Google Search Essentials to replace Webmaster Guidelines

The Google Webmaster Guidelines are over 20 years old. On October 13, Google thoroughly updated the guidelines and renamed them Google Search Essentials.

Why this change

According to Google “A lot has changed since 2002” with the Internet and Google search in general. For these reasons, Google has streamlined, simplified and updated the updated guidelines. Google did this “to make sure people have clear guidelines for building sites that serve people well,” a Google spokesperson said. Search Engine Land. Google also said that the “goal is to make these guidelines useful and easier to understand and help site owners focus on things that are important to your site.”

The changes at a glance

• name change: from Google Webmaster Guidelines to Google Search Essentials, because Google doesn't think webmaster is a term that is widely used today and/or it is too narrowly focused. This is similar to Google dropping the aforementioned Webmaster Tools for Search Console in 2015.
• Technical requirements: Google has published a new section to help people understand how to publish content in a format that Google Search can index and access that content.
• Spam policy: Google updated its Google Search anti-spam policy guidelines “to help site owners avoid creating content that isn't useful to people using Search,” Google said. Please note that most of the content in this spam policy already exists on Google Search Central. However, Google has made a few additions to provide clearer guidance and concrete examples for issues such as deceptive behavior, link spam, online harassment and scams, and fraud, the company told us.
• Key best practices: Google also released new guidelines that outline key best practices for people to consider when creating sites to create content that serves people and makes a site easier to find through Google Search.

Other changes include organizing the content into a more logical structure and consolidating similar pages.

• Google Search Essentials: Replaces the webmaster guidelines overview page. It contains new sections: technical requirements, spam policies and key best practices.
• Technical requirements for Google Search: Covers what Google needs from a web page to display it in Google Search.
• Google Search spam policy: Replaces the Quality Guidelines section of the Webmaster Guidelines. It has been rewritten to include more relevant examples and to use more precise language. Notable updates include:
  • Spam links: Consolidates previous pages about paid links and link schemes.
  • Malware and malicious behavior: Consolidates information previously listed in the Security section of our site.
  • Hacked content: Consolidates information previously listed in the Security section of our site.
  • Thin affiliate pages: Consolidates previous pages on thin content and affiliate programs.

New sections include:

• Misleading functionality
• Requests to remove copyrights
• Removal of online harassment
• Scams and fraud
• Creating useful, trustworthy, human-centered content (Google's helpful content update)

Article from Search Engine Land