eFrog Digital Design |

When it comes to monitoring traffic, conversions and such, Google Analytics is the option most people turn to. It doesn’t have to stop there though, Google has more free services that can assist you in optimizing your website.

Enter:

Google Webmaster Tools is a free service run by Google that provides you with data, tools and diagnostics to assist you in creating a Google-friendly website.

Here is a quick video introduction:

Let’s look at getting your website setup on Google Webmaster Tools:

First things first, you’re going to need a Google account so let’s explore that. Creating a Google account is best done by signing up for a Google Email account, this account will then give you access to all the Google tools, which includes Google Analytics. To get stared, please click here, and then click on the big red button at the top right of the screen that says, “CREATE AN ACCOUNT”. Fill out the form that appears on the right with all your information and Google will guide you through the process, which shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes, depending on how quickly you type of course.

At this point you’ll have a new email address, something like

Click through to  and look for the blue “Sign in to Webmaster Tools” button and click it. In some cases you’ll be asked to sign in, if you are, use the email address and password you created in the Getting Started section above.

Once you’re logged in, you’ll be looking at the Dashboard, this is where you control all your websites.

On the Dashboard, look for the red “ADD A SITE” button towards the top right and give it a click. A popup will appear asking you to enter your website URL – Enter in your website URL, such as efrogthemes.com and click Continue.

The next step is to verify your website, this can be done in 4 ways:

1. Uploading an HTML file
2. Adding some meta data to your website
3. Linking your Google Analytics account
4. Adding a DNS record

All four ways will achieve the same result, but by far the easiest way is option 1 and Google recommends this process of verification too.

Once you’ve verified your account you’ll have access to all the tools, data and information that Webmaster Tools has on offer.

Google Webmaster Tools will provide you with access to these incredibly useful features, amongst others:

• Sitemap submission and information
• Google Bot crawler access
• Configuring Sitelinks
• Geographic targeting
• Crawl Rate and Error reporting
• Backlinks to your website
• Search queries
• Subscriber statistics
• Google +1 metrics
• Malware inspection
• HTML suggestions

Google Webmaster Tools is there to assist you with ensuring that your website is following best practices, following recommendations from Google is your number one way to ensuring that your website is search engine friendly and discoverable on the Internet.

Enjoy!

PS. Don’t forget to read our .