Why Google Webmaster Tools Are Essential For Your Website

by | Sep 25, 2015 | google, webmaster tools

Google-Webmaster-Tools-Logo

1As with everyone with a website that represents my business, I am constantly searching for the edge when it comes to search engine optimisation.

One of the things that Google considers very important is page speed. To check this they even have a tool – page speed insights. This tool allows you to check your page load speed and will give you instructions on how to fix the things that are causing your site to be not as fast as it needs to be.

If you are running your site on WordPress, it’s relatively easy to improve your speed. You install plugins that allow you to make the changes you need to improve your speed.

Only problem with WordPress plugins is that they are a bit like a house of cards. The more you add the more likely you are to have a problem with them. It’s a delicate balancing act you find yourself in.

I have just recently had a problem with a plugin that caused a catastrophic Google ranking problem for me. One day I was rising right up the rankings and the next day I was off the map. What had happened?

This is where Google Webmaster Tools comes into the story. With Webmaster Tools I was able to see that I had a sudden rise in 403 errors. This is what Webmaster Tools are designed for. They are a suite of tools that Google has provided to allow you to check your site health from their point of view.

For those of you who are non technical, web page errors have various numbers, and the client errors, such as a page not found, are in the 400 range.

A 403 error basically means that for whatever reason, Google is unable to crawl your site. But why? What had happened to cause this? It was ok a couple of days ago.

A quick Google search and dusting off some old computer troubleshooting skills and the culprit was found. The cache plugin I was using to improve my page speed was causing the errors. A quick uninstall, reinstall and reconfiguration solved the problem. I still don’t know why something that was working fine one day was not the next, but sometimes these things just happen.

Back on Google Webmaster Tools I started to check the ability to fetch the pages. Yes it could. Yay! back on track.

And that is why Webmaster Tools is something I consider essential to the monitoring and maintenance of your site and something you should check daily. It will tell you so much about your ranking in searches and things that may affecting your rankings. For example, if Google can’t search your page, that will kind of affect your rankings (just a little bit).  So if your Google ranking is important to you then you need to use Webmaster Tools.

Of course if you aren’t computer literate enough to check these things, there’s always the option of hiring a web professional (nudge, nudge, wink wink).

Why You Need Webmaster Tools

by | Oct 14, 2014 | google, webmaster tools

Webmaster Tools

Ok, this week’s post is about yet another Google product – Webmaster Tools. Sick of Google yet?

Yeah but this one is really important for anyone who wants to check the health of their website from a Google search perspective.

One of the big problems I see with small business websites is that no one ever invests the time in monitoring and managing the site. They are too busy tending to other sides of their business. Fair enough too. A website, while important is not the core of the business.

However, a website is like a garden. You can’t just neglect it and expect it to look after itself; it needs attention.

I have previously written about Google Analytics. Google Webmaster Tools is a companion to Google Analytics. The functionality it has when it comes to websites is invaluable.

There are several features that are essential for any site owner.

The first one that is very handy is URL errors – internal link errors. I would recommend checking this out at least once a week. It’s surprising how easily things like page links are missed when you perform changes to your site. This tool picks up stuff like this.

Of even more importance is the ability to see what websites are linking to your site.  If you read my previous post on search engine optimisation you will know that having other sites linking to your site is important to increase your search rankings.

But.. the most important of all in my view is…

The ability to see where you stand in the search rankings for each of the search queries for you site. It tells you the approximate position in the search rankings and also the change in rankings that you have recently achieved.

Yes, this tool actually allows  you to see the results of the work you put in to search engine optimisation!! How good is that? As with anything you do, to be able to measure results is essential.

So there you have it. A few of the key reasons why it is worth having a look at Webmaster tools for your website. There are a lot more tools that come included but the ones described are, to  me, the most important.

And of course, if you feel that you could do with webmaster tools and Google analytics, get in touch. I can help you.

Google Webmaster Tools Official Blog