Google Offers First US-Based Online Site Clinic

For the first time, Google will provide advice to webmasters via a US-based site clinic on Google’s Webmaster Central blog. The company’s announcement says that members of Google’s Search Quality team “will determine trends and share corresponding best practices to improve site quality and user experience.”

Google may be very purposely avoiding any mention of “SEO advice” in this announcement. They’ve offered similar clinics before in Spain, India, and Norway. In the latter, Google’s post specifically suggested that its employees’ advice might help make participating websites “better geared toward search engines, which will give better results in such as Google search.” That led many in the SEO industry to cry foul that Google was offering SEO advice (even though they’ve been doing that for years at various conferences and via other venues, too).

This latest site clinic is strictly for non-profit websites and requires that participating sites already be registered and verified in Google Webmaster Tools. Google is accepting submissions here through November 8th.