Please note this article was first published in 12 Mar 2010. Its content may now be out of date. We recommend taking a look at more recent website building blog posts or check out our comprehensive support pages. If you are looking for information on our 14 day free website builder trial we have a large number of webpages that guide you throug the process.
Ever wondered how Google see’s your website? Why not find out? When you verify your website with Google they provide a whole host of information and statistics. They gather information when crawling your website, and make available through Google Webmaster tools. When you build a website it is useful to know how the search engines see your site. You can also find out how your users you and for what terms.
Verifying your website with Google is easy. Simply open an account with Google’s Webmaster Central. Once you have verified you own the website, you can access the information they hold on you by simply logging in.
To open an account with Google Webmaster Central go to www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
It is recommended that you have two tabs open on your computer. One with Google Webmaster tools and the other the control panel of your website, as you will need to move between the two.
1. Open an account or use an existing Google account.
2. Click Add a site and enter your full website name.
3. You can verify your site in two ways. By “Meta Tag” or “Upload a HTML file”
4. Choose “Upload a HTML File”
5. Google give you a file name that looks like this google79fae542244499ab.html
6. Copy the file name insuring you Do Not include the brackets
7. Go to the website control panel.
8. Click verify your site (within the vertical buttons to the left)
9. At the bottom of the page in section 3 paste the Google file name into the box provided
10. Click submit.
It may take several minutes before Google finds the file so you will need to be patient. Once the verification is complete you can view your site information.
The best tool in Webmaster Central is Top search queries. It allows you to view the top keywords Google recognises you for. Along with which resulted in visits to your website. Use this information to help refine your keywords and target your pages. Each keyword listed also shows the position your site ranks in Google for that term.
Google provides a list of all the keywords in a scale of how important they appear on your site. It gives an indication of how closely your keywords relate to the content on your pages. Which in turn relects your sites focus from the search engines perspective.
Amend the geographic target of your website. Are you targeting a specific town, country or continent? Change how your website name is displayed and how often Google visits.
This feature isn’t as scary as it sounds. It simply shows if any of your pages have duplicated keywords and page descriptions. This information is called Meta Description and title Tags. Ideally each page of your site should have its own unique set of keywords and description. This tool easily identifies those that are duplicated. Making areas that need updating quick and easy to identify.
Google knows if there are problems on your pages, such as corrupt code and broken links. When you use a website builder you significantly reduce the number of errors on your pages. This is because as most of the code is created for you. However errors can still occur when creating links.
How fast your site loads when visited is important. A slow load time may result is users clicking away from your site or the search engines not completely crawling it. If your site ranks at least 50% then it has a good load time and you shouldn’t experience any problems.
There are numerous other features to be found in Webmaster Central. Once you have an account it is worth dipping in from time to time. Particularly if you are looking to make changes to your site and are looking for some direction.
Please remember, this article was first published 12/03/2010. The content may be out of date and you cannot post comments any more. Please check out our new blog.
We have been in business since 2003. Back when the founders of Facebook were still in college, we were writing code and helping our users create great websites.
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We are the DotGO: where everything is included and everything is managed for you, all at no extra cost.
We design websites to grow your business and wow your customers.
We are a UK company filled with passionate website designers and clever writers.
Friendly, professional and fast customer service is at the heart of everything we do. Our designers and unique technology make your website quick, responsive and secure, giving you the best chance of ranking well on Google.
If you need a shop, our own powerful ecommerce platform integrates beautifully. We train you to use our simple tools to update your website yourself. Our UK support team are on hand to provide sensible support and advice whenever you need it. We even power your professional email service, so you stay in contact with your customers by phone, tablet or computer.
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