New Website - How To Get More Data in Google Webmaster Tools

[jonny_p66]

Hi,

I've recently made a small 3 page website for a Charity advertising a farm cottage and land they have to rent.

Here is the site: [snip]

We are regsistered and indexed on Google, sitemap is there, but not much usage Data seems to be coming through yet on Google Webmaster Tools, and the question is how to get going with some good usage data?

The site comes up in results when searching google for some of the Key Phrases so it looks like the site is doing ok-ish in search results?

The thing that I've heard mentioned mostly that we haven't done (that I know of) is finding other sites to link to our site. Does anyone have any tops for getting results with this other than that?

Thanks!

[edited by: brotherhood_of_LAN at 9:39 pm (utc) on Jul 20, 2014]
[edit reason] see stickymail regarding specifics like keyworks and urls, thanks [/edit]

[Planet13]

Well, a couple of thoughts.

Aside from webmastertools, you should have an analytics package as well. Google analytics is free and relatively easy to use (for an analytics package that provides a lot of useful info).

Really, the best way to get traffic - as that seems to be what you are asking when you bemoan the lack of "data" - is to have really great, useful content and then make sure that the right people know about it. that would include things like advertising and social media and giving away stuff and other things to promote your site.

If you want people to link to you, then be noteworthy.

[EditorialGuy]

Be patient, too. Even for established Web publishers with decent rankings in Google, it can take a while to get visibility in Google's SERPs with a new site.

[Pjman]

18 months for decent ranks seems to be what I find.

[jonny_p66]

Hi

Thank you for these replies

It's good to get information from people with some knowledge and experience

Does anyone have any tips especially considering we are a very small site? It's really just a small holiday destination advert with information about the place and such and a few pictures.

Is it worthwhile emailing / contacting other sites to ask them if they would link to us ?

Thank you for the help

John

[aakk9999]

If links from other sites could bring you visitors then yes, it would be worthwhile emailing other sites asking them to link to you. I would especially look at websites covering this geographical area.

[Robert Charlton]

It's important when asking other sites to link to you that you do not suggest anchor text (or even a description). Let the linking site handle that. Otherwise, you could well run afoul of Google, which frowns on self-placed links and has developed a fairly broad definition of what "self-placed" means.

I in fact would check out the sites carefully before you ask, and possibly develop a relationship with the site owners. Make sure that these aren't sites which sell links or participate in "link schemes". Read Google's Webmaster Guidelines on Link Quality...

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en [support.google.com]

It's going to be much easier to get links from good sites if your cottage site has some unique or hard-to-find information about the area that the cottage is in that might be of value to the visitors of those linking site.

I suggest you check out our Link Development Forum [webmasterworld.com...] which is dedicated to how to build links. It's an excellent resource, and you might get some good ideas from that forum's Library.

[Robert Charlton]

PS to the above...

...the question is how to get going with some good usage data?

It doesn't help to think of this simply as getting data to Webmaster Tools. More helpful is that you want to get the word out about your site (using tools available to you on and off the web) to people or groups who might then want to rent your cottage... hoping that might then drive visitors to your site and that some of them might like your site enough to link to it.

But, the initial blog links and the like that you post need to be nofollowed.

Links that others post because they like your site are the "freely given editorial links", which Google is OK with, and those can transmit PageRank. If this sounds confusing, that's because it is, at least to many.

Google's going to look at the linking patterns, not just usage data... and while some here may know enough to get under the radar with self-placed links... most won't.