HOW TO GET YOUR SITE FOUND BY SEARCH ENGINES
27 of September 2016HOW CAN WEBMASTER TOOLS HELP GET YOUR SITE ON SEARCH ENGINES?
HolliePut simply, Google Webmaster Tools is a set of extremely useful tools (obviously) that help you to see what is happening on your website. Sounds like yet another way that Google can spy on you? Well, that’s kind of the point. One of the key features of Google Webmaster Tools is to get your website to show in Google search results, also known as indexing. This means that when people begin searching for a keyword that you are trying to rank for, it will show in their results. Basically, Webmaster Tools is essential for SEO and there’s a good chance you’ll get more traffic through Google if you’re using it. Although Google Webmaster Tools can’t guarantee you a top 10 ranking keyword, it will help your customers find you.
NoraConnecting Webmaster Tools to your site is one of the first things you should do when setting up a site, especially since you want Google to begin indexing you as soon as possible. If you’re still in the design stages of your site, you can hold off on the indexing part, but once you have connected Webmaster Tools to your site, all you have to do is click a button to complete the process!
HollieMany of Google Webmaster Tools features allow you to track your sites performance in order to make improvements. For example, there are several additional resources such as speed testing your site. Once your site has been tested, you will be provided with a score out of 100 and ways in which you can improve the site’s speed across all your devices. This kind of test may seem simple, but can be the differences between disgruntled users fed with up with your slow loading site, and customers who enjoy browsing your user friendly site.
HOW IS WEBMASTER TOOLS DIFFERENT FROM ANALYTICS?
NoraYou may have heard about or used Google Analytics before, but Google Webmaster Tools can be in used in addition to Google Analytics. In fact, some of the information provided in Webmaster Tools is not available within Google Analytics and we strongly recommend using both on your site.
HollieGoogle Webmaster Tools helps you to discover errors and spam that may be affecting your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as well as their user experience. Like Google Analytics, it provides you with information about keywords that people can use to organically find your site. This information can be used to strengthen your position in Google search results.
NoraOne of the most useful features of Google Webmaster Tools is its sitemaps function, which shows Google what pages you have on your website in order to index them. if you don’t submit this index you’re unlikely to get as much traffic as if you do. In order to create a sitemap for your website you can use XML Sitemaps and upload it to Google Webmaster Tools.
HollieAs well as showing Google what pages you do have on your website you can also use Google Webmaster Tools to prevent access to certain pages. So, for example if you have a private login area you might not want search engines to access these pages. You can use the Crawler Access feature to block Google from crawling or taking data from these pages.
WHEN SHOULD I SETUP GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS?
NoraEven if you have no idea how to use Google Webmaster Tools and don’t have time to learn right now, it’s a good strategy to set it up as soon as possible in order to start collecting data. Data that you have collected will be available to you in the future, but if you decide to wait to implement Webmaster Tools you can’t go back and collect data from the past.
HollieNot only is Google Webmaster Tools free, but it’s also pretty simple to set up, made even simpler with our SOP template that you can download above. The SOP gives you step by step instructions on how to connect your website to Google Webmaster Tools in order to start measuring your website immediately.