Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) used to be pretty dull, it couldn’t hold a candle to its steroid guzzling sibling Google Analytics, and that’s as it should be. They do two different things, differently. However it has grown and evolved to become much more than a sitemap submitter or geo-targeter, very useful for SEO.

GWT gives insights and options that are pure search marketing gold. I remember in 2006 when they made it possible to set a preferred domain (website.com OR www.website.com), and in 2007 when they rolled-out the option to see external links- these are just some of the advances that have been made. Recently the biggest improvement is the Search queries options, a really lovely dose of data.

If you haven’t started working with GWT on your site yet I urge you to get signed up pronto, and here’s how…

The First thing you need is a Google account. This can use any existing email address, so you don’t need to get a Google email account (note the difference between a “Google account” and a “Google email account”). You get that set up here.

Secondly, go to http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ and sign in with your Google account details. On the Home screen there’s an option to Add a site… click it and add your site:

The Third thing to do is get that site verified by GWT so it can start gathering data. It has to be verified otherwise any old schmo could get GWT access to any website they fancied. There are three ways to get your site verified:

…depending on your site it can be easy to dump an html file at root over FTP, or add a meta tag to your home page. If you’re happy working with DNS then create the necessary TXT record and add that.

Once your site is verified you can set about tuning it, and getting your hands on some tasty info. The Dashboard options are:

• Site Configuration
• Your site on the web
• Diagnostics
• Labs

I’ll cover these in following posts.