Google houses an incredible amount of information about how to get your site up, running and ranked in the dominate search engine. Between the Support pages, the information tucked away in Webmaster Central, the forums, and the content they share on blogs, any question a webmaster could have about their site has probably already been answered. However, because the content is spread out and so vast, it can be pretty hard to find the answer you’re looking for, especially for SMBs who aren’t as familiar with terminology or concepts as they’d like to be.
Lucky for us, Google is helping to solve this problem with the help of the recently announced Google Webmaster Academy.
Garen Checkly from the Google Search Quality Team, has announced the creation of the new Webmaster Academy which Google says is “designed to walk business owners through the information they need to get their site up and running in easy to understand steps”. Finally, the answers you were looking for, centralized so you can actually find them.
As the name suggests, the content in Webmaster Academy will be laid out in a syllabus-style format where site owners will be able to navigate between 19 different subject lessons to improve their knowledge and increase their visibility in the Google search results.
There’s a little something for everyone here as topics range from:
- How to get online for free
- Creating a Google Places listing
- Using Google+
- Adding your site to Webmaster Tools
- Making your site easy for Google to crawl
- What makes great content
- And a lot more!
Once you click into any of the subject areas, Google will provide a tutorial on that topic, defining key terms and processes, offering links to inking off to additional Google resources, and providing video instruction, where applicable. For Google, this is a great way to highlight all of the content they have in their arsenal and make it findable. As a business owner, this is a great way to benefit from all the free resources that Google has created for webmasters. I especially like that Google is providing links for SMBs to dig even deeper into topic areas. It turns the Academy into an even more valuable resource than it would be on its own.
If you want to “graduate” from the Google Webmaster Academy, simply hit all 19 sessions and Google will acknowledge your effort.
However, the real payoff will come when you’re able to implement all of this new knowledge on your Web site and see your site attract not only new rankings, but new visitors. And if you follow all of the advice Google so clearly lays out here, you should have no problem doing that.
Thank you for this great post. I’ve put Google Academy on my list of things to check out.
Anita Campbell
Hi Tomas, I think the Google Webmaster Academy is fantastic for small businesses with minimal knowledge about search and their sites. It’s also a good refresher checklist for those with intermediate levels of knowledge. Basically it’s a checklist of readings — once you cover everything you will know the basics of what you should do to improve your website’s position in the search engines.
– Anita
I’ll definitely check this out as soon as I can. I know it’s a must-join as soon as I read the “Creating a Google Places listing” item in the list.
Thanks for this information. I will definitelycomplete these courses and let others know as well.
Leah
Great article and so helpful! I’m eager to try out the Google tools. I think so many people ignore the power that Google+ can have. While it may not be as popular as Facebook, the fact that it’s integrated into Google Search is huge.
And for those of you doubting whether Google+ will ever come of age, this serves as another reminder that Google is pushing as hard as they can to increase adoption. This is their push toward the SMB market. Just get in there and do it.
I find Google always helpful and now I would love to join this academy. Google is always creating new things to develop interest of people that’s why I like it the most. Thanks Lisa for posting this informative article.
Thanks for this news, Lisa.
I had no idea that Google was going to do this.
It’s a great idea, and it’s a win-win.
Google owns the search space, so it makes sense that they would want to teach website owners how to maximize their potential…and get found online.
I’ll bet that Google will sell a few more Adwords placements, too.
The Franchise King®
Jason C. Waite
Yo!
Thanks for the AWESOME post and NUGGETS to explore!!
Jason
Georgi Vasilev
Definately will put Google Academy to my daily check list. Thanks
This is an absolutely fantastic resource. As a small business owner myself, learning about the ins and out of search has been key to our success. The search world is very competitive and SEO can seem like black magic — this tool will really help a number of businesses!
Bilal Ahmad
Google always helps webmasters and this is just another step. I agree with Joel, it is actually Google’s responsibility to teach webmasters about their services.
Paul started his online venture when he was 16 years
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