Google’s Webmaster Tools is a valuable, FREE and one of the most under-utilized tool by business owners, on the internet. If your business is investing resources into SEO or paying an SEO Agency to expose your brand to consumers, you need to take full advantage of this tool.
Typically site owner’s rave about the power of Google Analytics – but tend to ignore its kissing cousin. I can’t tell you why that is, though, because Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) provides valuable (even crucial) insight about the performance of your website.
But first let’s take a look at this video from Google about this tool…
In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the most important features of GWT and why you should get hooked up, tuned up, or read up on a free service that can help your rankings and save you from real trouble.
What’s the difference between Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools?
Google Analytics (GA) is like a butler. It checks on every visitor, collects personal information from them (For instance: where are you from and what do you want here?), then announces the visitor’s arrival to the homeowner.
It also keeps a log of every visitor’s time of entry, time of departure, and notes where they went and what they did while a guest.
Google Webmaster Tools, on the other hand, is the maintenance staff. It keeps a watch on the structure of the home and ensures it is ready to receive visitors.
Not only that, but Webmaster Tools helps with security. All told, it is the perfect companion to Google Analytics – you need both.
So why do site owners often fail to take advantage of Google Webmaster Tools?
Good question.
My guess is many people just don’t know about it.
How to access Google Webmaster Tools
The first thing you need is a Google account. If you don’t have one yet, you may be the last person in line.
You’re just a few steps away from better insight.
- Go to the Webmaster Tools: Log in HERE
- Click the red button on the upper right to ADD A SITE
- Enter the URL of the site you wish to add
- Verify the site
NOW… I’m not going to walk you through the 4 verification choices. Not only could that information change at the drop of a hat, but there’s a really cool thing about Webmaster Tools:
Help is never further away than the top right corner of the page.
And GWT Help isn’t sketchy either. It’s good stuff, and it will walk you through any stuck-point you find in the platform.
At GWT, HELP is your friend.
Once your site is verified, you’re good to go. Now, let’s get to the meat of the story.
What can I do in Google Webmaster Tools? How can GWT help my business?
I’m glad you asked.
GWT is a powerhouse of information – especially for the business trying to figure out how to do a better job of marketing online.
NOTE: I’m going to go over the basics of your options in GWT TODAY. Google could add or subtract a feature tomorrow (or later today). If you see something on your GWT dashboard I don’t mention, you already know what to do: Ask for HELP!
By the way, your GWT account – as long as it is assigned to the same gmail account – will allow you to add all of the websites you own. You don’t need a separate GWT account for each site.
You can also manage other people’s GWT or GA presences (with permission), and those will show up on your dashboard.
To work with a website, just select it by clicking on the URL from the Webmaster Tools Home page. The Manage site dropdown to the right is where you add or remove users.
Should you ever want to remove the site from GWT, you can also do that under Manage site.
The basics of the Google Webmaster Tools Dashboard
In the left column are the primary selections. Right now, they include:
- Messages
- Search Appearance
- Search Traffic
- Google Index
- Crawl
- Security Issues
- Other Resources
The pulldowns in the top right header allow you to switch quickly between your authorized sites, get Help, and (the gear icon) access some important preferences and settings.
First, let’s look at a basic overview of each feature. Then I’ll let you in on a secret about the ones most beneficial to a small business.
After reading this post, go to GWT to check your setup (or get setup) and explore on your own. It would take a book – maybe several books — to explain everything about GWT.
It’s like driving a car: You need to know the basics – then, you get to decide where to go.
Sections of the Google Webmaster Tools Dashboard summarized
Messages – Keep a watch on this section. Should Google ever see a problem with your site, or should you ever be singled out (God forbid) for a penalty, Google will let you know. This is a direct line of communication between you and the Big G. Those telemarketers who call you PRETENDING to be Google – they aren’t. But this is. Pay attention to your Messages.
Search Appearance – The tools here affect how your website appears in the SERP (search engine results page). Getting included in a search is one thing – getting the searcher to choose YOUR site is another. From Search Appearance, you can take action that supports both.
- Structured Data: The more Google can determine about your website, the better Google likes it – and the better Google treats you. Structured data (microdata) enables enhanced presentation on the SERP and inclusion in the Knowledge Graph. In other words, it’s really valuable stuff. It may sound highly technical (and it is), but it is entirely possible for you or someone on your team to activate. Check this page for a look at basic markup properties. Or – if you want to take the easier way, keep reading.
- Data Highlighter: A pretty impressive tool, the Data Highlighter allows you to auto-tag your site’s structured data. Check it out by watching this video. In essence, Data Highlighter is a “point and click” means of implementing microdata. How cool is that?
- HTML Improvements: This is a webmaster’s dream. HTML Improvements is Google’s way of giving you a gentle nudge when your site may have issues hindering their crawl and index activity. Whether your meta descriptions need work, you have duplicate title tags, or are in danger of another potential choke-point – this is tune-up information you don’t want to ignore. The results may not be earth-shaking (or they may), but every little bit helps.
- Sitelinks: These are the links you sometimes see below search results. If you want your business to stand out, use microdata to let Google know you have something important to say… and you may get rewarded with sitelinks. This is a super-valuable exercise for your SEO efforts. It’s a bit like winning the lottery. This feature allows you to let Google know how you think your sitelinks should appear (assuming they ARE appearing).
Search Traffic – This may be the biggest GWT bone of contention among SEO’s. Because some of what you find here overlaps information from Google Analytics and because the data often presents differently, some say you shouldn’t trust this data. Always remember that Google gives you clues, but seldom does Google give you the full picture. Use GWT like a detective, in conjunction with GA and any other tools you have access to, for the best results.
- Search Queries: When you know the search terms visitors use to find your website, you can adjust content accordingly. Are you selling beach balls, but ranking higher for “umbrellas”? You need to tweak your content emphasis or add umbrellas to your lineup. Columns include the query used, the number of impressions, number of clicks, and the average SERP position.QUICK NOTE – In the last week Google was really awesome and changed “Search Queries” to “Search Analytics”, essentially providing you with more valuable data about what keywords your website is ranking for (or queries), pages that are associated with those keywords, how many clicks you got, impressions, click through rates (CTR) and much more.
- Links to Your Site: Which other sites link to you and what are the words (anchor text) they use in the link? Some may say otherwise, but inbound links are still crucial to your ability to rank organically in the SERP. You may find some links you don’t want here and you may see some gaps you want to fill. Either way, Links to Your Site empowers you to take SEO action or check on what your SEO company has been doing for you.
- Internal Links: These are links you make to yourself. Why would you do that? Internal links tell Google “This page is significant.” The more links to a particular page, the more important Google thinks it is. This information can help you adjust the emphasis.
- Manual Actions: What you want to see here is “No manual webspam actions found.” If you see anything else, take immediate action. You might need to engage an experienced SEO Agency to help you resolve these issues.
- International Targeting: Allows you to target languages and countries.
- Mobile Usability: Pay attention here. Mobile traffic is huge, and Google will push you down in the SERP if your website doesn’t play well with mobile devices.
Google Index – Just as the index of a book tells you about the contents, Google collects information about pages on the World Wide Web – and that is where search result information comes from. If you want your site to be included in the SERP, it must be found in the Index.
- Index Status: This tells you how many of the pages on your site Google was able to index. This is version-specific. It will give you data on the www or non www version, but not for both (more about that soon).
- Content Keywords: These are the words Google says are most significant on your site. Remember, if you are selling beach balls, but Google thinks you specialize in umbrellas, then you need to make significant changes to your content.
- Blocked Resources: You can ask Google not to crawl specific areas of your site via a robots.txt disallow file. That is something that should seldom be done, and is often used incorrectly. If you see ANY blocked resources for your site, get in touch with qualified individual to find out why. Blocked sites won’t be included in the index – and that’s normally not good.
- Remove URLs: Similar to Blocked Resources, this is a place where you should not mess around, unless you know what you are doing. This is a tool to help direct Google crawls.
Crawl – The index is gathered by “bots” or “spiders” that crawl the web constantly. This is where you can get a look at exactly how Google sees your site.
- Crawl Errors: This is where you will see any issues (past 90 days) with crawls – whether affecting the entire site or a specific page. What you’re looking for is a little green circle with a white checkmark and the words, “No errors detected in the last 90 days. Nice!” Anything else needs attention.
- Crawl Stats: By monitoring the stats, you can see how many pages are being crawled daily, how much content is being retrieved, and how long it takes for the crawl.
- Fetch as Google: This feature simulates a crawl for the URL you indicate. The Fetch box shows you what Google sees. Fetch and render displays your page as a browser would see it. This feature can be useful for tracking down issues with the crawl, security, or rendering.
- txt Tester: Allows you to edit and test the robots.text file mentioned earlier. This is not a place to play around.
- Sitemaps: This is where you can add and test your sitemap. Bots use the sitemap to make the crawl easier and more effective – so you DEFINITELY want to have one. Use the Help pulldown to get more information about how to build and add a sitemap for your site.
- URL Parameters: If you don’t know what it is and how to use it, don’t mess with it.
Security Issues: Google will alert you if they think your site is being affected by malware or has been hijacked. For more information, GO HERE.
Other Resources: Helpful links to related pages. You will especially want to take a look at the Structured Data Testing Tool. There is also an Email Markup Tester you may find valuable. And every small business should be listed in Google Places (via Google My Business).
Wow! Does it seem like we’ve covered a lot?
We have.
I told you Google Webmaster Tools contains valuable (even essential) information. What’s more, GWT is free. All you need is a Google account to get started.
Before we stop, though, let’s take a look at one more thing: The GEAR ICON.
The Google Webmaster Tools GEAR – THIS IS IMPORTANT
From GWT individual website Dashboard, pull down the arrow by the Gear and you will see:
- Webmaster Tools Preferences
- Site Settings
- Change of Address
- Google Analytics Property
- Users and Site Owners
- Verification Details
- Associates
These are management functions you will want to visit in order to set your preferences and verify that Google has up-to-date information for your site.
Take a few minutes to open up each and familiarize yourself with what can be done there.
One of them is of prime importance – but many, many websites MISS this point: You must make sure your website is identified by Google as a SINGLE site. Google sees the www and non-www versions of your domain as two different sites. That causes your SEO impact to be split in two , rather than compiled by one.
Under the Gear icon, go to Site Settings. That is where you can set your preferred domain. You may also need to make an adjustment in the code for your website. Read the help documents provided by Google to see how to get this done.
Here’s how to test: Enter your domain in a browser address bar – once with “www” in front and once without. If both entries resolve to the EXACT SAME address (either is fine), all you need to do is check to be sure that is the address chosen for your preferred domain in GWT.
If www resolves to the www address and non-www resolves to the non www address, you need to fix that issue. Pronto.
That little glitch is sucking SEO power from your domain.
Pro Tip: The www and the non-www versions of your domain might have different authority ratings. You want to pick the one with the highest authority and stick to it. To check which one has the highest authority use Moz’s Open Site Explorer tool (its free), enter your domain name with a www and then click on “Compare Link Metrics” in the left sidebar. Here you can enter the non-www version of your site, OSE will then return comparison results, you want to pick the version with highest Domain Authority and stick with it.
What are the most important things to know about Google Webmaster Tools?
Business owners sometimes look at the range of data provided by GWT and want to know which they should take time to monitor.
The answer: All of it.
I’ve seen posts claiming to identify the “3 or 4 Most Important Things You Need to Know about Google Webmaster Tools,” but the bottom line is this: The most valuable information for YOU is the information you need most to see.
- If your site has been hacked, that would be Security Issues
- If your site is being blocked from bots and isn’t being indexed, that might be Index Status
- If you aren’t sure if your sitemap is in place or working, that would be Sitemaps
- And finally, THE MOST IMPORTANT is “Search Analytics”, this is where the you will see exactly which keywords your website is ranking for, this is the most important part!
You get the picture.
My outline of a post identifying the “3 Most Important Things” would look like this:
- Make sure your website is Verified with Google Webmaster Tools
- Be sure to build and confirm your sitemap
- Make sure you or someone you trust monitors GWT on a regular (at least weekly) basis
That’s it.
Simple, right?
For questions or further information, we’re here to help… leave a comment
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