Go to your personal Google Site and use the More Actions button and then Site Permissions: then add the Google Apps Account e-mail address to the Add people box, choose Is Owner from the drop-down box and use the Share button. For more detailed instructions on how to share a site with other see the Invite people to the site section of Google Sites - Site Sharing and Visibility Options
Once you have invited the Google Apps Account make sure you sign out
of your personal Google Account and sign in to your personal Google
Site using your Google Apps account: to do this when you get to the sign in page use the Sign in with a Google Apps Account small text link, under Sign up for Sites, under the Email and Password boxes.
Use the More Actions button then Manage Site and go to General: use the Copy Site link and complete the form (Site Name, URL and whether you want to keep revisions and sharing) and use the Copy Site button. This then copies the site in its entirety to a new site in your Google Apps domain, meaning you can take advantage of the 10GB of space offered.
If you mapped a web address to your site, e.g. www.example.co.uk, then you need to remove the web address mapping from your old, personal site and add it to your new Google Apps Site.
Go to your personal Google Site and use the More Actions button, then Manage Site and then go to Web Address. Use the Remove link next to your mapped web address, e.g. www.example.co.uk.
Go to your Google Apps Google Site and use the More Actions button button, then Manage Site and then go to General. Use the Map this site link next to Web Address Mapping and enter the web address you want your site mapped to e.g. if you want your site mapped to www.example.co.uk. then enter www. Then use the Add Mapping button to make the web address mapping point to your Google Apps Google Site.
This also works the other way around so you can copy a site out of a domain: just invite a non-Google Apps domain user (an ordinary Google Account) as owner and then that owner can copy it out to a http://sites.google.com/sites/somewhere site.
Note: If you have installed any browser extensions to stop the Facebook Like Button, e.g. "Facebook Disconnect" then this gadget will not work either.
Instructions
You're done! |
This process relies on your naked domain (e.g. example.com) redirecting to your subdomain (e.g. www.example.com) because you cannot point a naked domain to a Google Site, so if you have any difficulties in doing this I offer a service to configure it for you: Google Sites Setup Service. If you do not use Google Sites and your naked domain shows your site directly you do not need to redirect it, but do Set a Preferred Domain.
InstructionsSet your Site's VisibilityYou need to ensure that you set your site's visibility to Public. If your site's visibility is set to anything else then Google Search will not index your site. For instructions on how to set your site's visibility see Google Sites - Site Sharing and Visibility Options. Redirect your Naked DomainYou need to make sure that your naked domain (e.g. example.com) redirects to your www address (e.g. www.example.com). To see this working see what happens when you go to steegle.com (you will arrive at www.steegle.com).
Add Site to Google Webmaster Tools - Naked DomainOnce the redirect works register the naked domain with Google Webmaster Tools .
Add Site to Google Webmaster Tools - www Web Address (subdomain)
Set Preferred Domain - Google Webmaster Tools
Submit a Sitemap of Google Site www web address
| Screen Shotsclick for larger images Google Webmaster Tools Google Webmaster Tools - Add Site - Naked Domain Google Webmster Tools - Verify Ownership Google Sites - Manage Site - General - Verification Meta Tag Google Webmaster Tools - Dashboard - Naked Domain Google Webmaster Tools - Add Site - www Web Address Google Webmaster Tools - Preferred Domain Google Webmaster Tools - Add Sitemap Google Webmaster Tools - Sitemap Info Google Webmaster Tools - Fetch as Googlebot Google Webmaster Tools - Submit URL to Index Google Search - Site Search Operator - Indexed Pages GBBO - Naked Domain Rediection Request |
Instructions
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If you have a larger form and want to e-mail the form contents upon submission please see Henrique Abreu's Form Emailer Google Apps Script. Form Emailer can send any size form and you do not need any knowledge of JavaScript.
Many thanks to Henrique Abreu for creating his Form Emailer script.
RSS
Feed of my Google Sites How-Tos
Thanks to Jorek who brought this to my attention I have found a much more effective way of getting Visitor Comments on your site using Google's Web Elements' comment gadget, which means you don't need to register for Google Friend Connect. Instructions
You're done: please comment on the right. Note: there is no moderation with this gadget unfortunately.
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In short, no. Google Sites is a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) tool that provides the means to make a site without any HTML knowledge, and provide it a presence on the web, so there's no need to install any software on to your computer (like iWeb, Dreamweaver or an FTP client).
Google Sites also disallows the uploading of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files due to various security reasons.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
You need to let the Google Search know your website exists: there are several ways to do this:
Getting in to the search engine results pages can take weeks, provided you follow the instructions in Google Sites - Get Found in Google Search, otherwise it can take months! You can further speed up the process by getting links to your site on other websites of similar interest.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
These instructions tell you how to make your Google Site appear at your own custom web address, e.g. how to make your Google Site appear at www.example.com. Your Google Site will always appear at the sites.google.com address as you need to edit the site there and if you set your site's visibility to public viewers can access it at the sites.google.com address also. If you map a web address to a private site Google Sites always redirects you to the sites.google.com address as it needs a secure connection to authenticate the users.
Google Sites already provide instructions on this at http://www.google.com/support/sites/bin/topic.py?topic=15219, but many are unable to follow these instructions for whatever reason. Also bcj19 has written an equally detailed step-by-step domain mapping guide on his Unofficial Google Sites Help site, which is well worth a read: it will give another perspective on the process.
You need to edit your DNS records to make this work so if your domain provider does not allow you to edit your DNS records, or add CNAME records, then you cannot follow these instructions. If your domain provider allows you to change your nameservers then you can sign up for a free ZoneEdit account to get editable DNS records.
You need to do different things if you're using a Personal Google Site (a site that's at http://sites.google.com/site/sitename) and a Google Site at a Google Apps domain (a site that's at http://sites.google.com/a/example.com/sitename), so I have split the answer in to two:
Before you begin you need to have access to edit your DNS records for your domain (the web address, or URL, you want to point at your site) because you need to make or edit your DNS records. If your domain provider does not provide you access to these then you may have to change who you host your DNS with, to another provider like ZoneEdit.
If you're using a Personal Google Site that's it (you may need to wait up to 48 hours for your DNS records to propegate), but if you bought your domain name through Google (and got Google Apps with it) to point it at your Google Site you need to make sure of a few things:
Before you begin you need to be a Google Apps domain administrator and have access to edit your DNS records for your domain (the web address, or URL, you want to point at your site) because you need to make or edit your DNS records. If your domain provider does not provide you access to these then you may have to change who you host your DNS with, to another provider like ZoneEdit.
You're done, but you may need to wait up to 48 hours for your DNS records to propagate!
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
People who you invite to your Google Site do not need a Google Mail Account: they do need, however, a Google Account, which can be tied to any e-mail address (for more information on Google Accounts see the Google Accounts page). Here is the process of what you need to do to invite someone, and what they need to do to successfully access the site:
If the invitees verify their Google Accounts before accessing the site they will be able to access the site at the level you chose.
You can also alter your site's visibility so anyone can see it - see: Google Sites - Site Sharing and Visibility Options.
Note for Google Apps users: your domain administrator needs to enable Site Sharing Outside this Domain (in the Google Apps control panel in the Sites service page) before you can invite people from outside the domain.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
Do not follow the instructions given by Google Analytics to make Google Analytics work with your Google Site, as Google Sites does not allow you to add scrtip tags (<script></script>) to your site. Google Sites have integrated Google Analytics in to the site so you just need to provide the Google Analytics Tracking ID.
For full instructions on where to find your Tracking ID and what to do with it see Google Sites - Adding Google Analytics.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
This usually means your signed in with the wrong account. Use the Recent Site Activity link at the bottom of the site to see who was the last person to edit the site and it may remind you of which account is the owner account.
If you cannot see the Recent Site Activity link try the Google Sites Accessing and Editing Troubleshooter to get ideas on how to access your site.
If you still cannot access your site as owner go to the Google Sites Help Forum and post a question explaining you can no longer edit your site and make sure you provide the URL (web address) to your site. If you do not provide the URL then no one can help you but if you don't want your site URL to be visible in the Help Forum then use a URL shortener, like http://goo.gl.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
YES: Google Sites provides the Copy Site feature:
http://googleappsposts.blogspot.com/2009/08/copy-your-site-more-search-options-and.html
You can watch a video how to for this at Google Sites - Copy Site - Import Personal Site to Google Apps.
To copy your personal site into a Google Apps domain you need to:
Go to your personal Google Site and use the More Actions button and then Share this site: then add the Google Apps Account e-mail address to the Add people box, choose Is Owner from the drop-down box and use the Share button. For more detailed instructions on how to share a site with other see the Invite people to the site section of Google Sites - Site Sharing and Visibility Options
Once you have invited the Google Apps Account make sure you sign out of your personal Google Account and sign in to your personal Google Site using your Google Apps account.
Use the More Actions button then Manage Site and go to General: use the Copy Site link and complete the form (Site Name, URL and whether you want to keep revisions and sharing) and use the Copy Site button.
This then copies the site in its entirety to a new site in your Google Apps domain, meaning you can take advantage of the 10GB of space offered.
This also works the other way around so you can copy a site out of a domain: just invite a non-Google Apps domain user (an ordinary Google Account) as owner and then that owner can copy it out to a http://sites.google.com/sites/somewhere site.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
There are two ways to make a Google Site:
Each way makes the site in a different place, so it can be confusing where to find your site, so here's some steps to help you determine where to find your site.
Some people make a Google Site using their Google Account and then decide they want a domain name for it, so they buy a domain from Google - this is where it can get very confusing! The domain they buy gives them Google Apps, so Google Sites for that domain also, but their original site is not part of the domain: it's still made with the Google Account. To avoid confusion you can make the Google Apps Account a Google Account invite it as an owner to the Google Account based site (and vica-versa if necessary).
Many thanks to History Nut who suggested this question.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
This is really a Google Apps question but I've included it on the Google Sites FAQ as it gets asked a lot:
Once there you can then add, edit or delete the DNS records.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
Warning: this is lets you recover your site for 30 days then the site becomes permanently deleted and the site cannot be recovered, not even by Google!
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
Note: if you want to transfer ownership to a Google Apps Account then you may also want to read question 7 above.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
There are a few reasons you may not be able to see the Create Page, Edit Page or More Actions buttons:
Use the Sign in link, at the bottom of any page, and make sure you sign in with a Collaborator or Owner account.
Use the Sign out link, at the top right corner, and then use the Sign in link, at the bottom of any page, and make sure you sign in with a Collaborator or Owner account.
Use the Save or Cancel button to leave the page editor and then you will see the Create Page, Edit Page or More Actions buttons.
If you feel that you are signed in with the correct account (an Owner or a Collaborator), and are not editing the page, and you still cannot see the Create Page, Edit Page or More Actions buttons then you are no longer an Owner or Collaborator. This can only happen three ways:
This can happen if you add other Owners then invite yourself again as a Viewer or Collaborator. The only way to get back ownership is to ask one of the other owners to re-invite you as Owner. Google will not re-invite you as owner when there are other Owners on the site and Google have made it impossible to remove the last owner.
When you move your domain to Google Apps your Google Account gets deleted so you can re-create it as a Google Apps Account. Since when you make a domain it has not user account associated with it the ownership gets lost during the sign up process. You can now re-invite yourself as owner of the site - see question 14 below for instructions on how to do so.
If you have not moved to Google Apps (i.e. you do not have a domain like example.com and have not signed up Google Apps for it) then your ISP may have moved to Google Apps Partner Edition and this will loose the ownership of your site. The UK ISP Virgin have just done this so any of their customers who had Google Sites mad using their Virgin e-mail address will have lost ownership. If this has happened to you try to re-invite yourself as owner of the site - see question 14 below for instructions on how to do so.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
If your site has just been migrated from Google Page Creator to Google Sites and you cannot edit your pages because your browser stops responding with the message "Recovering edit from draft", this is a known issue with Internet Explorer. If you use any other web browser to edit your site you will get past the message and be able to save the page. You can then return to using Internet Explorer if you wish.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
When you move your domain to Google Apps your Google Account gets deleted so you can re-create it as a Google Apps Account. Since when you make a domain it has not user account associated with it the ownership gets lost during the sign up process. Many, many thanks to iansocool for suggesting this fix in the Google Sites Help Forum.
This will give access back to your site using the recently moved Google Apps account, but if it does not or sounds too complicated for you to do then the only way to get ownership is for Google to re-invite you as owner. Please post your site's URL on the Google Sites Help Forum dedicated thread "Moved to Google Apps and Lost Site Ownership".
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
Please visit the Clear your Cookies and Cache! page (from the Google Sites Accessing and Editing Troubleshooter) for instructions on how to clear the cookies and cache of your browser.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
Back to the Google
Sites FAQs
You need to enable multiple sign in for your accounts - see the Enabling multiple sign-in : Getting started - Accounts Help
For a thorough explanation of this see Phil Ridout's article at http://sitesguide.pjrprojects.co.uk/issues/site-access-issues
Back to the Google
Sites FAQs
Google only allows you to create 5 sites per week at http://sites.google.com/site. If you need to create more sites you have the following options:
Wait for a week to pass then you can create more
Create a new Google Account and create more sites and invite your original account as owner
If you will continually need to make lots of sites you should use Google Apps as Google Apps does not limit the number of sites you can create.
Back to the Google Sites FAQs
Google Sites now offers Site Templates to get you started with a structure and a good looking theme. Google Have also provided Template Tips site to help you change your site to how you want, as there may be some elements of the Templates that you do not know how to edit.
Site Template LogosIf you want to be able to change the logo at the top of the page (the area that has "Name" followed by "your tagline goes here") in the header you can download the logos, in JPEG and Photoshop PSD format, from the Template Assets page. Site Template Content EditingThe Template Tips page gives comprehensive instructions on each area of the site so you know which part of the template is which. The Tips also include a set of instructions on how to change the content on the site so you can remove the default content and add your own - see the Topics list on the right. |
Access the Sharing and Permissions
In the Add People box enter the e-mail addresses of those you want to invite to the site (or use the Choose from contacts link to choose people from your contacts)
Choose from the drop-down box one of these access levels:
Is Owner - this gives full site-wide access to the site to the invited user can: delete the site; change the site theme; change the site layout; map a web address to the site; enable Google Analytics; enable Google Webmaster Tools; all other site-wide options; create, edit and delete all pages and perform all other page-level functions.
Can Edit (formerly Collaborator) - this gives full page-level access to the site to the invited user can: create, edit and delete all pages; change page templates; move pages and view all pages.
Can View (formerly Viewer) - this allows the invited user to view all pages.
Choose if you wish to Notify people by e-mail and if so enter a message to the users (optional).
Choose whether to Send a copy to myself of the invitation.
Use the Share button to invite the people.
One of the most frequent questions I ask in the Google Sites Help Forum is "how can I get viewer or visitor comments"? Google Sites has restricted the commenting facility to just collaborators and owners, so you have to look to some other way of doing so. The way I describe in this how to is using a Google Spreadsheet Form as it intergrates nicely with Google Sites and all the tools are free and fairly easy to setup. It can even give pseudo moderation as you can delete comments if necessary, but it will not give you the ability to vet comments before they are made (however you could do this using two Google Spreadsheets, one feeding off the other but only showing approved comments). Instructions
You're done! Test the form and you should see the comment you made. Peter Walsh has also written a how-to on using a formula for formatting the displayed comments: to see it in action go to http://sites.google.com/site/pgwalsh/feedback; and Peter has provided instructions on how to use his formula. Google Sites - Visitor Comments - Video How-toI have also produced a video tutorial to accompany these written instructions. You may be interested in...I have just discovered another way to get visitor comments on your site - see:Google Sites - Google Friend Connect Visitor Comments via Google Web Elements
RSS Feed of my Google Sites How-Tos |
To give a user a specific permission on a page you first need to invite that user to the site, once you invite the user to the site you can then grant specific permissions on individual pages for that user. Pages can also provide different visibility levels but you can only make a page less visible than its parent or the site. The site navigation also respects the page-level permissions so if set a page's visibility to Private, on a public site, the page will not appear in the navigation to the public but only to those who can see the page.
InstructionsAccess Sharing and Permissions
Enable Page-Level Permissions
Adding users to the Site Level (Top Level)
Choose Page Permissions Inheritance Option
Apply Specific Visibility to PageNote: Google Sites Page-Level Permissions only allows you to make a page less visible than its parent or the site, so you cannot make a page public on a private site, but you can make a page private on a public site. This means if you want a private site with some public pages then you achieve this by making a public site with private pages/areas.
Apply Specific Permissions to Page
Remove a User's Access to a Page
| Screen ShotsClick for larger images Enable Page-Level Permissions Page-Level Permissions - Site Level Page Permissions Inheritance Options Page-Level Visibility - Public Site
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For best results watch this video in high definition and in full-screen: to do this make sure you choose 720p as the quality from the end of the time-line and use the Full-screen button to the right of that.
If you have a public site and want to give a particular user permission to edit a page that user must be invited to the site as a viewer first. Once a site user you can grant that user permission to edit any page you wish on the site.
You can change the visibility of a page to Anyone with the link to
stop search engines indexing that page. Some people want this to stop
search engines indexing CVs and Resumes.
Since you need to invite a user to a site to give the user specific page permissions you can make a home page suitable for all the site viewers and then remove the users' permissions form the pages you do not want them to see.
RSS Feed of my Google Sites How-Tos
Instructions
Other OptionsIf you chose to enable automatic mobile rendering for your site you will see an additional Hide Site as Desktop option to hide the Desktop link when mobile viewers visit the site. AvailabilityYou can get this feature now on stand-alone/consumer/personal Google Sites and Google Apps domains with the Rapid Release track enabled |
For best results watch this video in high definition and in full-screen: to do this make sure you choose 720p as the quality from the end of the time-line and use the Full-screen button to the right of that.
RSS Feed of my Google Sites How-Tos
Instructions
Advantages
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For best results watch this video in high definition and in full-screen: to do this make sure you choose 720p as the quality from the end of the time-line and use the Full-screen button to the right of that.
RSS Feed of my Google Sites How-Tos
These instructions tell you how you can enable the Mobile View (auto-rendering) for your Google Site.
If you want to edit a Google Site on an iPad then update your iPad to iOS5 and you can. For more information see the post I made exclusively on the iPad.
Instructions
Restrictions
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For best results watch this video in high definition and in full-screen: to do this make sure you choose 720p as the quality from the end of the time-line and use the Full-screen button to the right of that.
RSS Feed of my Google Sites How-Tos
Many thanks to Romain Vialard who works at Revevol, the first worldwide network dedicated to Google Apps and helps global corporations to deploy innovative communication and collaborative solutions in the Cloud by providing expertise, services and best practices.
For a sample of the Google Spreadsheet and links to the template see Romain's site at:
http://sites.google.com/site/subscribetochangesforviewers/
Instructions
You're done! |
Google Sites now provides the Google +1 button so you can embed it in your site sidebar and in your pages' content area.
InstructionsAdd +1 Button to Sidebar
Notes on Google Sites +1 Button Sidebar usageWhen you add a +1 button to the site sidebar then Google Sites will make it appear automatically on all pages. When a visitor uses the +1 button it will +1 the page the visitor uses it on and not just +1 the site. You cannot specify the format of the +1 button but you can in the page content version of the +1 button, see below. Add +1 Button to Page Content Area
Availability
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Instructions
You're done! |
Instructions
NotesThe slideshow does not link to the album, displays captions (if present) plays automatically and loops. Picasa Web Albums does not give any options for the slideshow so the gadget does not provide any either. Picasa Web Albums also plays any videos uploaded to the album: the gadget displays these also but they appear shifted over to the right. |
There appears to be a bit of confusion about how to add Google Analytics to a Google Site (in fairness it's due to the way Google Sites have written the instructions), so I decided to write my own.
Before I start let me make one thing clear: you do not add the tracking code given Google Analytics, just the Tracking ID, as Google Sites removes any <script></script> tags.
Instructions
After 24 hours you should start to receive data, but Google Analytics may display
for a couple of days, but it will be working regardless of this warning. Get Found in Google SearchMake you you have correctly registered your Google Site in Google Webmaster Tools, so your Google Site can get found in search engine result pages Further Search Engine Optimization (SEO)See my Google Sites adaptation of Google's SEO Guide for more advice on how to make your website more accessible to your visitors and search engines - Google Sites - SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Guide. |
AcknowledgementsMany, many thanks to the Google Webmasters Team for allowing me to adapt their SEO Starter Guide for use with Google Sites. The reason for the adaptation is some of the advice given in their guide is not possible with Google Sites, due to the security restrictions in place, so I have either changed it or omitted it. This guide is mainly the Google Webmasters Team's work, so thank them more than me.IntroductionEven though this is a search engine optimization guide you need to concentrate on what your users (visitors) need and want from your site. If you make a page easier to find for a user you also make it easier to find for search engines. Back to the Table of Contents Create unique, accurate page titlesA page title tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is. Ideally, you should create a unique title for each page on your site. Google Sites will automatically suffix your Site Name to the page title your web browser uses and search engines see, so may not need to put in as much as you think. You can edit the page title whilst editing the page: you find it at the top of the page e.g. this page's title is "Google Sites SEO Guide"
which you see at the top of this page, but in the browser's title bar you see "Google Sites SEO Guide - Google Sites & Google Apps Help - steegle.com"
The - Google Sites & Google Apps Help - steegle.com added to the end is my Site Name. Titles for deeper pages on your site should accurately describe the focus of that particular page and also might include your site or business name. You can see on my site any of the Google Sites how tos start with "Google Sites - " to clearly indicate what the page focuses on. The only time I have not done this is for this page and my Google Sites FAQ page, so when someone searches for Google Sites FAQ I get in the top 6 results. Good practices for page title
Back to the Table of Contents Improve the structure of your URLsCreating descriptive categories and filenames for the documents on your website can not only help you keep your site better organized, but it could also lead to better crawling of your documents by search engines. Also, it can create easier, "friendlier" URLs for those that want to link to your content. Visitors may be intimidated by extremely long and cryptic URLs that contain few recognizable words. Google Sites automatically makes the page URLs from the title you enter, but sometimes these can be inappropriate. I have fallen into this trap with probably one of my most important pages, my Google Sites FAQ - its URL follows: As you can see it's not good and you're probably asking "how did I let it happen"? When I created the page I made the title "Google Sites - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)" so Google Sites used this to make the page URL "googlesites-frequentlyaskedquestionsfaq" (it removes the spaces and parenthesis, keeps the hyphens and sets everything to lowercase). URLs like these can be confusing and unfriendly. Users would have a hard time reciting the URL from memory or creating a link to it. Also, users may believe that a portion of the URL is unnecessary so they might leave off a part, breaking the link. Why haven't I changed it? I didn't change it as it's been linked to in many places, so changing it will mean the pages with links to it won't work. So once you save a new page the first thing you want to do is change the URL to something more appropriate, so here's another example from my site:
Google is good at crawling all types of URL structures, even if they're quite complex, but spending the time to make your URLs as simple as possible for both users and search engines can help. Good practices for URL structure
Back to the Table of Contents Make your site easier to navigateThe navigation of a website is important in helping visitors quickly find the content they want. It can also help search engines understand what content the webmaster thinks is important. Although Google's search results are provided at a page level, Google also likes to have a sense of what role a page plays in the bigger picture of the site.
All sites have a home or landing page, which is usually the most frequented page on the site and the
starting place of navigation for many visitors. Unless your site has only a handful of pages, you should
think about how visitors will go from a general page (your landing page) to a page containing more
specific content. Do you have enough pages around a specific topic area that it would make sense to
create a page describing these related pages (e.g. root page -> related topic listing -> specific topic)?
Do you have hundreds of different products that need to be classified under multiple category and
subcategory pages? Don't forget to use the Navigation sidebar box that allows you to display links to any of your pages. If you want to categorise you pages you can add multiple navigation boxes with different titles. To edit the Navigation box use the Edit Sidebar link and then the edit link on the navigation box. Google Sites provides a sitemap (lower-case), a simple page on your site that displays the structure of your website and consists of a hierarchical listing of the pages on your site and a list view. Visitors may visit this page if they are having problems finding pages on your site. While search engines will also visit this page, getting good crawl coverage of the pages on your site, it's mainly aimed at human visitors. An XML Sitemap (upper-case) file, which you can submit through Google's Webmaster Tools, makes it easier for Google to discover the pages on your site. Google Sites automatically creates and updates an XML Sitemap for you: for more information on how to use Google Webmaster Tools with Google Sites see my article - Google Sites - Get Found in Google Search Good practices for site navigation
Back to the Table of Contents Offer quality content and servicesCreating compelling and useful content will likely influence your website more than any of the other factors discussed here. Users know good content when they see it and will likely want to direct other users to it. This could be through blog posts, social media services, email, forums, or other means. Organic or word-of-mouth buzz is what helps build your site's reputation with both users and Google, and it rarely comes without quality content. Good practices for content
Back to the Table of Contents Write better anchor textAnchor text is the clickable text that users will see as a result of a link. This text tells users and Google something about the page you're linking to. Links on your page may be internal - pointing to other pages on your site - or external - leading to content on other sites. In either of these cases, the better your anchor text is, the easier it is for users to navigate and for Google to understand what the page you're linking to is about. Good practices for anchor text
Back to the Table of Contents Use headings appropriatelyHeadings (found on the Format menu) are used to present structure on the page to users. There are three sizes of headings, beginning with "Heading <h2>", the most important, and ending with "Minor heading <h4>", the least important. Since headings make text contained in them larger than normal text on the page, this is a visual cue to users that this text is important and could help them understand something about the type of content underneath the heading text. Multiple heading sizes used in order create a hierarchical structure for your content, making it easier for users to navigate through your document. In Google Sites when you use headings properly you can then use the Table of Contents gadget to generate a list of page navigation links automatically, from the headings on the page. For more information about Tables of Contents see my how-to: Google Sites - Table of Contents. Good practices for headings
Back to the Table of Contents Optimize your use of imagesImages may seem like a straightforward component of your site, but you can optimize your use of them. All images can have a distinct filename and "alt" attribute, both of which you should take advantage of. The "alt" attribute allows you to specify alternative text for the image if it cannot be displayed for some reason. Why use this attribute? If a user is viewing your site on a browser that doesn't support images, or is using alternative technologies, such as a screen reader, the contents of the alt attribute provides information about the picture. When you insert an image into a Google Site you can add the alternative text: under the image selector and browser/choose file button you can see the Alt text (optional) box:  Click for larger image Unfortunately if you need to change the alt text, or wish to add to an image inserted some time ago, Google Sites does not offer a tool to edit/alter alternative text without editing the HTML (at the time of writing). To edit the HTML navigate to your Google Sites page, use the Edit Page button and then use the HTML button in the edit bar. Once the HTML editor opens you need to find your image: the image will always appear in a "img" tag that looks something like this: <img src="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/images/sites_35.gif" border="0"> To add the alternative text you want for the image add "alt" attribute, followed by an equals sign, open quotes, the text you want to appear and then close quotes to the "img" tag - see below for an example: <img src="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/images/sites_35.gif" border="0" alt="Google Sites"> Another reason is that if you're using an image as a link, the alt text for that image will be treated similarly to the anchor text of a text link. However, we don't recommend using too many images for links in your site's navigation when text links could serve the same purpose. Lastly, optimizing your image filenames and alt text makes it easier for image search projects like Google Image Search to better understand your images. Good practices for images
Back to the Table of Contents Promote your website in the right waysWhile most of the links to your site will be gained gradually, as people discover your content through search or other ways and link to it, Google understands that you'd like to let others know about the hard work you've put into your content. Effectively promoting your new content will lead to faster discovery by those who are interested in the same subject. As with most points covered in this document, taking these recommendations to an extreme could actually harm the reputation of your site. Good practices for promoting your website
Back to the Table of Contents Make use of free webmaster toolsMajor search engines, including Google, provide free tools for webmasters. Google's Webmaster Tools help webmasters better control how Google interacts with their websites and get useful information from Google about their site. Using Webmaster Tools won't help your site get preferential treatment; however, it can help you identify issues that, if addressed, can help your site perform better in search results. With the service, webmasters can:
Back to the Table of Contents Take advantage of Google AnalyticsIf you've improved the crawling and indexing of your site using Google Webmasters Tools, you're probably curious about the traffic coming to your site. Google Analytics is a valuable source of insight for this. You can use these to:
For advanced users, the information Google Analytics provides comprehensive information about how visitors are interacting with your pages (such as additional keywords that searchers might use to find your site). For instructions on how to add Google Analytics to your Google site see my how-to: Google Sites - Adding Google Analytics. Back to the Table of Contents Helpful resources for webmasters
Back to the Table of Contents Labels: l:images l:pictures l:photos RSS Feed of my Google Sites How-Tos |
I thought I would write an article of how to insert a table into a Google Site and then remove the borders. This will require you to edit the HTML so if you don't feel you want to do that you will still have the borders.
Instructions
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I've put the borders back on for clarity.
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See the time line below the video for a summary of what I cover. The video has been updated so it no longer stops.
 This article is now obsolete as Google Sites now provides Picasa Web Albums Integration. Please see my new article instead: Google Sites - Picasa Web Album Integration Uploading photos, images and pictures to your Google Site takes precious space out of your 100MB or 10GB limit, so why not use Picasa Web Albums instead to store your images and just embed the image in your site.These instructions do not include how to upload to Picasa Web Albums or how to upload from Picasa.
Instructions
That's it you're done! Video How ToThis video is best watched in full-screen: use the full-screen button (
Labels: l:images l:pictures l:photos
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(alternatively use the keyboard shortcut e) then the Insert menu and choose +1 button
Tracking Not Installed
) at the end of the progress bar to see the video in full-screen.
) at the end of the progress bar to see the video in full-screen.