SlideShare une entreprise Scribd logo
1  sur  36
Télécharger pour lire hors ligne
5 Ways to
Supercharge
Your SEO
With
Webmaster
Tools
How does Webmaster Tools help SEO?
 Get important messages directly from Google
 Get info on your site’s current presence & optimize your keyword
  targeting
 Get informed on sites that link to you and links within your own site
 Make your site as “Google-friendly” as possible

   Webmaster Tools is Google’s own SEO tool. It helps you optimize
   your online presence in ways that are officially
   recommended/sanctioned by Google.
Step 0 – Email Notifications:
Get critical updates straight from Google

              1. Login to Your Webmaster Tools Acc’t
                       2. Click “Preferences”
     3. Configure your messages to forward to an email account
         Done – you’ll be e-mailed whenever Google has important
                   messages for you about your website
5 Ways to Supercharge Your SEO
With Webmaster Tools
 1. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools
 to fine-tune your site keywords and content
 2. Use the HTML Improvements tool to correct some of
 Google’s least favorite site content errors
 3. Use the Internal Links tool to check out and optimise
 your site’s internal links
 4. Use the Crawl Errors tool to diagnose & fix site health
 issues
 5. Use the External Links tool to monitor your link profile
 and evaluate current initiatives
Use the Search Queries and
Content Keywords tools to
fine-tune your keywords and
content.
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords
         tools to optimize your site keywords and content.

Search Queries Tool:
Reports on the performance of your site’s search queries, to:
              Identify available opportunities for improvement
           See the impact of SEO, campaigns, and fresh content
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords
              tools to optimize your site keywords and content.
     What does the Search Queries tool report on?
1.    Queries: # of different search queries your site appeared for
2.    Impressions: # of times your site appeared in response to a query
3.    Clicks: # of times your site was clicked
4.    CTR: “Click-Through Rate” = Clicks / Impressions
5.    Avg Position: Avg position of your site for that query, for all results & pages.
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords
            tools to optimize your site keywords and content.
Select a Search Query to see:
•Which different pages are served for that query, and how they perform
•Site stats for specific search positions and ranges
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords
        tools to optimize your site keywords and content.
How does my CTR Measure Up?
                                                                  The most recent study
                                                                  produced these
                                                                  numbers use use them
                                                                  as a baseline and flag
                                                                  any of your queries that
                                                                  have lower CTR.

                                                                  *Don’t stress them too
                                                                  much – Google Search
                                                                  results are so unique to
                                                                  each user that there isn’t
                                                                  really a true standard CTR




      Source: “Google & Bing Click-Through Rates - CTR Study” by Slingshot SEO
         http://www.slingshotseo.com/resources/white-papers/google-ctr-study/
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords
              tools to optimize your site keywords and content.

How to Use the Search Queries Tool to Optimize Your Site
Keywords:
Step 0: do your keyword research first so you know which search queries to target
Step 1: Login to Webmaster tools and open the search queries tab to view your
top search queries.
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools
          to optimize your site keywords and content.
How to Use the Search Queries Tool to Optimize Your Site Keywords:
Step 2: Identify the Search Query you’re going to optimize for:
       • Higher-value as identified by your keyword research
       • Start with keywords that are already performing well
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords
            tools to optimize your site keywords and content.
How to Use the Search Queries Tool to Optimize Your Site Keywords:
 Step 3: Head to Google, search for that query, and see how your site appears
 to evaluate your Page Titles, meta descriptions, and URL’s – and identify which
 need to be optimized.




           ...Not bad – should shorten the meta description so it doesn’t get truncated




            ...Uh-Oh - This page needs a meta description!
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords
           tools to optimize your site keywords and content.
How to Use the Search Queries Tool to Optimize Your Site Keywords:
 Step 4: Return to the Search Queries tool, and click your chosen search query
 for more info on which pages appear for that query and how your site performs.
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords
            tools to optimize your site keywords and content.
How to Use the Search Queries Tool to Optimize Your Site Keywords:
 Step 5:
 Things to look for: Is the best page for that term the being served the most?
 Are there too many pages? Are there any duplicate URL’s being served?
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools
          to optimize your site keywords and content.
  What does the Content Keywords tool report on?

-The keywords that Google has             Select a keyword to see:
deemed “most significant” when            How many times it appears in your
crawling your site.                       site. More important keywords should
What Google says it thinks your site is   be more prevalent.
about. Your content’s keywords should     Which variations appear on your site
reflect your search keyword goals –       (ie “system/systems”)
and your business.
                                          Which pages are most strongly
                                          associated with that keyword
Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools
         to optimize your site keywords and content.
How to Use the Content Keywords Tool to Optimize Your Site
Keyword Content:
•Check out the Content Keywords tab: Do the keywords match your site’s goals and
the keywords you wish to target?




     Click a keyword to see how often it
     occurs and which pages it appears
     on.
Use the HTML Improvements
tool to quickly diagnose and
fix some key elements
Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly
diagnose and fix some key elements


                             Meta description:

                        • Duplicate meta descriptions:
                        Google strongly encourages
                        unique meta descriptions

                        • Long meta descriptions:
                        Meta descriptions should be no
                        longer than 155 chars

                        • Short meta descriptions:
                        Meta descriptions should be no
                        shorter than ~ 50 chars

                        Tip: resent research has shown
                        longer descriptions perform better.
Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly
diagnose and fix some key elements

                            Title tag:

                        • Missing title tags

                        • Duplicate title tags

                        • Long title tags
                        > 69 char (incl spaces)

                        • Short title tags
                        ? (Use common sense)

                        • Non-informative title tags
                        Generic / placeholders
                             • ie “Index” or “Page 2”
                        Better to use tags that describe
                        content:
                        Ie “Home Reverse Osmosis
                        Systems”
Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly
diagnose and fix some key elements

                            Non-indexable content:

                        • Pages containing content
                        that Google cannot crawl and
                        index (in other words, can’t
                        give meaning to), such as
                        some rich media files, video,
                        or images.

                        (Not involved in this “quick
                        fix” procedure)
Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly
               diagnose and fix some key elements

    How to use the
HTML Improvements
tool:

1.Access the HTML
Improvements tool under
Optimization > HTML
Improvements

On the HTML Improvements
main page, you’ll see a list of
possible errors, with errors
that have been found,
marked in blue
Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly
          diagnose and fix some key elements

2. Click on one of the errors to view a list of all the pages on which this error
occurs
Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly
        diagnose and fix some key elements

3. Work your way through the list of pages that contain the error until
you’ve corrected all errors on all pages

4. Repeat: Return to the main HTML Improvements tab and start on
the next list of errors, if any


 Best order in which to address the HTML Improvements tool?

      1. Title tags - the Most Important Site Element for SEO

      2. Meta descriptions

      3. Non-indexable content
         (may be more complex / not a “quick fix”)
Use the Internal Links tool to
analyze and optimise your
site’s internal linking*
*internal links are links from pages on your own site to other
pages on your own sites
Use the Internal Links tool to analyze and
          optimise your site’s internal linking

1. Open the Internal Links tool to view the pages on your site that received
links from other pages on your site, in order from most to least.
Use the Internal Links tool to analyze and
          optimise your site’s internal linking
2. Click on a specific page in the list of to see which other pages on your site
link to that page.
Use the Internal Links tool to analyze and
          optimise your site’s internal linking

What to do with the info you get from the Internal Links tool?

The Most Important Pages Should Have The Most Internal Links
If they don’t you should try to build more targeted internal links to your more
important pages, or if needed, reduce internal linking to some less-important
pages – or both.



Find out what kind of internal linking takes place on the site and find
opportunities to enhance it.
Example:
If nearly all your pages have the same number of internal links, then they’re
probably just in your navigation, and you probably could stand to add more
keyword targeted internal links within your site content
Use the Crawl Errors tool to
diagnose & fix a variety of
technical “website health”
issues
Use the Crawl Errors tool to diagnose and treat
          a variety of site “health” issues.

What does the “Crawl Errors” tab tell us?

Crawl Errors take place whenever Google is not able to access – to “crawl” - a
URL as expected.

When they take place on your site, it means that your site contains these such
errors - and these can affect your rankings.

The crawl errors listed in Webmaster tools are classified according to a few
different criteria.
Use the Crawl Errors tool to diagnose and treat
          a variety of site “health” issues.

How to correct crawl errors?

Server error: The site was “unable to respond” to Google’s request for the
URL. check your server / the website’s technical back-end. Possible .htaccess
file issues.

Soft 404: Usually occurs in empty blog categories. Not a true 404, rather the
website is responding that the URL exists, but there’s no content for it.

Access denied: Determine why Google is attempting to access a protected
URL – did it used to be public?

Not found: Either redirect the missing URL’s to new ones, or block them using
robots.txt so that Google will stop looking
Correcting “Not found” can be a great way to “recover” links to your site

Not followed: A URL that Google found while crawling your site, but was
instructed by your site not to follow. Make sure it should indeed be no-follow,
and then leave it alone.
Use the Crawl Errors tool to diagnose and treat
          a variety of site “health” issues.

What is robots.txt?

A file that allows you to instruct search engine spiders (the programs that crawl
the web and follow links) not to crawl or index content.

Blocking specific URL’s with robots.txt is a great way to cure Crawl errors
when the URL returning the error cannot be fixed or redirected. It tells Google
to “stop looking.”
Use the Links to Your Site
tool to review your link profile
in order to evaluate and plan
linking strategies
Links to your site
o   Plan and track growth of inbound links
o   Who links most to you and linked # of pages
o   Most-linked content
o   Anchor text used to link
Links to your site
What to look for:
•Have you gained or lost a lot of links lately? & To what
pages?
•What *kinds* of sites are linking to me? Example: forum
marketing initiative leads to lots of links from forums.
•Are there links I know about that aren’t indexed?
     •   Protip: The fastest way to get Google to index something is to
         +1 it.
Other Tools:
•   Crawl stats: How many pages does Google crawl? How much of
    Google’s resources are spent on these pages?
       •   Improved indexation
           (HTML suggestions & Crawl errors)
           +
           Improved site speed (Google Page Speed
           https://developers.google.com/pagespeed/)
           =
           Better crawl stats
•   URL Removal Tool: URL index that shouldn’t be? Ask Google to
    deleted it (make sure it’s gone, ie returning a 404, when you do –
    and block it w/ robots.txt)
Conclusions on Webmaster Tools
Important tool for monitoring and configuring:
      − Critical site elements for SEO & content targeting
      − Errors & issues
      − Launch of site, new design, new host
      − How your site appears in search results

Contenu connexe

En vedette

Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsSocial Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsKurio // The Social Media Age(ncy)
 
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024Search Engine Journal
 
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summarySpeakerHub
 
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd Clark Boyd
 
Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next Tessa Mero
 
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search IntentGoogle's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search IntentLily Ray
 
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity -  Best PracticesTime Management & Productivity -  Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity - Best PracticesVit Horky
 
The six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project managementThe six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project managementMindGenius
 
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...RachelPearson36
 
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...Applitools
 
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at WorkGetSmarter
 
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...DevGAMM Conference
 
Barbie - Brand Strategy Presentation
Barbie - Brand Strategy PresentationBarbie - Brand Strategy Presentation
Barbie - Brand Strategy PresentationErica Santiago
 
Good Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them well
Good Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them wellGood Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them well
Good Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them wellSaba Software
 
Introduction to C Programming Language
Introduction to C Programming LanguageIntroduction to C Programming Language
Introduction to C Programming LanguageSimplilearn
 
The Pixar Way: 37 Quotes on Developing and Maintaining a Creative Company (fr...
The Pixar Way: 37 Quotes on Developing and Maintaining a Creative Company (fr...The Pixar Way: 37 Quotes on Developing and Maintaining a Creative Company (fr...
The Pixar Way: 37 Quotes on Developing and Maintaining a Creative Company (fr...Palo Alto Software
 

En vedette (20)

Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsSocial Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
 
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
 
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
 
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
 
Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next
 
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search IntentGoogle's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
 
How to have difficult conversations
How to have difficult conversations How to have difficult conversations
How to have difficult conversations
 
Introduction to Data Science
Introduction to Data ScienceIntroduction to Data Science
Introduction to Data Science
 
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity -  Best PracticesTime Management & Productivity -  Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
 
The six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project managementThe six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project management
 
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
 
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
 
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
 
ChatGPT webinar slides
ChatGPT webinar slidesChatGPT webinar slides
ChatGPT webinar slides
 
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike RoutesMore than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
 
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
 
Barbie - Brand Strategy Presentation
Barbie - Brand Strategy PresentationBarbie - Brand Strategy Presentation
Barbie - Brand Strategy Presentation
 
Good Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them well
Good Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them wellGood Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them well
Good Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them well
 
Introduction to C Programming Language
Introduction to C Programming LanguageIntroduction to C Programming Language
Introduction to C Programming Language
 
The Pixar Way: 37 Quotes on Developing and Maintaining a Creative Company (fr...
The Pixar Way: 37 Quotes on Developing and Maintaining a Creative Company (fr...The Pixar Way: 37 Quotes on Developing and Maintaining a Creative Company (fr...
The Pixar Way: 37 Quotes on Developing and Maintaining a Creative Company (fr...
 

5 Ways to Supercharge your SEO With Google Webmaster Tools

  • 1. 5 Ways to Supercharge Your SEO With Webmaster Tools
  • 2. How does Webmaster Tools help SEO?  Get important messages directly from Google  Get info on your site’s current presence & optimize your keyword targeting  Get informed on sites that link to you and links within your own site  Make your site as “Google-friendly” as possible Webmaster Tools is Google’s own SEO tool. It helps you optimize your online presence in ways that are officially recommended/sanctioned by Google.
  • 3. Step 0 – Email Notifications: Get critical updates straight from Google 1. Login to Your Webmaster Tools Acc’t 2. Click “Preferences” 3. Configure your messages to forward to an email account  Done – you’ll be e-mailed whenever Google has important messages for you about your website
  • 4. 5 Ways to Supercharge Your SEO With Webmaster Tools 1. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to fine-tune your site keywords and content 2. Use the HTML Improvements tool to correct some of Google’s least favorite site content errors 3. Use the Internal Links tool to check out and optimise your site’s internal links 4. Use the Crawl Errors tool to diagnose & fix site health issues 5. Use the External Links tool to monitor your link profile and evaluate current initiatives
  • 5. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to fine-tune your keywords and content.
  • 6. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. Search Queries Tool: Reports on the performance of your site’s search queries, to: Identify available opportunities for improvement See the impact of SEO, campaigns, and fresh content
  • 7. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. What does the Search Queries tool report on? 1. Queries: # of different search queries your site appeared for 2. Impressions: # of times your site appeared in response to a query 3. Clicks: # of times your site was clicked 4. CTR: “Click-Through Rate” = Clicks / Impressions 5. Avg Position: Avg position of your site for that query, for all results & pages.
  • 8. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. Select a Search Query to see: •Which different pages are served for that query, and how they perform •Site stats for specific search positions and ranges
  • 9. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. How does my CTR Measure Up? The most recent study produced these numbers use use them as a baseline and flag any of your queries that have lower CTR. *Don’t stress them too much – Google Search results are so unique to each user that there isn’t really a true standard CTR Source: “Google & Bing Click-Through Rates - CTR Study” by Slingshot SEO http://www.slingshotseo.com/resources/white-papers/google-ctr-study/
  • 10. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. How to Use the Search Queries Tool to Optimize Your Site Keywords: Step 0: do your keyword research first so you know which search queries to target Step 1: Login to Webmaster tools and open the search queries tab to view your top search queries.
  • 11. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. How to Use the Search Queries Tool to Optimize Your Site Keywords: Step 2: Identify the Search Query you’re going to optimize for: • Higher-value as identified by your keyword research • Start with keywords that are already performing well
  • 12. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. How to Use the Search Queries Tool to Optimize Your Site Keywords: Step 3: Head to Google, search for that query, and see how your site appears to evaluate your Page Titles, meta descriptions, and URL’s – and identify which need to be optimized. ...Not bad – should shorten the meta description so it doesn’t get truncated ...Uh-Oh - This page needs a meta description!
  • 13. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. How to Use the Search Queries Tool to Optimize Your Site Keywords: Step 4: Return to the Search Queries tool, and click your chosen search query for more info on which pages appear for that query and how your site performs.
  • 14. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. How to Use the Search Queries Tool to Optimize Your Site Keywords: Step 5: Things to look for: Is the best page for that term the being served the most? Are there too many pages? Are there any duplicate URL’s being served?
  • 15. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. What does the Content Keywords tool report on? -The keywords that Google has Select a keyword to see: deemed “most significant” when How many times it appears in your crawling your site. site. More important keywords should What Google says it thinks your site is be more prevalent. about. Your content’s keywords should Which variations appear on your site reflect your search keyword goals – (ie “system/systems”) and your business. Which pages are most strongly associated with that keyword
  • 16. Use the Search Queries and Content Keywords tools to optimize your site keywords and content. How to Use the Content Keywords Tool to Optimize Your Site Keyword Content: •Check out the Content Keywords tab: Do the keywords match your site’s goals and the keywords you wish to target? Click a keyword to see how often it occurs and which pages it appears on.
  • 17. Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly diagnose and fix some key elements
  • 18. Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly diagnose and fix some key elements Meta description: • Duplicate meta descriptions: Google strongly encourages unique meta descriptions • Long meta descriptions: Meta descriptions should be no longer than 155 chars • Short meta descriptions: Meta descriptions should be no shorter than ~ 50 chars Tip: resent research has shown longer descriptions perform better.
  • 19. Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly diagnose and fix some key elements Title tag: • Missing title tags • Duplicate title tags • Long title tags > 69 char (incl spaces) • Short title tags ? (Use common sense) • Non-informative title tags Generic / placeholders • ie “Index” or “Page 2” Better to use tags that describe content: Ie “Home Reverse Osmosis Systems”
  • 20. Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly diagnose and fix some key elements Non-indexable content: • Pages containing content that Google cannot crawl and index (in other words, can’t give meaning to), such as some rich media files, video, or images. (Not involved in this “quick fix” procedure)
  • 21. Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly diagnose and fix some key elements How to use the HTML Improvements tool: 1.Access the HTML Improvements tool under Optimization > HTML Improvements On the HTML Improvements main page, you’ll see a list of possible errors, with errors that have been found, marked in blue
  • 22. Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly diagnose and fix some key elements 2. Click on one of the errors to view a list of all the pages on which this error occurs
  • 23. Use the HTML Improvements tool to quickly diagnose and fix some key elements 3. Work your way through the list of pages that contain the error until you’ve corrected all errors on all pages 4. Repeat: Return to the main HTML Improvements tab and start on the next list of errors, if any Best order in which to address the HTML Improvements tool? 1. Title tags - the Most Important Site Element for SEO 2. Meta descriptions 3. Non-indexable content (may be more complex / not a “quick fix”)
  • 24. Use the Internal Links tool to analyze and optimise your site’s internal linking* *internal links are links from pages on your own site to other pages on your own sites
  • 25. Use the Internal Links tool to analyze and optimise your site’s internal linking 1. Open the Internal Links tool to view the pages on your site that received links from other pages on your site, in order from most to least.
  • 26. Use the Internal Links tool to analyze and optimise your site’s internal linking 2. Click on a specific page in the list of to see which other pages on your site link to that page.
  • 27. Use the Internal Links tool to analyze and optimise your site’s internal linking What to do with the info you get from the Internal Links tool? The Most Important Pages Should Have The Most Internal Links If they don’t you should try to build more targeted internal links to your more important pages, or if needed, reduce internal linking to some less-important pages – or both. Find out what kind of internal linking takes place on the site and find opportunities to enhance it. Example: If nearly all your pages have the same number of internal links, then they’re probably just in your navigation, and you probably could stand to add more keyword targeted internal links within your site content
  • 28. Use the Crawl Errors tool to diagnose & fix a variety of technical “website health” issues
  • 29. Use the Crawl Errors tool to diagnose and treat a variety of site “health” issues. What does the “Crawl Errors” tab tell us? Crawl Errors take place whenever Google is not able to access – to “crawl” - a URL as expected. When they take place on your site, it means that your site contains these such errors - and these can affect your rankings. The crawl errors listed in Webmaster tools are classified according to a few different criteria.
  • 30. Use the Crawl Errors tool to diagnose and treat a variety of site “health” issues. How to correct crawl errors? Server error: The site was “unable to respond” to Google’s request for the URL. check your server / the website’s technical back-end. Possible .htaccess file issues. Soft 404: Usually occurs in empty blog categories. Not a true 404, rather the website is responding that the URL exists, but there’s no content for it. Access denied: Determine why Google is attempting to access a protected URL – did it used to be public? Not found: Either redirect the missing URL’s to new ones, or block them using robots.txt so that Google will stop looking Correcting “Not found” can be a great way to “recover” links to your site Not followed: A URL that Google found while crawling your site, but was instructed by your site not to follow. Make sure it should indeed be no-follow, and then leave it alone.
  • 31. Use the Crawl Errors tool to diagnose and treat a variety of site “health” issues. What is robots.txt? A file that allows you to instruct search engine spiders (the programs that crawl the web and follow links) not to crawl or index content. Blocking specific URL’s with robots.txt is a great way to cure Crawl errors when the URL returning the error cannot be fixed or redirected. It tells Google to “stop looking.”
  • 32. Use the Links to Your Site tool to review your link profile in order to evaluate and plan linking strategies
  • 33. Links to your site o Plan and track growth of inbound links o Who links most to you and linked # of pages o Most-linked content o Anchor text used to link
  • 34. Links to your site What to look for: •Have you gained or lost a lot of links lately? & To what pages? •What *kinds* of sites are linking to me? Example: forum marketing initiative leads to lots of links from forums. •Are there links I know about that aren’t indexed? • Protip: The fastest way to get Google to index something is to +1 it.
  • 35. Other Tools: • Crawl stats: How many pages does Google crawl? How much of Google’s resources are spent on these pages? • Improved indexation (HTML suggestions & Crawl errors) + Improved site speed (Google Page Speed https://developers.google.com/pagespeed/) = Better crawl stats • URL Removal Tool: URL index that shouldn’t be? Ask Google to deleted it (make sure it’s gone, ie returning a 404, when you do – and block it w/ robots.txt)
  • 36. Conclusions on Webmaster Tools Important tool for monitoring and configuring: − Critical site elements for SEO & content targeting − Errors & issues − Launch of site, new design, new host − How your site appears in search results