Making Your Website Work - Using Google Webmaster Tools

Any website designer or webmaster has certainly logged on to Google and used their great webmaster tools including Google Analytics and much more. We are big fans of these free tools and encourage you to log on, visit and succeed with them.

In order to use any of these tools, you will need to create your own user account. This is a painless process and you can link many accounts together.

Part of the process includes learning about site verification codes, tracking analytics javascript code and much more. It is relatively simple for an experienced website designer to embed these codes into any website and they offer heaps of free advice. You should consider the steps to follow when building your website so you include the proper tracking codes on each page correctly because if you make any errors or omissions, your website analytics may not reflect accurate metrics. You can also add tracking codes for Yahoo and Bing but this is covered on another link for you. Don't forget to review the "IP filtering function" so you are not getting credit for your own visits to your website while working on it.

Another great tool for webmasters is one of our all time favorites... Google Docs! You can set up your website sitemap plan including detailed content planning, post it online and then share it with all stakeholders on the project including your client. This collaberative method of communication makes everything much easier and can help you avoid some of the common road blocks normally experienced with any project management challenge. Another great tool to use is Google Images. There are literally millions of great graphics and images you can use freely on your website or blog (most all are in lower website resolution) but make sure you double check for any copyright limitations before posting to your website or blog.

Here are some of the most common subjects you should consider when planning the design of your website product.

CREATE AN ACCOUNT
Do you already have a Google user account or do you know how to go about creating one? Do you know how to LINK accounts?

ADD YOUR SITE TO GOOGLE
Do you know how to add your site to the Google indexing services? Do you know how site verification works and how to go about making it work?

WEBMASTER GUIDELINES
Have you reviewed the Google Webmaster Guidelines to ensure that your website does not get penalized by them?

SITEMAPS
Do you know how to create a sitemap, why you should do so and how to ensure you have done everything correctly?

GOOGLE DIAGNOSTICS
Do you know how to use the website diagnostics and exactly how this can help you to improve your page ranking?

GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Do you know how to use the website analytics and how to use these metrics to improve your website and your visitors' experience?