Google Webmaster Tools - Free web marketing tools to manage your site

If you think Google Analytics is great to quantify your website’s performance then Google Webmaster Tools will impress you even more. 

Over the last 10+ years Google has constantly been improving the (free) services and tools it offers its users. These tools allow us to gain valuable insights into our own websites, looking at things such as traffic, growth, visitors, sessions and much more.  

Formally known as Google Webmaster and now referred to as Google Search Console, Google’s impressive analytical tools will accurately tell you how Google sees your site.

What can Google Search Console be used for? 

Search Console, the ultimate Google Webmaster Tool, was introduced in 2018 and allows website owners to check crawling errors, page indexing, traffic volumes, search queries and, importantly for us, better optimize visibility of the website in question.  

With Google Search Console you are able to: 

• Analyze search data; 

• See how many people found your site in search results, and how many people clicked on it; 

• Add rich cards for better mobile user experience; 

• Advanced featured breadcrumbs and AMP integrations; 

• Receive alerts in your inbox; 

• Tell you if Google detects that your site has malware or generates errors; 

• Show who links to you. Google tracks links from all over the web, and shows you who has added a link to your site; 

• Submit your XML Sitemap whenever you have made a website change so Google will know to index your site sooner than planned. 

Another intriguing and beneficial feature Google added to Console was providing information on how Google crawls, indexes, and serves websites. A gold mine for website owners, giving them insights that can improve performance and help optimize better for Google SERPs.

The importance of XML Sitemaps 

With Google webmaster tools you can even tell Google if you’ve made any changes to your site by submitting a particular kind of Sitemap, called an XML Sitemap.  

XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. If you browse an XML Sitemap in Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Google Chrome or any browser they will show you a page of code, this is correct as they are not intended to be of use to anyone else other than the Search Engines. 

XML Sitemaps essentially provide Search Engines with more information about your site including: 

• How frequently your site’s pages are changed; 

• The priority of one page over another; 

• The Last Date Changed for each page. 

XML Sitemaps are now standard on all our Small Business and Custom Build Website packages. We thought them so much of a must-have that we installed them retrospectively to our older clients for free so they could benefit from this tool.
 

The benefits Google Search Console brings to SEO Experts (Like us) 

All the excellent features of Google Search Console (the new version of Google Webmaster Tools) provide extraordinary benefit to markets, developers, designers, small businesses, and anyone who is interested in raising a website's performance. 

One key benefit that can be invaluable to content marketing is the ability to track progress of specific keywords in Google Console.  

Console offers users Content Keywords Reports, so that website owners (or marketers) can discover what the most commonly found keywords are on the site. From this data we can begin to see what content is working, what content is failing and what users are actually interested in. 

If you are unexpectedly ranking high for keywords you didn’t intend to target, this clearly shows that users are enjoying the content put out around that topic. Therefore, content marketers can tweak their strategy moving forward and create new content solely focused on those well-performing keywords, which in turn will bring higher volumes of traffic and more interested users to the site.  

Search Analytics 

Delving into Analytics is time well-spent. Google offers an excellent anayltics tool within Google Search Conosle called Search Analytics (Previously known as Search Queries). 

Search Analytics gives data on how often your site appears in Google SERPS and gives essential and beneficial information on traffic, including; where it’s coming from, how it’s changing and which search queries you’re being found for.  

Search Analytics also gives markets and website owners info on Mobile searches, which are essential to pay attention to in the modern world of digital marketing. Mobile analytics also encourages website owners to ensure their pages are well optimized for a smooth mobile experience.  

Click Through Rate is an additional helpful feature provided by Google Search Analytics, letting us know which Pages are being clicked on based on Meta Title and Meta Description, and which Pages are being glossed over in favour of a competitor.  

With this data we can tweak Meta fields and improve CTAs to encourage a higher rate of Clicks, and by staying abreast of what’s working and what’s failing Webmasters can slowly but surely improve their content marketing and increase performance in Search Results.  
 

Looking for Professional Digital Marketing help? 

The team at Inspire are well-versed in working with Google Webmaster Tools, Google Search Console and all the technical elements involved, such as XML Sitemaps and Search Analytics.  

Inspire ensures that Search Console and Google Webmaster Tools are properly set up and configured for every client who joins our SEO Packages. Not only does this give the client an easy way to analyse traffic and changes, but it also helps our SEO Experts see what’s working and what areas need to be improved.  

Efficient SEO Services will always use Google Seach Console, along with other content marketing and analysis tools, to gain an in-depth understanding of a site, so make sure you take this up with any digital marketer whose services you are interested in.  

If you would like more information on how to use Google Search Console yourself, or if you are interested in using our professional digital marketing services to grow your online presence, please get in touch today and we’ll be happy to offer you our free, no-obligation advice.  

You can call us directly on: 07776 410777 

You can email us on: sales@inspire.scot 

Or complete an online enquiry form via our website and we’ll get right back to you.