How to configure Google Webmaster Tools



Google Webmaster Tools Configuration

Having a Google Webmaster account is an essential component of conducting business online. Regardless of your website and the eCommerce vertical you compete in, a large portion of your traffic is derived from search engine traffic -- particularly free search traffic from Google. Only through Google Webmaster Tools can you completely monitor and communicate your website’s status and crawlability with Google as well as track your keyword ranking in Google’s search results. (As a side note: this type of data is also available through Bing.com, the Microsoft Search Engine, but this data cannot be piped into Google Analytics).


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Setting up and configuring Google Webmaster Tools is the easiest configuration reviewed in this Whitepaper. You will need to create a Google Webmaster account in order to view the proprietary search data relating to your website and then link this account with both Analytics and Tag Manager. If you do not have an account already, navigate to www.google.com/webmasters/ and sign in with the Gmail address to which both Google Tag Manger and Google Analytics are associated with.

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Once you sign into Webmaster Tools, you are ready to create your account. Navigate to Home and chose to “Add A Site”

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Add your eComm website URL, for this example we are using the ficticious www.myecommwebsite.com you are now ready to validate the site ownership status.

Recommended Verification
There are several ways in which to “verify” and prove your site ownership.
If you have already implemented Google Tag Manager, Clickvoyant recommends that you validate and verify site ownership through GTM. This is the easiest method out of the five possibilities. All you have to do is select “Verify” and then log into GTM, this will prove that you have the capability to place code on your site. This again goes to show how indispensable and agile having Google Tag Manager can be for the eCommerce site owner. Through one initial on-site implementation you gain the ability to add additional tools and capabilities.

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Alternate Verification Methods
The HTML will require IT / Developer to implement. This is the most rigorous verification method. It is achieved by creating an empty .html file on your site, with a specific Google Webmaster key code. Once created and posted onto your website, select to “Verify” the key code and site ownership.
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If you do not wish to create an empty key code file or your Content Management System will not easily allow it, there are several other methods through which you can verify and prove your site ownership. The three other methods are by adding: an HTML Meta Tag to the header of your homepage (a meta tag only visible to Google, which does not interfere with site layout or performance), through your Domain Name provider, or by accessing Google Analytics code that is already live on your site

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Success. You now have access to your own Google-side SEO search data. The next step is to connect this data into your Google Analytics implementation. Piping this off-site search data into GA will give you the ability to see off-site SEO impressions, keyword ranking and click-through rates along your site traffic and key performance indicators. Remain logged into Google Webmaster and open a new tab on your browser. Navigate to Google Analytics and log in. Once signed in click on “Admin” on the top navigation bar. Select “Property Settings” under the appropriate Property, in this scenario we are using the “eComm Widget Store” property we created earlier for Google Analytics.

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Scroll toward the bottom of the page, past the other Property configuration settings and select “Edit” under “Webmaster Tools Settings.”
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This will enable Webmaster Tools to pass data into Google Analytics. Select the site URL for your web property and click “Save”.

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Google will ask you to verify this data association. Click “OK”.

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Once you click “Save” -- Google Webmaster tools data is now live and being piped into Google Analytics.

Congratulations!

You have just opened wide a view into your site’s SEO Keyword ranking as well as the ability to correlate SEO impressions, click-throughs and product page ranking opportunities while measuring the impact of free search engine traffic on revenue.


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