A knowledge base article about Google Indexing of the ServiceNow Knowledge Base provided by the UC Berkeley IT Service Hub - Knowledge Portal
We have taken steps to surface and promote our KnowledgeBase for Google to index. This helps us get on the Google Search Results page when users search for topics that we have articles for.
Currently we are providing Google access to our Knowledge Base using the site http://berkeley.service-now.com/kb/ . Anything that is accessible to unauthenticated users is potentially indexable by Google.
We don’t know. That is intentional by Google. We get small snippets of what they look for, but the exact mechanisms they use are intentionally not exposed to us. Google does not want people to find a way to exploit their search and get promoted in a way that makes it frustrating for searchers. There are SEO tips and tricks that are in the public, but Google is constantly changing how they do their search and a tip that worked one week may not work the next without any notice. Worst yet, if Google views the technique as manipulative, it may hurt your ranking in search results. Google just wants you to produce good, well structured content. They will figure out where to put it in the search results.
We have done some of the work of creating structure for you that Google wants when indexing. You just need to provide the content. There are 2 things you want to be looking at when creating or maintaining your articles:
Description field. This is a new field we have exposed to you that you can use to put a very short, but descriptive summary of the article. Google does not promise they will use this, but if their algorithm believes it is an accurate summary, it might. Google has an article on creating good descriptions and titles here.
Text. The article itself. Whats important is to use simple, structured HTML and content. Using HTML export from tools like Microsoft Word often include a lot of formatting that isn’t good for Google. The built in editor from ServiceNow works well. Your content should be well written and structured. A good starting point is the Write articles for the Knowledge Base article from Mozilla. Google will always say this is the best way to get high up on relevent search results. The better written your article, the higher up it will be. Always.
Honorable Mention - Meta Tags. Google does not say they explicitly use this, but it is generally considered a good way to suggest what content is on your site. The platform search uses this for internal searching.
Be careful of “Tag Stuffing”. While tags may not, according to Google, promote your article, it can lower your articles ranking if you are stuffing keywords. Keyword stuffing is using unrelated, odd or repeating keywords to help surface or promote an article. An example of stuffing for an email article would be:
email, mail, mail, email, google, yahoo, aol, thunderbird, outlook, outlook, outlook, Office, email, computer, keyboard, mouse, monitor, cell phone, 999–999–9999
While it starts off relevent, but it expands into things that can be used for emails, but really are not related. Someone searching for mouse shouldn’t find an article about emails. Also note the repetition, that can lower your rankings.
Write a good article. Make it structured, concise and helpful. There are intentionally no magic bullets.