Entries from Search Engine Roundtable tagged with 'webmaster tools'

A Google Webmaster Help thread had one webmaster who received an email from Google warning of a phishing attempt on this person's site. The webmaster asked if it was real. The email said he/she should "submit a safebrowsing report at...

Posted on November 13, 2009 6:53 AM

The Google Webmaster Central Blog announced they have updated the keyword tool and data in Google Webmaster Tools. The new additions include: Data updated dailyHow often is the keyword foundDisplas top URLs that contain the keyword Specifically, the new significance...

Posted on November 12, 2009 8:55 AM

Back in May, Google launched rich snippets that enabled webmasters to markup their HTML with richer data for Google to display. For example, you can often see results from Yelp and other sites like it for reviews that display reviews...

Posted on November 12, 2009 8:17 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread has discussion where one webmaster is having the hardest time removing a URL from the Google index. He/she used the Google Remove URL Tool only to find out that even though Google reported back the...

Posted on November 11, 2009 8:42 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread reports that because .UA domains are currently not considered "root domains" by Google, the change of address tool doesn't work for them. I am not sure if Google did not consider them root domains or...

Posted on November 6, 2009 8:56 AM

There seems to be a Google Toolbar PageRank update going on right now. We have threads on the topic at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums and HighRankings Forum. The update seemed to have started sometime yesterday afternoon and many SEOs and webmasters...

Posted on October 30, 2009 9:30 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread informs us that Google can take about two weeks to remove a blocked Sitelink from showing up in the search results. Google's JohnMu said: A change like this can take two weeks or a bit...

Posted on October 29, 2009 8:56 AM

Not sure how important this is, but it is one of those minor changes that I particularly enjoy covering. The Google Webmaster Tools API lets you verify and reverify sites directly in the API. The thing is, they have changed...

Posted on October 28, 2009 8:38 AM

I know Google has been showing many variations of sitelinks in the search results for a while now. I also know, Google began showing Sitelinks for specific sub domains and sub directories for about a year now. But I have...

Posted on October 26, 2009 8:33 AM

A WebmasterWorld thread has new discussion around using the hash tag, in the URL, instead of dynamic parameters such as questionmarks and the like for special tracking purposes. Typically, tracking URLs for ads and campaigns lead to URLs with questionmarks,...

Posted on October 21, 2009 9:14 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread has reports that the fetch as Googlebot feature might display weird characters for some pages that return non-ASCII characters. Specifically, if the pages are not encoded in UTF-8 and use these non-ASCII characters, the tool...

Posted on October 21, 2009 8:36 AM

tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/020960.html'; tweetmeme_service = 'bit.ly';Google has removed the PageRank section in the crawl statistics in Google Webmaster Tools. This has gone mostly unnoticed, with the release of the labs feature, until now. A Google Webmaster Help thread reports...

Posted on October 15, 2009 9:27 AM

Google added the fetch as Googlebot feature the other day and now people are really beginning to explore it. One topic I have seen come up was why is the Fetch as Googlebot feature only showing up to 100Kb of...

Posted on October 14, 2009 8:33 AM

The Google Webmaster Central Blog announced the launch of a new "Labs" section in Google Webmaster Tools. Labs is for Google to launch features that might not be fully tested and have bugs, but at the same time give webmasters...

Posted on October 13, 2009 8:45 AM

Last week Google updated their verification process for Webmaster Tools. A known issue was that it broke the ability for Google Sites to verify in Webmaster Tools. Yesterday, Google resolved the issue and now Google Sites can be verified without...

Posted on October 9, 2009 9:00 AM

About three weeks ago, Google added parameter handling to Google Webmaster Tools. It basically gave webmasters another tool to help communicate to Google any duplicate content or URL issues. I spotted two threads from the same webmaster, one at HighRankings...

Posted on October 9, 2009 8:49 AM

Dennis from the Google Webmaster Central team informed us in a Google Webmaster Help thread that now, if you have comment code or extra HTML in the verification file used to verify your site in Google Webmaster Tools, it will...

Posted on October 8, 2009 8:34 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread has confirmed reports of a bug with Google Webmaster Tools. The bug is someone technical, where you try to download the verification file via a URL that Google provides. That URL, which seems to be...

Posted on October 6, 2009 7:50 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread reports that some webmasters (at least one) has set his Google Webmaster Tools to geo-target to the UK, but the site is ending up being geo-targeted to France. Here is what the webmaster said: This...

Posted on October 5, 2009 8:31 AM

Google announced that they have updated the verification process for Google Webmaster Tools. The main changes include: (1) META Tag verification is no longer tied to the email address on file, i.e. you can change your email and it won't...

Posted on October 2, 2009 8:25 AM

If you login to Google Webmaster Tools, click on site configuration, then on settings, you will see a new option for "parameter handling." Here is a screen capture: This basically allows you to tell Google which parameters in the URL...

Posted on September 17, 2009 8:49 AM

A webmaster reported in a Google Webmaster Help thread that in his Google Webmaster Tools Keyword report, he noticed that Google is displaying a blank line as one of his more popular keywords used within the site. The blank line...

Posted on September 9, 2009 8:36 AM

In May, Google announced the availability of adding rich snippets to the Google search results through microformats and RDFa aided code. The two major complaints were not being about to: (1) Know if you will be able to see the...

Posted on September 1, 2009 8:52 AM

It appears that some webmasters are now receiving warnings from Google Webmaster Tools about SSL certificate issues. A Google Webmaster Help thread has a couple people reporting receiving the warnings over the weekend. Here is a copy of the SSL...

Posted on August 24, 2009 7:12 AM

Many webmasters and SEOs are reporting seeing an issue with the PageRank distribution report in Google Webmaster Tools. If you login and click on crawl stats, and then scroll to the bottom, you may or may not see data. I...

Posted on August 11, 2009 8:34 AM

A WebmasterWorld thread pointed out a very interesting observation in Google. A search for WebmasterWorld in Google shows Sitelinks for the site. But one of those Sitelinks seem to be cut off, the one with the "Google" in front of...

Posted on August 10, 2009 8:39 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread reports that several webmasters trying to use the reconsideration form are experiencing significant difficulties. As the user types in the box, explaining why their site should be reincluded in the Google index, the web page...

Posted on August 3, 2009 8:12 AM

About a year ago, Google introduced the new Google Webmaster Tools API. This API allow developers to communicate with Google Webmaster Tools (GWT), without actually accessing the front end, so they can code reports, verify sites and so on, without...

Posted on July 31, 2009 9:07 AM

I thought I knew everything there is to know about Google Webmaster Tools, but I guess there was one thing I did not know. A WebmasterWorld thread talks about how one webmaster received a message from Google that his site...

Posted on July 30, 2009 9:57 AM

There are some reports of Google Webmaster Tools not loading for some users. Some of these reports are coming from WebmasterWorld and I also personally have this issue. When I try to access the tool, the URL redirects back and...

Posted on July 23, 2009 8:21 AM

Google Webmaster Tools recently added some features to the toolkit. Those include the ability to quick search for sites in your profile, block sitelinks for subpages, review page removal requests made by others and fading out the unverified sites on...

Posted on July 22, 2009 8:54 AM

This is your chance to give the Webmaster Central team your ideas and have the SEO community vote on them. The more votes your ideas get, the more likely the Google team will work on them. The Google Blog post...

Posted on June 25, 2009 9:11 AM

There are many threads across the web with webmasters concerned that their sitemaps file is in "pending" status in Google Webmaster Tools. One such thread is at Google Webmaster Help where a few webmasters are complaining about the issue. Google...

Posted on June 22, 2009 8:25 AM

I have been watching a Google Webmaster Help thread for about a week now. The thread was started by a 3rd party individual who volunteers a lot of his time helping webmasters in the Google Webmaster Help forum. He was...

Posted on June 18, 2009 7:13 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread reports the small but yet significant changes made to how Google displays and aggregates the URLs listed in the external link reports within Google Webmaster Tools. The main changes include: Link counts are reduced by...

Posted on June 16, 2009 10:52 AM

Yesterday we reported about the new Google Webmaster Tools, with the new change of address feature and a few other new things with it. We also informed you that there were several bugs in the new interface and features. It...

Posted on June 12, 2009 8:19 AM

Back in early 2006, we called for a Google Certified Domain Change solution to allow webmasters to communicate to Google when we move domains. Moving domains is one of the biggest concerns SEOs and webmasters have for when it comes...

Posted on June 11, 2009 8:52 AM

I have excellent news for the SEO world today. It seems like Google has finally pushed through a change with the reconsideration request process that SEOs and webmasters have been asking for since the reconsideration request began. Now, if you...

Posted on June 10, 2009 8:49 AM

Yesterday, Google made two quick announcements about bug fixes with Google Webmaster Tools. The first item was that the URL Removal tool was not working. A Google Webmasters Help thread has confirmation from Susan Moskwa, a Googler, that this was...

Posted on May 28, 2009 7:40 AM

A Google Webmasters Help thread has reports that the Google Webmaster Tools API is having some technical difficulties over the weekend. Users of the API are receiving 502 errors for some requests. Authentication seems to work via the API, but...

Posted on May 25, 2009 8:25 AM

Google Webmaster Tools and Webmaster Central are tools I cannot believe SEOs ever lived without. Early on, many experienced SEOs were skeptical about the tools, but many of us have learned that the tools and advice are here to help...

Posted on May 20, 2009 9:13 AM

On Thursday we reported that the backlink data was out of sync in the redesigned webmaster tools. Well, over the weekend, that was fixed. Googler, Jonathan Simon said in a Google Webmasters Help thread that it is now up to...

Posted on May 18, 2009 1:38 PM

The other day, Google released a redesigned Webmaster Tools area. Soon after it was released, webmasters began noticing that the linkage data found in the new Webmaster Tools was out of sync with the one found in the old Webmaster...

Posted on May 14, 2009 8:28 AM

For the past few days, dozens of threads have been popping up in the Google Webmasters Help discussion forum about how Google Webmaster Tools was showing "Data is not available at this time" for some sites. After many complaints, Google...

Posted on May 13, 2009 9:22 AM

The last time Google Webmaster Tools was redesigned was back in September 2007. It has been a while since the interface was updated. That doesn't mean features weren't added over time, they were, but within the same old interface. Google...

Posted on May 13, 2009 8:39 AM

Google has confirmed last week that they are officially bring "one-line sitelinks" to the Google search results. In early March rumors of these Sitelinks were spotted first in the UK region. Then the tests of the classic sitelinks continued and...

Posted on April 20, 2009 9:09 AM

Google has been testing showing classic (one line) Sitelinks in the search results for a while now. The one line Sitelinks are interesting in that they seem to differ some from the Sitelinks we are typically accustomed to. Melanie Phung...

Posted on April 15, 2009 7:12 AM

Back in April 2007, Google gave webmasters a new easy way to remove content in Google, through Google Webmaster Tools. It is a great feature to quickly remove your content in Google, but it is an extremely powerful tool. If...

Posted on April 9, 2009 6:55 AM

About a month ago, we reported Google was testing classic Sitelinks, i.e. one line Sitelinks. Well, now it seems like we can reproduce the single line Sitelinks. A Google Webmasters Help thread shows how two different queries return different types...

Posted on April 2, 2009 8:15 AM

I posted a search brief on this topic at Search Engine Land, when I saw Search Engine War noticing Google UK testing single line Sitelinks. But it seems like more folks in the UK are noticing the "classic" Sitelinks showing...

Posted on March 6, 2009 8:14 AM

Back in September 2005, Google began emailing webmasters about violations to the Google webmaster guidelines. Then in March 2006, Google started stepping up those notifications. Webmasters were loving Google reaching out to them with issues, so they can address them...

Posted on March 3, 2009 8:41 AM

A week ago today, we reported that some webmasters noticed the link reports in Google Webmaster Tools was not being updated or was not allowing for download. On the 19th, Google said in a Google Webmaster Help forum thread that...

Posted on February 25, 2009 8:27 AM

SEOs and Webmasters should all be huge fans of Google Webmaster Tools, it provides data and insight into our web sites that we did not always have. SEOs and Webmasters that are educated know what to make from these reports...

Posted on February 18, 2009 8:28 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread asks if he is being ripped off because his hosting company wants to charge him to help him verify his site with Google Webmaster Tools. So you know, all it takes to verify a site...

Posted on February 3, 2009 8:27 AM

A site owner has confirmed reports from a Google Webmaster Help discussion thread that his site was completely removed from the Google index by his previous webmaster. It seems like this previous webmaster was upset with the site owner and...

Posted on February 2, 2009 7:41 AM

Googlers, John Mueller and Susan Moskwa put together a very comprehensive Knol page on Google Webmaster Tools verification. So if you are new to Google Webmaster Tools and you are about to verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools. You...

Posted on January 27, 2009 3:14 AM

If you are noticing that your index count in Google Webmaster Tools in your Sitemaps section shows zero pages are indexed, then don't panic. Google has confirmed in a Google Webmaster Help thread that there may be a bug impacting...

Posted on January 26, 2009 6:09 AM

The first week of January, when we wrote about the Major Google Search Results Changes, January 2009, I noticed the Google Sitelinks for this site, disappeared. Today, I noticed they are back. Today, also, many webmasters are noticing they have...

Posted on January 16, 2009 8:09 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread reports that Google Webmaster Tools seems to be missing the feature to change the method you would like to verify you site with. Now, I personally don't remember what should or should not be on...

Posted on January 14, 2009 8:41 AM

There is a webmaster at DigitalPoint Forums who is convinced that Google has penalized all his sites that were verified in his Google Webmaster Tools account. This webmaster claimed his sites are clean and he complies with Google's terms of...

Posted on January 12, 2009 8:17 AM

On Tuesday, we ran a poll asking if Google's PageRank data reports in Webmaster Tools useless or useful. The results are in and the majority of SEOs believe those reports are completely useless. I am one to agree with the...

Posted on January 9, 2009 8:46 AM

A Google Webmaster Help thread asks a very interesting question. Should a webmaster consider submitting a reinclusion request if the site is still ranking well in Google? The question seems obvious. Why would you bother submitting a reinclusion request when...

Posted on January 7, 2009 8:49 AM

A WebmasterWorld thread asks why does the site command in Google not match up in the number of "indexed" URLs reported in Google Webmaster Tools. A very valid question, let me show you. A simple site command in Google for...

Posted on January 7, 2009 8:25 AM

A WebmasterWorld thread asks just how accurate is the table in Google Webmaster Tools that shows the details of "Your page with the highest PageRank." It is found under "Statistics" and then under "Crawl stats" at the bottom of the...

Posted on January 6, 2009 9:19 AM

I am a huge fan of Google Sitelinks for a lot of reasons. But what do you do when the Sitelinks Google is displaying for your site is wrong? The manage Sitelinks feature doesn't give you too many options, outside...

Posted on December 16, 2008 7:55 AM

Yesterday we reported there were issues with verifying your site in Google Webmaster Tools. The issues were around using the META tag verification, but that is now resolved, as of yesterday evening. Googler, Susan Moskwa said in the Google Webmaster...

Posted on December 9, 2008 7:53 AM

JohnMu at Google has posted a thread announcement at Google Webmaster Help discussions stating there is an issue with some folks who might be trying to verify their sites with Google Webmaster Tools. Specifically, if you are trying to use...

Posted on December 8, 2008 7:53 AM

Google has made two changes to Webmaster Tools. The first is they consolidated your settings into a single page for a site and the second is they are now giving more control over your crawl rate. There is a new...

Posted on December 5, 2008 8:33 AM

Microsoft has added malware reporting to Live Search Webmaster Tools. This comes after a significant update just months ago from Microsoft. Now you can easily see if your pages or pages you are linking to contain malware or not. If...

Posted on November 28, 2008 7:11 AM

Many Google Webmaster Tools users are complaining about not being able to see their "Top Search Queries" report for a week's worth of time. If you go to Google Webmaster Tools, then go to Statistics, and then click on Top...

Posted on November 20, 2008 8:19 AM

As Googler, Matt Cutts Twittered, he now has Sitelinks under his domain for a search on [matt cutts]. Why did it take Matt over two years to get Sitelinks for his domain when it is such an authoritative source? The...

Posted on November 17, 2008 7:36 AM

In Google Webmaster Tools, you can disable your Google Sitelinks from showing up in the Google search results. But according to a Google Groups thread, it doesn't work. Personally, I don't know anyone who doesn't want Sitelinks to show up...

Posted on November 12, 2008 8:51 AM

Last month, Google added "crawl source" errors reporting to Google Webmaster Tools. Webmasters were happy with this tool, it gave them actionable items to work on. But now, it seems a bug is preventing the tool from showing the crawl...

Posted on November 6, 2008 8:17 AM

Microsoft has been really focusing on building out support and tools for webmasters for their Live Search product. It is beginning to show. A DigitalPoint Forums thread reports one webmaster who has been trying to gain assistance for two years,...

Posted on October 23, 2008 8:25 AM

If you login to Google Webmaster Tools you may notice that something is missing. Google has removed the date from the Home page crawl field from the site overview page. The field was grouped in the "Home Page Crawl" section....

Posted on October 17, 2008 6:04 AM

If your like me and other obsessive SEO’s addicted to the details of fixing everything on your own or a client’s website then Google’s recent addition of showing you where your 404 crawl errors come from is a much applauded...

Posted on October 15, 2008 1:21 PM

Got a lot of websites? Hopefully you don't have to monitor them all. That's because Google has limited the number of sites registered in Google Webmaster Tools to 500, according to Google Groups. Unfortunately, that number will not be lifted...

Posted on October 1, 2008 8:28 AM

Google Webmaster Tools seems to be generating a lot of fake errors. About a month ago they fixed the false 404 errors and now this month, they are reporting false HTTP errors. Here is a screen capture of the overview...

Posted on September 17, 2008 8:08 AM

It appears like the Google Webmaster Central team is testing a new verification process for Webmaster Tools. A Google Groups thread reports finding the following data in his log file: 66.249.71.119 - - [11/Sep/2008:10:17:09 +0100] "GET / google38b4a154a92b0b4f.html HTTP/1.1" 200...

Posted on September 12, 2008 10:53 AM

Ever wonder how Google generates the unique verification code used for authorizing access to Google Webmaster Tools? There are two ways to verify your site in Webmaster Tools. One way is by adding a meta tag code to your header...

Posted on September 9, 2008 7:55 AM

A question I hear a lot is why don't the Sitelinks I see in a Google search result, match what I see when I login to Google Webmaster Tools? For example, here are the Sitelinks I see for a search...

Posted on September 9, 2008 7:40 AM

A Google Groups thread is requesting that Google add a negative keyword filter tool for Google Webmaster Tools. Google AdWords gives advertisers the ability to tell Google, I don't want traffic for these keyword phrases or keywords. At least one...

Posted on August 29, 2008 7:57 AM

About two weeks ago, we reported that Google Webmaster Tools had 404 reporting errors. Well, after about two weeks, the 404, page not found, reports in Webmaster Tools is now accurate. I logged in myself and saw that Google was...

Posted on August 13, 2008 8:11 AM

Microsoft has spent a considerable amount of time and resources building out enhanced features to the Live Search Webmaster Tools. They announced releasing the new features this week, but it has gone, pretty much, unnoticed in the SEO and webmaster...

Posted on August 8, 2008 8:26 AM

When a search engine spider, bot, crawler visits your site, they should all be capable of passing what is known as a reverse DNS test. I have details on how this works over at this article. A WebmasterWorld thread reports...

Posted on July 30, 2008 8:47 AM

A Google Groups thread has a webmaster who was very concerned when he logged into Webmaster Tools to find out that his site was not indexed by Google. The reality was, it was indexed by Google, but Webmaster Tools showed...

Posted on July 25, 2008 8:12 AM

An updated WebmasterWorld thread notes that Google has appeared to add a time stamp value to the last date Google updated your Google Sitelinks. The time stamp can be found by logging into your Google Webmaster Tools, clicking on "Links"...

Posted on July 25, 2008 8:02 AM

A WebmasterWorld thread asks if Microsoft is not serious about webmasters. Why? Well, if you use Live Webmaster Tools and you click on "Add Site," you will see funny messages. For example, when they ask for your email address Microsoft...

Posted on July 24, 2008 8:11 AM

A Google Groups thread asks if having two Sitemaps for the same site will cause an issue with Google. In short, Google said no. Why does this site have two Sitemaps? Well, the only way for multiple Google Accounts to...

Posted on July 16, 2008 7:35 AM

Did you know that Google's Remove Content tool in Webmaster Tools is not HTTPS or WWW specific? Meaning, if you want to use the tool to remove all your HTTPS pages from the Google index, it will also remove your...

Posted on July 3, 2008 8:07 AM

A Cre8asite Forums thread has a member who is a bit concerned that the page listed in his Google Webmaster Tools, crawl stats section for "highest PageRank" is not his home page. Instead, an internal page is listed as having...

Posted on July 3, 2008 7:40 AM

A WebmasterWorld thread reports that Google has made a small change to the location where you can find your crawl rate charts. In the past, as I described on May 2nd, Google placed the crawl stats under the "Tools" and...

Posted on June 27, 2008 7:50 AM

It is not uncommon to see websites infected with malware. In fact, I see more and more cases of sites being removed or warned by Google for containing traces malware. Sites being hacked is way too common these days. Many...

Posted on June 26, 2008 7:51 AM

The second Google webmaster live chat event is now over. I love these things and I wanted to make sure that you all can listen to what took place, just in case you missed it. The agenda went as follows:...

Posted on June 19, 2008 7:00 PM

Google has announced the details of the second live chat session for webmasters and Googlers. The first live chat session was a huge success, I posted transcripts and so on at our site if you missed it. The next live...

Posted on June 17, 2008 7:43 AM

One constant thread you see at the forums are threads complaining that their sites become automatically unverified in Google Webmaster Tools. So the webmaster needs to go back in and manually click the verify button in Webmaster Tools, to reverify...

Posted on May 27, 2008 5:30 AM

Google's Malware Review form, which was added back in August of last year had some technical issues this week. First reports came via Google Groups at about 1am on May 15th. Webmasters trying to utilize the form received a "oops,...

Posted on May 16, 2008 8:16 AM

Let's say, you have a subfolder on your domain that gets hacked. The hack causes your subfolder to be penalized by Google, due to the hack. Did you know that in order to issue a request for a review from...

Posted on May 5, 2008 7:45 AM

There seems to be a major bug in Google Webmaster Tools where Google is telling virtually all webmasters that their sites are not indexed in Google. For example, I am personally getting the following message for all my sites: Yes,...

Posted on April 18, 2008 7:20 AM

Google has finally written a formal post at the Google Webmaster Central blog named Best practices when moving your site. It honestly is a nice place to send a client or webmaster when the question comes up. Does it give...

Posted on April 17, 2008 7:33 AM

Just when we were getting over the Google Webmaster Tools Verification bug, when the far east is now suffering with a similar bug. If you have a .ASIA domain, Google has confirmed that you will not be able to verify...

Posted on April 3, 2008 7:52 AM

A Google Groups thread has a fairly simple but educational FAQ on how the "Set Crawl Rate" feature works in Google Webmaster Tools. In short, you can only set the crawl rate for a site on the domain or subdomain...

Posted on October 25, 2007 8:15 AM

We talk a ton about Google Webmaster Tools and how important they have become to SEOs and Webmasters over the course of this year. Amanda Camp, who worked with Vanessa Fox (before Vanessa left to Zillow), at the Google Seattle...

Posted on October 25, 2007 8:08 AM

Two days ago we reported, Google Webmaster Tools Link Page Troubles Again. Since then, there has a huge amount of discussion on this topic. Tons of SEOs and Webmasters were really frustrated that the tool wasn't giving them information. They...

Posted on October 25, 2007 7:51 AM

For the past couple days, Google Webmaster Tools has been having issues displaying the detailed links for a particular page of a site. Many people are seeing what I am seeing: When you try to download all external links or...

Posted on October 23, 2007 2:22 PM

A DigitalPoint Forums member is concerned about the heavy crawling performed by the Googlebot. He claims that Google is crawling 3GB of data from his site a month and wants to reduce this as it's a bit excessive in his...

Posted on September 27, 2007 8:57 AM

A great tool for webmasters just got better. Google released early this morning an updated look for Google Webmaster Central. They have added some new features and better organized some previous sections. Members on WMW are discussing the new changes...

Posted on September 14, 2007 12:33 PM