User Management – Google Webmaster Tools
At last, Google announced this week that it was now possible to give limited access to other users in the Google Webmaster Tools console.
Before this improvement, giving access to the Google Webmaster console to another user meant that this user would also be able to modify important and critical parameters of the website, such as crawl speed and preferred domain.
It is now possible to grant 2 types of access to other users:
- Full Access: Will allow this user to see all the data and to make most of the changes in the Google Webmaster Console.
- Restricted Access : Will allow this user to see most of the site data, and to make some changes to the site configuration, parameters and settings. This access will now often be given to SEO consultants in big firms that have their in-house SEO team.
Other information about these new user management features in the Google Webmaster Tools are also available on the official “Google Webmaster Central Blog”, at the « Safely share access to your site in Webmaster Tools » blog post.
New Google Webmaster Tools Feature
The Google Webmaster Tools Site Verification has again been improved by Google.
Some information for those unfamiliar with the Google Webmaster Tools:
1- The Google Webmaster Tools are free tools offered by Google to help webmasters and site owners to check indexing status and optimize visibility of their sites on the web.
2- The Site Verification mentioned above is used to prove to Google that you own the domain, so that the information is given to the right people.
On April 19th 2011, Google added a new feature to webmasters: A “Recommended Method” to validate the ownership of a website is now available. From what Google says about it on their “Your fast pass through security” blog post of the Google Webmaster Tools Blog, this recommendation is “computed from statistical data taken from users with a similar configuration to yours”.
The 3 other methods are still available, in the “Alternate Methods” tab.
I personally prefer the “Link to your Google Analytics account ” method. It is the quickest and easiest method when Google Analytics is in place and managed with the same Google Account.
My second preferred method is the “Upload an HTML file to your server”. This file is generated on the Google Webmaster Tools console, and can be sent by email to the webmaster of the website or to the agency managing the client website.
The “Add a meta tag to your site’s home page” is usually easy to put in place, but can be a little bit complicated depending of the CMS (Content Management System) used.
The fourth method (Add a DNS record to your domain’s configuration) is the most complicated for most webmasters. Google has a Help Page for this right here. To verify a large amount of websites, it can be the fastest though. I already used this method with a webmaster to verify around 100 sites of a large organization, and it was all done in 1 hour.
For help regarding Google Webmaster Tools, please do not hesitate ton contact us by email at info@OptimisationV.com, or by phone at 514-622-7073
