If the predictions that soon Google Chrome will be bigger than FireFox turn true, SEOs should seriously think about making websites as Chrome-friendly as they can.
Google Chrome tab system:
Chrome tabs are of default set width: even if only a few tabs are open, they will be fairly narrow (in FireFox, the tab size is adjusted to the quantity of the opened tabs) and thus show only minor part of the page title: thus it has become even more important with Google Chrome than with FireFox to make sure that:
- a page title should be short and concise;
- the first part of a page title should preferably be unique (for users to quickly find the one they need if they have multiple tabs opened).
Handling error pages:
If the browser fails to open the URL, it will show the user the following information:
- error details (e.g. page status code);
- more browsing suggestions: e.g. the suggested directory of the non-existent page or the site home page:
- the advice to search within a site for the terms contained in the URL;
- the advice to search Google for the terms contained in the file path (including domain name):
SEO implication:
- now there is even more point in using “SEO friendly” (meaningful, readable) URLs: for Google Chrome to direct the user to the correct destination;
- now there is even more point in making sure your site ranks first for [brand name] – spelled separately – type of searches, because that’s what Google will suggest for the misspelled URL:
- now there is even more point in meaningful (those that can be split up into words) domain names to make sure Google will interpret the misspelled domain name correctly and hence leave a chance for your site to still be found:
“Search results before the search results”
As Aaron Wall correctly pointed out “getting people to search for your brand could be seen as another signal of quality.” So enhancing your brand awareness will be even more important now.
My tabs in Chrome (which I have been trying to use exclusively since its release) are not a set width and do, in fact, adjust to the quantity of tabs open. Am I the only lucky one? :)
The problem is, they are too narrow even if only one or two tabs are open… with more tabs they get even more narrow…
Heh Rand will be exalted to see SEOmoz featured at SEJ :D
Search Engine Journal <3 SEOmoz
Zoran <3 SEOmoz and likes SEJ… you are always on the edge to remove your feed from my reader but still keep it for years, that means something.
Wow, on the edge of RSS removal for years? Well, thanks for keeping us around :)
SEJ <3 Zoran & SEOmoz!
Heh you know you are on the edge some SEO websites publish too much and content becomes not good. you tend to follow mainstream and publish “news” but from time to time you have great original and useful articles that keep me reading you.
do not worry just keep up on good work and you will get even recommendations from me to my friends as I use to recommend your good articles
Thanks for the info…very valuable. It all reinforces sticking to good SEO principles :)
That’s really a good info for me. I’m trying to learn more about SEO. Thanks a lot.
Error pages are much better handled by configuring your own error pages on the server (most hosting accounts allow you to do this). You can them make this error page appear in the style of your site which looks considerably more professional, plus it prevents your visitor from leaving your site via Chrome’s search field.
For an example, see here: http://wordpress.org/thisisnotarealpage.htm
@Phil, valid point. The main thing is to mind your header status code (see latest Google advice on this) as Google seems to discourage people from using “soft” error pages.
Besides, if the DOMAIN name is spelled incorrectly (like it is described in the post), this won’t help anyway.
Thanks Ann,
I’ve been recommending to others and telling clients for years that they should put their domain name and/or brand name at the end of the Title Tag and not the beginning. Now I have another valid example of why you should put a descriptive keyword phrase at the beginning of your Title Tag’s and not your domain name.
I have to say that SEJ gets consumed before SEOmoz every time and is never on the edge of my RSS; SER and SEL went months ago!
Having said that I’m not sure it’s worth shortening page titles for Chrome just yet – still valuable SEO real estate…
thanx for the article..
you tend to follow mainstream and publish “news” but from time to time you have great original and useful articles that keep me reading you.
do not worry just keep up on good work and you will get even recommendations from me to my friends as I use to recommend your good articles
I’ve noticed my webpages load into most browzers
at a nice size
Yet when a Google Chrome browzer isused the web page is very small
is there a solution to this?
Peter
i am thankful to your post.
really helpful info.
Keep Them Coming.
From
http://www.qacampus.com
Outsource software testing
http://www.crestech.in
I love crome, thanks for the tips on how to optimise for it.