How To Learn Google Search Analytics In Webmasters Tools

Google has a great way of getting more traffic to your site using search engine optimization. But before optimizing your site, you should be able to sign up for Google Webmaster Tools, also known as GWT.

This is a free toolset that is provided by Google to help you understand what is going on within your website. Decisions are made based on the analysis of data instead of just guesswork.

This is how GWT works.

After logging in or signing up, you will need to add your website in Google Analytics. After your website is added, you will have to verify if the actual website is yours in either of the four ways as described below:

• Add a meta tag to the home page of your site if you want to edit your site’s HTML code.
• You can add a DNS record to the domain configuration of your website. This option is best used if you sign up in your hosting provider and add a new DNS record.
• Link your Google Analytics account to GWT, this option is chosen when your site has Google Analytics running already that uses asynchronous snippet. You will have to be the administrator of your account for it to work.
• Upload an HTML file to your server. Go for this option if you can upload files to your website.

After the account verification, data will start streaming for your website. It might take a few hours to start, but it will eventually start flowing. The dashboard displays all the details regarding the traffic and rankings of your website.

Site configuration

Configuring your site will enable you to rank your website even higher. Below mentioned are the few areas you should be familiar with while configuring the site.

• Sitemap – Sitemaps help Google to determine the pages you have on your website that you want to be indexed. If a sitemap is not submitted, chances are some of your pages may not get indexed, meaning reduced traffic to your website.
• Crawler access – There are some pages that you may not want Google to index, these might include login pages, RSS feeds and data that you don’t want visitors to access.
• Sitelinks – These are links to a site’s interior pages that are displayed on Google search results. Google generates links automatically, but you can remove the sitelinks you do not want to pop in the search results.
• Change of address – If you want to change the website URL, following ways are valid:
  • Setup a new site: The new domain has to be running.Ensure that all your content is public.
  • Redirect the old traffic: A 301 permanent redirect notifies users and search engines that the site has moved permanently.
  • Add your new site to GWT: Ensure that your website is verified.
  • Inform GWT about your new domain name: Select the new domain name of the website in the change of address section. GWT helps you to look at how Google views your old or new website.