On the Internet, there are several tools that you can use to gather data about your website. This data can then be used to help you further promote your business online. Today we’re going to talk about Google’s Webmaster Tools and how you can use the data found in it to help you promote your business online.
Before this information is passed along, it’s helpful to know how to access Google’s Webmaster Tools. The first thing that you’ll need to do is search for it or go to www.google.com/webmasters/tools. Once you’re there, you’ll need to sign up for an account if you don’t already have one. After you sign up, you’ll then need to add your website and verify that you’re the owner of it. If you already use Google Analytics, you can use the same account for Webmaster Tools and you won’t need to go through the signup process. You can also verify ownership of your website in Webmaster Tools by connecting to your Google Analytics account.
Once you’re all set up, here are 3 ways that Google’s Webmaster Tools can help you promote your business:
Add A Sitemap
When Google’s web crawler visits your website it may or may not download and index all of the web pages contained in your website. Due to this, setting up a sitemap is a great way to list all of the pages on your website in one format that’s easy for the search engine crawlers to navigate. The easier your website is to navigate, the better of a chance that more pages will be viewed and indexed by Google.
Setting up a sitemap is easy. If you’re using WordPress, there are countless plugins that will assist you with the process. You can also submit your website or blog’s feed as a sitemap. Once you have your sitemap set up, you can submit it in Google’s Webmaster Tools. This process helps promote your business because when there are more pages of your website being listed in the search engine, it has a better chance of being found.
View Your Website’s Search Queries
It doesn’t matter if you have a small website or very large website; you need to know how people are finding your website and where your web pages are being found in the search engine results. These two pieces of information can help you work on your content. For example, if you notice that people are finding your website using certain keywords, but they’re finding your website on page 3 of the results, you may want to consider writing more content that focuses around those keywords so that your web page can move up in the results. When you’re logged into your Google Webmaster Tools account, you can see this information by going to “Your Site on the Web” on the left hand and then click on “search queries” once the menu expands.
View Your +1 Metrics
If you use Google Plus to help promote your business online, you can also view your +1 metrics while you’re in Webmaster Tools. Your +1 metrics will help you determine your business’s reach on Google Plus and it will help you see if people are talking about your business or website on the social networking platform.
