Google Sites is a simple website builder, part of the Google Workspace suite. The application is available for both personal and corporate users. While this tool is most often used for creating internal materials and presenting information to colleagues, it can also be used to create a publicly accessible website. In such cases, it's worth considering SEO.
SEO and Google Sites
Creating a page on Google Sites doesn't require any programming knowledge, and the tool itself is designed to look equally good on both desktop and mobile devices. This makes it even more valuable – many organizations use this application to create internal pages where employees can access the information they need.
Websites can aid in the onboarding process, announce company events, or serve as a platform for aggregating data about ongoing projects. These types of sites are targeted at internal audiences and, as a result, don't necessarily need to be properly designed to increase their visibility in search engines. For this reason, Google Sites' capabilities in this area are severely limited.
This doesn't mean, however, that those who want to create a publicly accessible website (e.g., a business card) using Sites have their hands tied when it comes to SEO . A website created on Google Sites should follow the same rules as any other website. The content on the site is crucial.
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Content optimization on Google Sites
To improve your website's visibility in search engines , it's worth considering the advice provided by search engine developers. What does Google have to say about this? Here are some tips from their help center:
- Choose the appropriate description – Use titles on your pages that are relevant to their content. If you offer multiple products or write about different topics, create a separate subpage for each one,
- Be meticulous in describing your offer – robots will not index content that you do not add to the website,
- Keep your seasonal product information up to date – if your product range varies depending on the season, remember to focus on those elements of the offer that are most sought after by users at a given time,
- Keep your website up to date – Remember that your website should primarily serve the people who visit it. Therefore, it's important to ensure that users always find up-to-date content,
- Use text – Presenting information solely in the form of images or videos significantly complicates the work of crawlers, who find it more difficult to understand such a message than to interpret text. Even if you present important information graphically (e.g., page names or subpage titles), remember to also include this data in written form.
- Get links from other sites – try to ensure that your website is also referenced in other places on the Internet.
SEO in Google Sites – the most important optimization steps
Now that we know the general principles of optimizing website content for SEO, let's see what else we can do when designing a Google Sites page to better rank for specific search queries.
1. Change visibility permissions
The first—and perhaps fundamental—step when it comes to SEO on Google Sites is to change your site's settings so that it's widely accessible online. As mentioned, Sites are often used by companies to create internal content, so their access rights are by default limited to members of the organization.
Publishing your page publicly on the internet means that both global web users and crawlers will be able to see your site. To change your settings, click the Share with Others icon in the upper right corner of the screen , and then select Public in the Published Site section.
2. Use keywords in your headlines
Google Sites has three levels of headings – H1, H2, and H3. Using keywords in these headings is important for SEO because search engines analyze HTML tags to better understand a page's structure and content. Unfortunately, Sites doesn't directly reference these HTML elements, and Google has opted for its own naming convention, which is as follows:
- H1 is the Title,
- H2 is Heading,
- H3 is Subtitle.
To mark some content as one of the HTML headings, place the cursor in the selected paragraph and then select the appropriate option from the menu that appears above.
3. Remember to properly describe graphic elements
Another thing to remember is to include keywords in the descriptions of your page's graphic elements. This applies to both the image name itself and its alt text.
For example, if one of the search terms you want to rank your website for is a summer dress, remember to name the file with a photo of this type of clothing, e.g., letni-sukienka.jpg (separating the words that make up the phrase with a hyphen).
Once you've added an image to your project, make sure to also set alt text for it. To do this in the Sites app, click the image you're interested in, and when the menu appears, select the three dots icon and then " Add Alt Text."
Alt text not only serves web crawlers but is also read by tools that help blind and visually impaired people navigate the web . So, be sure to describe what's actually in the image here. Referring to the previous example, the aforementioned photo could be described as " A tapered waist, red, summer dress made of linen."
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4. Optimize your menu
You can also optimize your website's menu for SEO . When you create a new page on Sites, its name will automatically be added to the menu. However, it's important to ensure that each page's address contains the appropriate keywords. Since automatically generated keywords likely won't meet this requirement, each address should be edited manually.
To optimize the URLs for individual subpages, select the Pages tab in the right sidebar, then click the three-dot icon that appears next to the subpage name when you hover over it. Select Properties from the context menu.
In the window that appears, expand the Advanced option and, in the Custom Path field, enter an SEO phrase (separating individual words with a hyphen) that will be relevant to the given subpage. Click Done to save the change.
5. Connect your website to Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps website owners monitor their website's ranking in search results. This tool allows you to troubleshoot content indexing issues, view traffic data for your site, and see where links to your site are located on the internet, among other things.
Google Search Console provides a wealth of information that will help you make better decisions about optimizing your website for keywords in the future . Detailed information about this tool can be found in our article, "Google Search Console: A User Guide ." You'll also learn how to connect your website to it (including those created using Google Sites).
>> Google Search Console: User Guide <
6. Connect to your Google Analytics website
Finally, we'd like to mention another free tool that helps with SEO on websites: Google Analytics. It helps you better understand how users behave on your site and where they're coming from . Based on this data, you can better manage your website content in the future.
To connect Google Analytics to your Sites page, click the gear icon in the main menu, go to the Statistics tab and paste your Analytics property ID in the field there.
Websites and Google Workspace
As mentioned at the beginning, Sites is one of the tools included in the larger Google Workspace suite . The service is available in four subscription plans, starting at just 23 PLN per user per month. In addition to Sites, you'll also get email with your own domain, communication tools (Chat, Spaces, Meet), cloud storage, and a suite of office productivity programs (Docs, Sheets, Slides).
Moreover, to better serve its customers, Google has created a network of partners supporting local entities. In the Polish market, FOTC , a Wrocław-based company, is a prime example. In addition to discounts on packages, it offers its customers 24/7 Polish-language technical support, PLN invoices, and a longer trial period (30 days versus 14 days with Google). Therefore, remember that if you're looking to implement Google Workspace, using a local Google Cloud partner will likely be more beneficial than purchasing a license directly from the vendor.
Google Sites FAQs
This free website builder, offered as part of the Google ecosystem, allows you to quickly and intuitively create simple websites, company business cards, portfolio pages, and internal portals (intranets) for employees.
No, and that's one of the biggest advantages of this tool. The platform is based on an incredibly simple and intuitive drag-and-drop editor. Building a website feels more like creating a presentation than traditional coding.
Google Sites is fully integrated with the entire Google Workspace environment. This means you can embed any Google Drive file into your website with just a few clicks—including Maps, Calendars, Sheets, Forms, Slides, and YouTube videos.
Yes. All available templates and elements added to the website are responsive by default (RWD). The website code automatically adjusts to the user's screen size, ensuring correct and aesthetic display on both computer monitors and smartphones.
Of course. Although the default address for a published website is a rather long one on a free Google domain, the system allows you to easily and freely add your own custom URL (e.g., yourcompany.pl), which builds a professional brand image.
On the one hand, these sites are indexed very quickly and efficiently by Google robots. On the other, however, this builder has very limited capabilities for advanced technical SEO optimization. It won't replace fully developed CMS systems (like WordPress), so it's best suited for smaller, simpler projects where aggressive SEO isn't a priority.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Google Sites is a simple page builder from Google Workspace, primarily used for internal content, but can also be used as a public website requiring SEO.
- Content optimization requires appropriate titles, updates, using text instead of just images, and acquiring external links.
- Key SEO steps include: making your website public, including keywords in H1-H3 headings, optimizing image descriptions, and adjusting URL paths in the menu.
- Connecting Google Search Console and Google Analytics allows you to monitor your positions, analyze your traffic, and make better optimization decisions.
Monika Zając has been involved in content marketing for over 10 years. Throughout her career, she has created content for brands such as Santander Bank, Żabka, ISOVER, Meble FORTE, and Raben. In her free time, she makes mugs from which she then drinks coffee.
