Building Your SEO with Google Webmaster Tools
Ever wish Google would tell you, step-by-step, how to get better search results? Ever wish they’d tell you precisely what you’re doing wrong and what you’re doing right? Better yet, ever wish Google would listen to you?
Then Google Webmaster Tools should be a wish a come true – one of the most effective ways of identifying and addressing search engine optimization issues that can make or break your search engine results.
Not only will this FREE service help Google’s spider crawl your site more effectively and help you increase traffic, but it will also allow you to share valuable information about your site that Google would otherwise never know.
See What Google Sees
If Google is having problems crawling and indexing one of your pages, you need to know about it. The Diagnostics section in Google Webmaster Tools can tell you the answer – showing the pages successfully crawled and indexed, as well as those that are not, including an explanation as to why and what you can do about it.
Increase Your Traffic
The more you know about those who have already found you, the more effectively you can target traffic in the future. Google Webmaster Tools tells you the top queries used to find your site, which reveals a great deal about how well you are using keywords to optimize your pages, and while it is not as in depth as Google Analytics, it provides a different point of view.
Google Webmaster Tools also shows you all the external links pointing to your pages from other websites, as well as internal links among the pages in your own site. This can be helpful for a variety of reasons.
For instance, Google Webmaster Tools recently helped CyberMark discover that one of our clients had broken inbound links pointing to old “spammy” pages (i.e., keyword-stuffed and not SEO-friendly) created by a search engine optimization company they used prior to our service – a company that did not use ethical SEO practices. We fixed the problem and our client’s search engine results improved as a result.
Tell Google What to Do
You know your site better than anyone, so you should be the one telling Google the best way to crawl it. With Google Webmaster Tools, you can do just that. The Sitemap feature allows you to prioritize your pages and Google’s robot will crawl them accordingly. You can even tell Google to stop crawling pages that you no longer want indexed in search engine results.
If you are banned from Google for any reason, the only place you can request re-inclusion is through Webmaster Tools. And if Google finds problems with your site, Webmaster Tools gives them the ability to directly contact you for a resolution.
To stay on top of enhancements to Google Webmaster Tools, follow the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog. And for any questions you might have, try the Webmaster Help Forum or contact CyberMark.
RELATED POSTS:
Google Analytics Part I: The Basics of ROI for SEO
Google Analytics Part II: Tracking Visits from Start to Finish
