, however ironically if a user types ‘search engine’ into the Google search box, Google does not actually appear top. If you do the same on Yahoo, Google does not even appear on the first page.
The same goes with Google’s meta tags, they are barely existent and do not portray the level of detail which Google would tell you to include in yours. Even so, Google is still the biggest, so it must be doing something right?
The fact is that search engine success goes a lot deeper than just your tags and Google is living proof of this. Good content, relevant keywords and strong brand building over time are arguably more important in the long run, maybe Google could improve on this a little, but how much bigger can one company be.
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Matt Cutts has stated several times the meta tags such as the keyword and description tags (not the page title tag) do not affect a website’s positioning in the SERPs. This applies to most if not all major search engines, including Yahoo. Why would Google feel the need to make use of/optimise these tags? What’s more, I wouldn’t assume the neutrality of other search engines when it comes to ranking their large competitors for search engine related terms.