6 Ways Google Webmaster Tools Can Improve Your SEO Strategy

1. HTML Enhancements

HTML Improvements can be found under Search Appearance. This report gives a snapshot of any difficulties with your site's meta descriptions and title tags, as well as a record of any non-indexable material.

We all know how crucial it is to have distinct meta descriptions and optimized title tags in the world of SEO. This report makes it simple to identify and prioritize title tag/meta description issues.

In the snapshot above, for example, you can see that 634 pages have duplicate title tags. If I clicked on the 'Duplicate title tags' link, I'd be transported to a screen that listed all 634 pages, providing me with a quick and easy way to find page titles that needed to be altered.

2. Keywords in the Content

Content Keywords can be found in Google Index. This tool enables you to establish not only what you believe your site is about, but also how Google perceives it.

It displays the keywords utilized on your site, as well as keyword variations and relevance. These statistics allow you to rapidly assess whether you need additional content developed around specific keywords, themes, or topics. It also reveals which pages include the keywords. Very useful! (See the examples below; keywords have been coloured out for privacy reasons.)

3. Data Structured

Structured data is a useful approach to describe the content of your website to search engines, which can help with rankings and traffic in some circumstances. If you have structured data on your site, GWT offers a function that displays the types of structured data that Google detected on your site, as well as the URLs that contain each category. This report can be found under Search Appearance > Structured Data.

4. Data Markup Assistant

The Structured Data Markup Helper, found under Other Resources, allows you to tag data fields on your site for events, goods, and more.

If you're not sure where to start with structured markup, this is a simple point-and-click tool to get you started. The best part is that no HTML changes are necessary. Your mouse highlights and tags each important piece of information on the relevant page of your website.

5. Sitemaps

The Sitemaps section displays all of the sitemaps that you've uploaded (or Google discovered), as well as statistics such as the last date it was processed and the number of pages submitted and indexed. These statistics can be seen by content type, which includes Web, video, pictures, and news.

Another useful feature is the sitemap test option, which allows you to input the URL of a sitemap for Google to scan it for faults.

6. URL Removal

If you need to remove a URL from Google's index, use Webmaster Tools' Remove URLs tool. This is a powerful weapon, but use it with caution! Use this tool only if you wish to permanently delete a URL (as opposed to redirecting it).

In their help section, Google provides an excellent example: if you have mistakenly posted personal information such as a credit card number and need to have a page removed, you can request rapid removal of the URLs. This tool can be found in the left-hand navigation under 'Google Index.'