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Web Moves News and Information

21
Oct
2010

Google Webmaster Tools: Getting Better?

google webmaster toolsIt’s all about the details. The application provides more detailed information for each search query. A site’s pages were reported using average position. Updates introduced in the past year allow users to find the number of “impressions” and the “amount of clickthrough.” Impressions are the instances that the site appeared in search results. Clickthrough measures the “number of times searchers clicked on that query’s search results.”

Webmaster Tools was designed to provide “information and data about the sites you have added to your account. You can use this data to improve how search engines crawl and index your site’s content.” That’s the basic task for this tools application, as described by Google. But there is more to this than what we have become used to.

The Webmaster Tools now generates charts and displays them in the report page. Query information can be isolated for a specific period of time as well. Now, when a site ranks for more than 100 queries there will be new buttons that allow Web managers to find out more details. The improvements should save time and money if used correctly.

New Features: The Latest

For those who have been using Google Webmaster Tools the addition of new backlink statistics will be a nice change. Everyone who wants to succeed in the online world should know about links and linking, whether they use them fully or not.

But not all links contribute to Web success. Proper linking does. If you can get a handle on the idea of backlinks you are even more likely to have a positive experience with your sites. You see, backlinks are essential in the search-engine visibility and ranking world. The key word in the new online community is conversation.

If you get reliable, usable links from pages that are relevant to what you are doing is very important. Webmaster Tools now has a piece that helps you keep track of who is linking to whom, with details such as pinpointing the page on the referring site. This information is now offered in a format that is easier to use. Check into Webmaster Central Tools (sitemap) if you are a registered Web site owner.

Other key numbers available focus on internal and external links.

internal linksInternal LinksCount per page tells you which pages are linked to from pages on your Web site and also shows the number of links on your Web site that point to each of the linking pages. Some of the newest linked pages may not appear right away, perhaps because your link isn’t set up properly.

Internal linksDetails for valid links from inside your domain or Web site.

External Links Count per page tells you which pages from your Web site have a link from another domain and number of links pointing to that page.

External LinksDetails for links on pages at another domain that point to your site. URL is displayed along with the date that Google last crawled the link.

These reports can be downloaded and used in many search-engine optimization tools.

Earlier This Year

Analysis is very important in the successful management of Web sites. One of the key tools is page analysis, which includes details on the important keywords Google found on your site. Words are provided on a priority list. In addition, common words for those external links are also reported.

Google Webmaster Tools has also provided query stats for some time. For example, you can access top-search queries, which are chosen by search property most often returning pages from your Web site. You can learn the top-search query number of clicks to your pages as well as the average top position. Google describes this as the “highest position any page from your site ranked for that query.” Keep in mind that data in these reports is given as a seven-day average.

Google also added search capability that allows Web administrators to “search through your site’s top search queries so that you can filter the data to exactly what you’re looking for in your query haystack.”

Too Much?

Some Web experts and Google-watchers find the data/information features to be a bit overwhelming. It seems the Web site administrator or Webmaster will have to use some trial-and-error methods to find out which numbers and reports are most useful.