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Monday, May 12, 2008
At Google, our #1 priority is providing users with rich and useful content in our search results.
Here are a few tips on creating a great user experience for your content-rich site.
Provide highly relevant content
Establish a clear focus for your site, and create content that's strongly relevant to that focus.
Try not to fill your site with irrelevant content. Once you've chosen your site's subject matter,
think about how further categorization could be helpful. For instance, if your site is about baby
care, think about grouping your content into categories such as Health care, Diseases, or
Education. It's also a good idea to pick a relevant domain name that's easy for your audience to
remember.
Create user-friendly navigation and page layout
A good user interface is critical for any website—including Google; it creates a good first
impression and is critical to how users navigate your site. If you want to include multimedia
elements like Flash in your design, make sure that your pages can still be indexed by Google.
Check out our blog post on
Best uses of Flash.
Make things easy for your users
For instance, you could provide a search box for your users to search within your site; or show
your users a little TLC (Tender Loving Care) by creating a survey on
the home page. Some users can't view images or have very slow connections—improve their
experiences (and the indexability of your site!) by making sure your images have useful and
appropriate alt text.
Provide original content
Your site's users are looking for something unique—content that can't be found elsewhere.
When someone enters your site, they might want to see something unique. Copying content from other
sites creates a negative user experience (and scraping content can
negatively impact your site's ranking in our search results).
If you really need to use content from another site, respect copyright and credit the original
source (and provide a link). Try to reorganize and augment the content, so that it fits better
with your own site's focus and style. If you provide multimedia content such as video or music,
text descriptions of these are always useful. It's also smart to consider embedding this content
directly on your pages, so users can enjoy it without having to leave your site.
Valid and easy-to-find contact information will help you get direct feedback from your users. If
you have a forum or a guest book on your site, better make sure it never be abused by spammers.
Check out
How to prevent comment spam.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eGoogle prioritizes providing users with rich and relevant content in search results, urging websites to focus on user experience to achieve this.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWebsites should provide highly relevant, original content within a clear structure, utilizing categories and a relevant domain name for better organization.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUser-friendly navigation, page layout, and accessibility features like alt text are essential to enhance the browsing experience for all users.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWebsite owners are encouraged to ensure their site is well-maintained, secure, and provides easy-to-find contact information while guarding against spam.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eOffering unique content, multimedia with text descriptions, and respecting copyright are crucial aspects of creating a valuable and user-friendly website.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["To enhance user experience, prioritize highly relevant content aligned with a clear site focus and utilize user-friendly navigation. Make sites accessible by ensuring multimedia is indexed and images have alt text. Offer original, unique content, avoiding copied material and crediting sources when necessary. Maintain site security and provide accessible contact information to gather user feedback. Overall, these practices improve user satisfaction and site ranking.\n"],null,["# Great user experience for content sites\n\nMonday, May 12, 2008\n\n\nAt Google, our #1 priority is providing users with rich and useful content in our search results.\nHere are a few tips on creating a great user experience for your content-rich site.\n\nProvide highly relevant content\n-------------------------------\n\n\nEstablish a clear focus for your site, and create content that's strongly relevant to that focus.\nTry not to fill your site with irrelevant content. Once you've chosen your site's subject matter,\nthink about how further categorization could be helpful. For instance, if your site is about baby\ncare, think about grouping your content into categories such as Health care, Diseases, or\nEducation. It's also a good idea to pick a relevant domain name that's easy for your audience to\nremember.\n\nCreate user-friendly navigation and page layout\n-----------------------------------------------\n\n\nA good user interface is critical for any website---including Google; it creates a good first\nimpression and is critical to how users navigate your site. If you want to include multimedia\nelements like Flash in your design, make sure that your pages can still be indexed by Google.\nCheck out our blog post on\n[Best uses of Flash](/search/blog/2007/07/best-uses-of-flash).\n\nMake things easy for your users\n-------------------------------\n\n\nFor instance, you could provide a search box for your users to search within your site; or show\nyour users a little TLC (Tender Loving Care) by creating a survey on\nthe home page. Some users can't view images or have very slow connections---improve their\nexperiences (and the indexability of your site!) by making sure your images have useful and\nappropriate alt text.\n\nProvide original content\n------------------------\n\n\nYour site's users are looking for something unique---content that can't be found elsewhere.\nWhen someone enters your site, they might want to see something unique. Copying content from other\nsites creates a negative user experience (and scraping content can\n[negatively impact your site's ranking in our search results](/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/thin-content)).\nIf you really need to use content from another site, respect copyright and credit the original\nsource (and provide a link). Try to reorganize and augment the content, so that it fits better\nwith your own site's focus and style. If you provide multimedia content such as video or music,\ntext descriptions of these are always useful. It's also smart to consider embedding this content\ndirectly on your pages, so users can enjoy it without having to leave your site.\n\nKeep your site well maintained\n------------------------------\n\n\nGetting hacked is a nightmare. Make sure you check your site for any potential security issues on\na regular basis. Check out\n[Tips for cleaning and Securing Your Website](https://www.stopbadware.org/home/security).\n\n\nValid and easy-to-find contact information will help you get direct feedback from your users. If\nyou have a forum or a guest book on your site, better make sure it never be abused by spammers.\nCheck out\n[How to prevent comment spam](/search/blog/2007/11/tips-for-reducing-comment-spam).\n\nBy Xiang Meng , Search Quality Team"]]
