Google Webmaster Tools and your blog
Google Webmaster Tools are something you should be using for your blog. There latest announcement adds another reason to make sure that you are using the tools.
The latest announcement “Is Your Site Hacked?” says that they will be trying to notify those sites where they find signs of hacking.
This alone would make it worthwhile but there is a lot more to what Webmaster Tools offer. It will let you see how Google views your site.
You can find out if they are having trouble crawling your site or if they have found problems.
You will be able to see what links they are showing to your site and even the anchor text being used. These is important information you really need to know and a few minutes a week can show you any problems you are having that you may not be aware of.
Finally it is relatively easy and painless to set up. You will need a Gmail account to login as you do with most Google services.
Click on the add site button and fill in the url of your blog.
This will generate a meta tag that you will copy and add to your header file on your blog.
Add it to your header file below the other meta tags and save.
Then click the verify link. This will take you to the dashboard for the site if you have completed it successfully.
The final step is to submit your sitemap If you are using the Google Sitemap plugin this will be yourdomain/sitemap.xml.
Well worth the few minutes to set this up for the information you get and to keep current with how Google is seeing your blog.
About the author
|
Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. Get the details at Profitable Blog Steps |
Related posts
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Disclaimer: Some of the links mentioned within this post or posts it may lead to are my affiliate links and in such case I will get compensated for recommending those products. However, I will never recommend something that I don’t personally believe in and I welcome your questions and feedback.
8 comments
Leslie West on March 5, 2010 at 10:49 am
I have found one of my blogs was hacked. There was some application trying to load in my FF browser. Somehow this was a blog I had not changed the admin user. There was another user with administrative rights who must have helped himself. I deleted him.
I deleted all the blog files but the account was still hacked. I deleted the other admin user and added an exploit plugin and was able to get control back.
I changed my administrator name and PW and seem to be back fine.
I also had an articledashboard article site get hacked real good. Poor script with vulnerabilities. It is now a wp blog. Yeah.
I am not sure how long or if I can recover the 239 articles.
Leslie West´s last blog ..Amazing Amazon Birdie Bread
[Reply]
Herschel Lawhorn
Twitter: http://myaffiliatemarketingguide.com
on March 5, 2010 at 11:42 am
Mike this is the second time you have come though with good information at just the moment that I needed it. I had planned to talk about Google Webmaster Tools at my WordPress conference next week. I had not actually looked yet, so I didn’t know about the “Is Your Site Hacked” announcement.
That should be a really helpful addition. Thanks again for the timely info.
Herschel Lawhorn´s last blog ..Amazing Minisite Templates
[Reply]
Alex Sysoef
Twitter: thespootter
on March 5, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Great points Mike,
I love and always tress the importance of Google Webmaster tools – if Google wants you to help them rank you better – why go againts?
Alex Sysoef´s last blog ..3 Reasons Why Blog Commenting Is Important
[Reply]
Chad Carlton
Twitter: carltonsent
on March 5, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Awesome Mike! I always read your blog updates and this one was Awesome! I was just updating a couple of blogs when I took a break to read this. I’m anxious to put this to work so, off I go to Google Web Master tools to set this up.
Thanks Again,
Chad
[Reply]
Richard
Twitter: rwperkinsjr
on March 5, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I have been using Webmaster tools for sometime and I really like it. as you said above it really helps me to keep track of some of the things that are happening around my site.
I hadn’t seen the hacked thing yet so once again Mike you have shared some great information. I’m heading over to check it out now. Have a great one.
Richard´s last blog ..Cell Phone Antenna Project
[Reply]
Andre Arnett on March 5, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Looks like I have some work to do this weekend to add this tool. As always thanks for the timely and great information.
Andre Arnett´s last blog ..Are You Using Private Label Rights Articles For Your Website or Blog
[Reply]
Mona on March 5, 2010 at 7:16 pm
I too have been using Google Webmaster tools for awhile. Love the information it gives me. I login to it an average of once a week just to see how things are going.
After reading your post, had to check it out. So basically, if I have no messages, I’m probably good to go on the “Is your site hacked” scenario?
Thanks again Mike. You always give such timely information.
Mona´s last blog ..Article Writing Tips
[Reply]
Joel Osborne
Twitter: JoelOsborne
on March 5, 2010 at 9:12 pm
This is very cool. I wasn’t aware of this yet. Helping the big search engine better crawl your site will only help with getting better rankings.
Joel Osborne´s last blog ..Market Me Tweet Review
[Reply]