What it is
Free search-engine dashboards where the owner verifies the site, submits the sitemap, asks for pages to be recrawled and sees which queries show the site and which pages dropped out.
How we use it
Both studio sites are verified in all three. After a major change we submit the changed addresses for recrawl; once a month we check queries and errors. The procedure is written down so the owner can do it alone.
Where it helps a business
- You need to know whether the search engine sees the site, which queries show it and which pages dropped out.
- After a major edit, pages should be sent for recrawl instead of waiting a month.
How we use it
- All the tools. Both studio sites are verified in Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and Yandex Webmaster. After a major edit we send the changed URLs for recrawl, and once a month we review queries and errors.
- A routine for the owner. The steps after an edit are described in a short routine, so the owner can do them without us.
- Codes from the owner. For the online store, verification in webmaster tools is a step before promotion, and it needs verification codes from the domain owner.
We set this up end to end under Websites.
Common problems
- Small quotas. Google takes about ten URLs a day for recrawl; hundreds of URLs at once are pointless.
- The account belongs to the contractor. Verification should be in the site owner's name, or access is lost when the contractor changes.
When you do not need it
A temporary page that lives for a week does not need webmaster tools: it will not even make it into the index.