Using Google Webmaster Tools for SEO Efficiency

Sudhir Sharma

M Posted 9 years ago

t 2 min read

Understanding and incorporating analytics in your search engine optimization strategy is integral for getting the most out of your efforts. One of the best ways to do this is by making good use of Google Webmaster Tools for SEO, a free tool that helps users make smart, informed decisions for the best possible performance in search results. In this post, we’ll discuss pro tips for making good use of GWT to improve your SEO efforts. For help in setting up Google Webmaster Tools, see our article on Google Webmaster Tools Best Practices.

Google Webmaster Tools for SEO

SEO, content, and digital marketers who use Google Webmaster Tools for SEO know how invaluable of an analytics tool it is. Brands ultimately have a better chance of increasing rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs) by using a tool that is aimed at search results performance. GWT helps in the following SEO areas:

Optimizing keyword SEO by relaying data on the most-searched keywords in Google for whatever industry you choose to search. Use this information in your inbound and outbound SEO marketing.
Analyzing valuable SEO metrics relevant to your marketing campaigns.
Understanding the crawl and indexing of your site.
Increasing link building's efficacy for both incoming and outgoing links.

Search query data

There are certain things you'll want to pay attention to as you optimize your Web pages to get more traffic for search queries. GWT can help by showing which keywords are driving impressions for your site’s Web pages in the results. You can use this information to optimize your Web pages for keyword SEO. To access this tool, go to Search Traffic > Search Queries. The click-through rate section shows percentage of clicks made to your content from the SERP based on overall impressions. If the data here indicates a low number of clicks, you'll want to review and improve your meta descriptions as a first step.

Rank tracking

Want to discover ranking information about the keywords you're already implementing? Put your target keywords into the Rank Tracking Tool. You'll see data about your keywords' competition and traffic. With this tool, you can find out which keywords have the greatest chance of driving traffic to your site, and then you can optimize your Web pages with high-performing key terms. Use Google Webmaster Tools for SEO to make informed decisions based off real data. And to gain really valuable insights from GWT, incorporate BrightEdge Page Reporting to gain powerful data about a Web page’s performance.