Why would anyone use Google Webmaster Tools?

J

Jabong82

Power Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2011
Messages
699
Reaction score
74
Curious why anyone would use it. I mean other than possibly helping get your site indexed (which you can do other ways) and maybe finding broken links, it seems like there is really no advantages to using it.

Curious to you Webmaster Tools users opinions.
 
Advertise on BHW
Webmaster tools tells you impressions in the SERPs, and its the only way to see them.

So in other words, lets say you just got into the 20s on a really difficult keyword that you never got any clickthroughs for before. You didn't know to track for this keyword so you weren't checking for it.

Now that webmaster tools has told you about it, you go to Google and confirm that yes -- you are indeed ranking in the 20s for that term. It is a little effort away from ranking top 10.

If you didn't use webmaster tools you would never have known about that keyword and may have stayed in the 20s forever without optimizing for it.
 
I would use it on throw-away sites, together with Analytics, to get an idea of what works and how fast. But I wouldn't use it for any money sites or anything that would give away how I'm actually making money. DEFINITELY not for any site with AdSense on it.
 
DamageX said:
I would use it on throw-away sites, together with Analytics, to get an idea of what works and how fast. But I wouldn't use it for any money sites or anything that would give away how I'm actually making money. DEFINITELY not for any site with AdSense on it.
Click to expand...

Could you expand on this? Why you wouldn't want to use it on a site with ADSENSE?

Thanks!
 
zeroping said:
Could you expand on this? Why you wouldn't want to use it on a site with ADSENSE?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Because using it on a site with AdSense would point me out as the owner of both the AdSense account AND the GWT account. And I don't want Google to make that connection.
 
DamageX said:
Because using it on a site with AdSense would point me out as the owner of both the AdSense account AND the GWT account. And I don't want Google to make that connection.
Click to expand...

Anyhting g sees with analytics, they also see with adsense in terms of metrics. Having either of these tags on your page will give g all the metrics they need to do whatever they want with.
 
I use it, but i have a normal 'business' website as opposed to an affiliate type website.

I use it to tell google where i want my site to appear country wise, tell it whihc is my preferred domain, upload my sitemaps, it tells me where errors are on my site, it gives me an idea on what backlins google is liking, I can set what URL parameters google is too ignore, I can see how many google + I have, I can change my sitelinks if google picks one i dont want, I can quickyl see if google has indexed my new pages, etc, etc.

So there is quite a lot you can do in GWT, but can understand why blackhatters would not want ot use it.
 
The Geographic Target feature is very handy. Basically you can choose which country to target and you will get a boost in that country (at the detriment of your rankings in other countries). So if you choose to target users in Australia, your Australian rankings will be HIGHER than if you had no targeting selected but LOWER in the US and Canada.

Saw a good article about it the other day. Since I can't link I would suggest searching for "geographic target naitri" ;)
 
I use web master tools for a couple of things.
You can check for errors in sitemap, duplicate page titles, duplicate description tags (these are good if you have a large dynamic site and cant necessarily track these things manually).
 
Also can remove URLs. GoogleBot is quick, so if you change URLs, an old URL may be displaying in the results.
 
Advertise on BHW
You must log in or register to reply here.
Sign up now!

Main Menu

Home Main Forum List Black Hat SEO White Hat SEO BHW Newbie Guide Blogging Black Hat Tools Social Media Downloads

Marketplace

Account Selling Content / Copywriting EBooks / Methods Hosting Misc Proxies For Sale SEO - Link building SEO - Packages Social Media Social Media - Panels Web Design More

Making Money

Affiliate Programs Hire a Freelancer IM Journeys Making Money Pay Per Click Site Flipping Want to Buy

BlackHat World

Dispute Resolution Forum Suggestions & Feedback Introductions Lounge
Back
Top