What Google's starter guide covers
Google publishes its own SEO starter guide. It is free, and it is written by the company that runs the search engine. This page walks through its main ideas in plain words, so you can check your own site against them.
Each section below says what the idea is, what to check on your site, and what Scaup does about it. Scaup is not a reporting tool. It improves your own website every day, and you can switch on review so nothing goes live until you approve it. It works with WordPress, Wix and GitHub-connected sites.
One thing to keep in mind from Google's guidance: content should be written for people first, not to manipulate rankings. Everything below follows from that.
Titles and descriptions
The title. This is the headline of your page in search results. Google's guidance says title links are generated automatically, using several sources: the title tag, the main visual title on the page, heading elements such as the main heading, and even anchor text from links pointing to the page. Google also says title links are often the main thing people use to decide which result to click, so the title text is worth getting right.
What to check: does each page have its own title that says what the page is about? Is the title in the same language as the page? Is it left over from an old version, such as an out-of-date year? Google says it adjusts titles it finds inaccurate or obsolete, which means you lose control of the wording.
The meta description. This is a short summary you write for each page. Google says a snippet is the description part of a search result, created mostly from the page content, and that it sometimes uses the meta description when that describes the page better. Google compares a good one to a pitch that convinces someone the page is what they are looking for.
What to check: is every page description different? Google says identical descriptions across pages are not helpful. Is each one a real summary, not a list of keywords?
What Scaup does. Scaup rewrites weak titles and descriptions one page at a time, using the words already on your site and the searches you want to be found for. The wording stays in your voice, and you can review each change before it goes live.
Headings and links
Headings. Google's guidance says the mobile and desktop versions of a page should use the same clear, meaningful headings. For a title link, Google also looks at the main visible heading, so one distinctive main heading helps. If a page has several equally large headings, Google may not know which one is the real title.
What to check: does each page have one clear main heading that says what the page is about? Do the sub-headings describe the sections under them?
Links. Google says every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site. It also says Google can generally only follow links that are proper a elements with an href address. The words inside the link matter too. Google advises against vague text like “click here” or “read more.” A simple test from Google: read only the link text, out of context. If you cannot tell what the page is about, the text needs more description.
What to check: are there pages nobody links to? Do your links use descriptive words?
What Scaup does. Scaup improves headings that say nothing, and it adds internal links with descriptive text to the right pages. It never links to pages that do not exist.
Images and helpful content
Images. Google's guidance says to use high-quality images, not too small or low resolution, and not blocked from Google. For image links, Google uses the alt text as the link text, so an empty alt attribute on a linked image leaves the link with no description at all.
What to check: do your important images have short alt text that says what they show? Are they large enough to look good?
Helpful content. This is the biggest idea in the guide. Google asks whether your content gives original information, analysis, or a complete description of the topic, and whether it adds real value over what is already out there. It also asks whether a page looks mass-produced or hastily made. Google says its systems favor content created to help people, and that trust is the most important part of what it calls E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness).
What to check: could someone who has never met you learn something useful from the page? Does it say who wrote it and why you know the topic? Are there thin pages that say very little?
What Scaup does. When Scaup writes a new page, it works from your own pages and the way you already describe your business. If it does not have enough real facts about a topic, it skips the page rather than inventing filler. That follows Google's own warning about thin, generic content.
Where to start
You do not need to fix everything at once. Pick your five most important pages. Check the title, the description, the main heading, the links in and out, and the images. Fix what is missing, then move to the next five.
Google is not the only place people look for businesses now. If you also want to be found when people ask ChatGPT or Perplexity for a recommendation, start with why your business may not be showing up in ChatGPT and the website fixes that can help.
If you would rather not do it yourself, that is the part Scaup handles. It connects to your site, builds a growth plan you can see for free, and then makes one improvement per day on the paid plans. For a self-check you can do first, see our DIY SEO audit for small businesses. If you wonder whether you need an agency at all, read SEO without an agency. And if you want to know what an automated approach looks like, start with what automated SEO is.
Questions about Google's SEO starter guide
Can I change how my title shows up in Google?
You can write a clear title for each page, and Google uses it as one of several sources. Google says the process is automatic and it cannot change titles for individual sites by hand.
How long is a meta description supposed to be?
Google says there is no limit on meta description length, but snippets are cut to fit the device width. Focus on making each one specific to its page.
Do I need the same description on every page?
No. Google says to write a unique description for each page, because identical descriptions across pages are not helpful.
Why does alt text on images matter?
For an image that is also a link, Google uses the alt text as the link text. Empty alt text on a linked image leaves the link with no description.
Does Google care whether a person or software wrote my content?
Google says its systems favor helpful, reliable content made for people, however it is produced. It asks whether you explain how the content was made, and warns against mass-produced pages with little care behind them.
What does Scaup do that Google's guide does not?
Google's guide tells you what good looks like. Scaup does the work on your own website every day, and you can turn on review so nothing goes live until you approve it.