Google Webmaster Tools

Part 1.  Getting Started

Usually webmasters are very busy people.  Constant site updates, redesigns of sections/entire sites, and answering e-mails from people who can’t find big red buttons take up the majority of our time.  There are always things in our “like to do” category, and I think that getting started with Google Webmaster Tools is usually one of them.

We need to move that item from the “like to do” to the “have to do” category, for many reasons.  The first, and main, is that multiple people have reported their traffic going up overall after adding Google Webmaster Tools.  Whether this is because you have higher visuals over 404 errors, site usability, and any of the other beautiful stuff that Google WT provides, is a moot point.  It works, and once it is up you will find yourself using it a lot to keep track of your site, regardless of the stats program that you currently have.  Your chosen stats program keeps a record of what your web host sees, not a record of what the search engine sees.  For that reason alone Google Webmaster tools is worth installing. 

The first thing that you will need to do is go to this site:

www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

Once there, create a Google Account if you don’t have one already for Gmail.  If you already have one, sign in with that account.

All you have to do is add your site URL, and verify it.  That’s it!  Now, on to the time consuming part, the sitemap. 

Part 2.  Creating a Sitemap

There are several different methods given for creating a sitemap.  They are all listed by Google here:

https://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=34654&ctx=tltp&hl=en

The Hard Way

You can create an XML sitemap using the Google Sitemap Generator.  This is probably the best option for dynamically changing content like a blog, and that is exactly what I am setting up for the purposes of this article.  Some may have noticed the seemingly handy tip that Google gives about using your RSS feed to generate a sitemap – I am shooting that idea down since it only gives you current URL’s, and you want Google to crawl your site in its entirety for best search engine placement. 

A more static commercial site may benefit from a static HTML sitemap, but my theory is if Google is giving you the code to use, the chances are good that their code is going to generate what they want as opposed to what you are going to give them if you create your own sitemap.  Since the whole point is to rise in the Google SERP’s, you should be using their tools. 

In order to run the Google script, you must be in control of two key factors – your web host must run Python, and you must have SSH access to your web host.  Some web hosting providers (including mine) require photo ID to grant SSH access, so some setup may be involved here.  If your web host either won’t allow you to run SSH, or they don’t have Python installed, you’ll have to downgrade to the manual sitemap.  Don’t despair – this is still better than nothing. 

The Easy Way

Follow the instructions on the following page for “Creating a Sitemap Using a Text File”:

https://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=34654&ctx=tltp&hl=en#rss

Basically you are just creating a simple text file listing all of your URL’s.  That’s it. 

Part 3.  Uploading & Submitting Your Sitemap

Once you have uploaded your sitemap text file to the top level directory of your server, or used the Google Sitemap generator to generate one, it is time to submit it to Google, for which you go to this page:

http://https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/showaddsitemap

Choose the “Add General Web Sitemap” from the pulldown menu.  You will note that there are other kinds of sitemaps, such as code, video, etc.  Those are optional, for most purposes, the general sitemap will do.  Google has really detailed instructions on how to do the other kinds of sitemaps if you wish to. 

Type in the location of your sitemap file and hit “submit”.

Now you just have to wait several hours for everything to update, and then you can start using all of the Google Webmaster Tools in all of their yummy goodness.

Remember to constantly either regenerate a new sitemap or manually change your sitemap if you add new content to your site.  Google may catch this new content on its own, but you’ve just created a delivery system to get it into Google before it crawls your site – use it!  As we all know, Google likes consistently updated sites, so the more often you add content, the more Googlelove you will feel.   

Part 4.  Using Google Webmaster Tools

Now that you have joined the ranks of the Google Webmaster Tool empowered ones, it’s time to use the tools to help your rankings.  Log into it at:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

The key tab you want to pay attention to here is “Diagnostics”.  Look at your website as a car that needs constant monitoring and tune-ups – this is the car computer.  Click on “Overview”.  If you aren’t concerned about Mobile content, ignore the mobile spots in this section.  What you really want to pay attention to are the “Web Crawl” and “Content Analysis” sections.  If you display any errors or suggestions from Google in these areas, act on them immediately for ranking improvements.  Keep it error free and content friendly, and Google will be happy. 

The rest of the tools are nice to have, and contain all of the information that Google has gathered about your site.  You can use the search results to drive more traffic to your blog – i.e. if I was in the Top 20 for “Moonbeam Ontario Archives”, I would probably want to continue improving my section on Moonbeam, Ontario in order to attract traffic, as opposed to turning my energies to something that I thought was more important. 

Once the sitemap is out of the way, these tools are fun and easy to use.  Google is helping us help ourselves with a great package that everyone should be using!