The completely new and unofficial Google Tools for webmasters basic collection

Well everyone knows Google is probably the best search engine currently available (I say currently because I remember when a small company called Altavista was the clear leader) and most probably are aware that they offer email through Gmail and know of one or more of the webmaster tools available.

This article is the definitive guide to webmasters tools and resources and Google and it goes much further than just providing links to the standard webmaster tools collection. Read on and explore the suggestions you will be pleasantly surprised at the effects that it has on your productivity, SEO and search engine rankings.

This is the basic collection of web designers tools, when I describe them as basic, I am talking about the level of knowledge required to utilise them and not their power nor capability. Man of these tools and applications are extremely powerful indeed.

If you are not sure why Google is important to you as a web designer and web master then have a Read at the Google 101

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=70897

On the other hand if you are more seasoned web developer then remember to check back for our Advanced Google webmaster tools collection.

WEB SITES & BLOGS
Google has a number of web sites that you should have in your bookmarks collection if you are to keep yourself up to date with what is happening in the world of the behemoth that is Google.

Google Webmaster Central

http://www.google.com/webmasters/

Your starting point for anything Google from the perspective of a webmaster. Make sure you check it out at least once a month to see what is new.

Google Webmaster Blog

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/

This is the official Google blog for webmasters and you should try and visit at least once a week to see what is happening in the world of Google.

IMAGES
There are several tools available for the webmaster in relation to image search, management and manipulation.

Google Image Search
http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en Google Image Search

This can be a great resource for finding images to use on your website, although you need to be extremely careful in regards to the copyright implications. However were you aware that there is a new Image search tool from Google. The ‘Similar Image” search function is available here: http://similar-images.googlelabs.com/

By the far the most useful product from Google in regards to images is Picasa
http://picasa.google.com/ also now available for the Mac http://picasa.google.com/mac/ This allows you to store, organise, manipulate and publish your photo’s and is completely free.

DESIGN
Did you know Google will help you get your website up and running? You should be aware that they provide one of the best blog systems available http://www.blogger.com

However they do also let you build feature rich web pages with ease that your clients can manage once you have completed. Check out the facility at http://sites.google.com/

TOOLS
Google are forever introducing new tools for the webmaster and the ones that ave passed through Labs and do not require a degree in computer science to utilise tend to end up in the web toolkit.

Webmaster Tools
Google sums up their collection best when they say “Improve your site’s visibility in Google Search Results… see how your site is performing in our search results, troubleshoot potential problems, and build Google-friendly sites…”

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

Site Map Generator

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/docs/en/sitemap-generator.html

This tool will create a site map for you in the proper format for Google and other search engines and will help them greatly in indexing your site completely. If you have not got an XML sitemap yet then take a look at this tool, it may be the single most important thing you do for improving your Google rankings.

Google Analytics

http://www.google.com/analytics/

Use Google Analytics to see how well your site is performing, once only really useful for Google Adwords clients now this incredibly powerful application is used by almost everyone wanting to measure site metrics and performance.

COMMUNICATION
Did you know that Google makes it incredibly easy to add a click to talk application to your website. As long as you have a Gmail or Gtalk account then simply visit this page to get the code to add to your web page: http://www.google.com/talk

No related posts.