What is Google Webmaster Tools and How to Use It?

There are many ways to achieve better rankings in search engines, and the SEO (search engine optimization) work you do on the organic side can bring a longer-lasting and less costly organic growth in the long run.

To shed light on those who want to succeed on this path, Google designed a very simple tool known to all of us as Google Search Console to understand how your site looks, what problems might affect your traffic, and how to improve the site for better rankings and results.

Google Search Console had been on the market for a while and was actually previously known as Google Webmaster Tools and Google Webmaster Central. In 2015, Google renamed this tool as Google Search Console, so although they seem like different terms, they are actually all different names for the same thing.

How Can GWT (Google Webmaster Tools) Help Monitor Your Website Performance?

• Verifies that Google can access content on your website.
• GWT, also known as Google Search Console, makes it possible to submit new pages and posts for Google to crawl and remove content you do not want search engine users to discover.
• Helps you serve and evaluate content that provides a more visual experience to users. Guides you on this.
• Allows you to discover and fix malware or spam issues that cannot be easily found by other means.

How Does Google Webmaster Tools Help You Understand How Your Website Appears in Google Searches?

• Provides details about which popular queries bring users to which pages on your website, giving light to SEO strategies.
• Shows which queries bring the most traffic.
• You can also evaluate through GWT how your mobile website performs for users searching on tablets and phones. With the suggestions it offers you, you can also achieve these improvements.

How to Set Up Google Webmaster Tools?

First, sign into your Google account. If it is a business website, make sure you are using your business account, not your personal account.

Go to Google Web Administrator Tools. Click “Add a property.” Select “Website” from the dropdown menu and enter your site’s URL. Make sure you use the exact URL that appears in the browser bar and continue.

Choose a way to verify that you own the website (HTML file upload, domain provider, HTML tag, Google Analytics tracking code, or GTM container snippet).

If your site supports both http:// and https://, add both as separate sites. You also need to add every domain your site has. (www versions, etc.)

Google starts monitoring data for your property the moment you add it to GSC, even before verifying that you own the site.

Verifying Your Site in GSC

Since GSC gives you access to confidential information about the performance of a site or application, you first need to verify that you own that site or application.

Verification gives a specific user control over a specific property. At least one verification is required for each GSC property.

However, there is something to keep in mind: verifying your property does not directly affect your PageRank or performance in Google searches. Of course, the more information you have, the easier it will be to rank higher - but adding your website to Google Search Console does not automatically raise your ranking.

We can list GSC verification methods as follows;

• HTML file upload: Upload a verification HTML file to a specific location on your website.
• Domain provider: Sign in to your domain registrar site (such as GoDaddy, eNom, or networkolutions.com) and verify your site directly from GSC or add a DNS TXT or CNAME record.
• HTML tag: Add a meta tag to the HEAD section of the HTML code of a specific page.
• Google Analytics tracking code: Copy the GA tracking code you use on your site. (You need “edit” permission in GA for this option.)
• Google Tag Manager container snippet code: Copy the GTM container snippet code associated with your site.
• Sites hosted by Google, including Blogger and Google Sites pages, are automatically verified.

If you want to start more strategic SEO work for your website on Google, you need to pay attention to the updates and recommendations Google shares. One of the simplest ways to do this is through the free Google Webmaster (Google Search Console) tools. Within a few minutes, you can start understanding your website from Google’s perspective, obtain different data about your site, and contribute to your site’s traffic with more effective work.

Abdullah Altunbaş

Content Writer

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