---

Guest post by: William Gissen Become an Author

Tweet

---

---

A lot of people know about Google Analytics, but Google's other major web-site support program, Webmaster Tools, can be even more useful. Despite the intimidating name, Google's Webmaster Tools is a user-friendly program designed to look at your web site's structure and provide some actionable feedback to make major improvements. Here are some of the ways it can be applied:

1) Evaluate your web site's loading time.

Loading time is one of the 200 signals Google uses to determine its search engine results. While not as important as quality content, the measurement should be checked to maximize your web site's performance. Generally, 2.0 seconds or less is optimal for e-commerce sites, while Google recommends an ideal value of 0.5 seconds.

After gaining access to Webmaster Tools -- you need to insert some code in your home page to verify you are the owner, as instructed when you sign in -- go to the Dashboard and click on Labs, then Site Performance.

2) Submit an XML sitemap.

Most experts recommend you create both an HTML and an XML sitemap for your web site to make it easier for the spiders to crawl and optimize your search engine ranking. You can download a free program to create an XML sitemap, but you need to go into Google Webmaster Tools to install it. Go to the Dashboard and click on Site Configuration, then Sitemaps.

3) Increase your inbound links.

Inbound links are an essential parameter Google uses to determine your search engine ranking.

Go to the diagnostics section of Webmaster Tools and click on crawl errors. By clicking on the tab "Not Found," you will see inbound links trying to access a URL that does not, or no longer, exists. Create an ".ht access" file on your root domain and forward these links to a currently existing URL by using a 301 redirect.

Search for "creating an .ht access file" and "301 redirect" for further instructions.

4) Check your site's meta tags.

Meta tags provide essential information to Google spiders about the content of your site and what words will return a high ranking. These include title tags and meta descriptions. Title tags appear on the top blue bar of each page, and meta descriptions appear under your company's link on the search engine results pages (SERPs). Each page on your web site should have its own unique title tag and meta description.

Go to Diagnostics, HTML Suggestions in Webmaster Tools to evaluate your meta descriptions and title tags.

5) Evaluate your deep links.

On the landing page of your Google Webmaster Tools' dashboard, you will see a section titled "Links to Your Site." It will give the total number of your links in the headline and the locations being linked to underneath. This item is very useful for evaluating "deep links," inbound links to any page other than your home page. Google considers deep links an indication of a web site's value, and you should always try to increase their percentage.

6) Create a robots.txt file.

There are some files you do not want spiders to crawl, such as the RSS feed of your blog, if it resides on your web site. Creating a robots. txt file tells Google's spiders what URLs you do not want them to crawl. It is simply a text (Notepad) file titled robots.txt that resides in your root directory.

Google's Webmaster Tools automatically generates coding for this file if you go to Crawler Access in the Site Configuration section and click on the "Generate robots.txt" tab. The program instructions are self-explanatory.

7) Change your Google settings.

While most of these parameters should remain as the default setting, you may wish to review the geographic target for your web site, preferred domain and crawl rate.

8) Check your web site activity and interaction with spiders.

Google Webmaster Tools provides graphs showing your Crawl Stats (Diagnostics section), Search Queries (Your Site on the Web section) and other parameters. It's a good idea to review them periodically to ensure your site is performing properly.

Related Articles

  Search Engines webmaster tools play major role in SEO
  Google Webmaster Central, Yahoo! Site Explorer and Bing Webmaster Center
  Search Engine Optimization Steps for Success 1 of 4
  ••••••>SEO Tip of the Day: SEO for the Lifetime of Your Website
  Learn SEO, Link Building in 60 minutes
  GeoTargeting with SEO
  How Important are Sitemaps?
  Start your SEO from Sitemap submission by Free SEO Software Tool
  Take Your Online Business to the Top with Search Engine Optimisation
  Google
  Reality Internet Marketing XML Sitemap in 4 Steps Ensures Page Indexing in Google Yahoo and MSN
  From Mystery to Mastery: Creating and Maintaining your own Successful Website
  Google Webmaster Guidelines 101 - Why are they Important?
  8 Steps to Getting Your Web Site Crawled
  Register with the Search Engines to be No 1 on Google
  Unnatural Links: How Do You Know Which Links To Remove?
  Google Search Engine Optimization using SEO Software Submitter
  5 Fast & Easy Post Penguin Search Engine Optimization Tips
  Move your website to first page of Google by genuine SEO
  Article #44 Start A Site With Google Ads In 6 Simple Steps

Related Forum Posts

Re: 1000+ unreachable urls (google webmaster tool)
Most Useful SEO Tools For Webmasters
Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Feb 18, 2011
Re: What Keyword research methods do you use?
Re: What I Enjoyed Reading This Week - June 11

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The 13 Most Powerful Words in Marketing

How My Company Got Started

Review of Bookkeeping Practices

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.