Google Webmaster Tools

Guest Post
If you have not used Google's webmaster tools, be sure to check them out

"Improve Your Website with Google's Webmaster Central Tools"

By Merle http://MerlesWorld.com

As a website owner, one of your top priorities is going
to be getting your site indexed and ranked by Google.
People perform over 235 million searches a day with Google,
so the potential to receive significant traffic from this
search engine should be enough for you to invest the time
to make sure it's done right.

Google wants to fill its index with quality, error free
websites that are beneficial and targeted to their
searchers. Enter Google's Webmaster Central Tools .....
http://google.com/webmasters . If you've never heard of
it, it's Google's way of helping you with your website's
indexing. Not too long ago, it went through a redesign
and upgrade process which made it more useful and
easier to use than ever.

First thing you'll need to sign in with is a Google
account. Google requires an account to be able to
use all of their free services, including Blogger and
Analytics, so if you don't have one, now's the time to
register.

If you have multiple websites to list, that's no problem.
Up to 500 sites can be added all under one roof. You
will need to perform what Google calls "site verification"
for each site submitted. This proves to Google that you
are the owner of the site before they release detailed
information to you. At one time it was a lengthy process
of cutting and pasting code into the head section of
your index page or uploading a separate HTML file. Now
they've streamlined the process and it's all done with
one click of an email.

If you use Blogger.com, "Webmaster Tools" can be enabled
from within the Blogger dashboard under tools/resources.
Once your sites have been submitted, you'll have access
to a whole suite of useful tools. The website is broken
up into three main sections.

1) Site Configuration (Information about your site)
2) Your Site on the Web (Google data re: your site)
3) Diagnostics (Any problems Google had while indexing
your site)

If your website has never received a decent ranking with
Google, these numerous reports will help you in tracking
down the problem. It's truly an "eye opener" to see your
site through the eyes of a search engine.

On the "Crawl Errors Page", any errors Google encountered
while crawling your site are revealed. The url's not listed,
and the types of problems such as restricted by robots txt,
url's that timed out, and unreachable url's will be uncovered.
If numerous pages of your site are not indexed, Sitemaps can
also be submitted to help Google find and crawl all of the
pages of your site.

If your website is not showing up in Google's index, or you
think it's being penalized for some reason, you can contact
Google from within the "tools interface" with a "reconsideration"
request. This will ask Google to take another look at your
site. Before submitting, make sure you've cleaned up any
errors, and that you're not in violation of any of Google's
webmaster guidelines.

Here's a small sample of some other tasks that can be
performed.

- Keyword Research: The keywords page lists the most
important words Google found when indexing your site.
So you know what keyword/phrases your site is ranking for.

- Who's linking to your website.

- Page rank for individual pages can be reviewed.

- Change of address feature, which is useful when
moving domains to let Google know.

- Data can be downloaded in spreadsheet format
in order to be analyzed and tracked.

- Any RSS feeds can also be submitted as sitemaps.

- Parameter Handling- Allows you to tell Google which
url's you want them to ignore.

- Emails from Google's Webmaster Tools can be
forwarded to any email address you specify.

Contrary to popular belief, Google wants you to succeed
online which is why they give you the tools needed to
fix any problems, and make your site a search engine's
indexing dream. That's not just good business for Google,
it's good for your website too.
-------------------------------------------------

Merle's Mission Blog- "Rants, Raves and Random Acts
of Kindness" a self proclaimed "Internet Junkie" with a
passion for net marketing, affiliate marketing, social
networking. An avid Blogger and writer with several
niche sites to her credit. Find out more at
http://merlesworld.blogspot.com/ Follow me on
Twitter http://twitter.com/msmerle
__________________________________

Greg Cryns
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