2 Essential Google tools

Everyone would like to make their lives easier. The following tools are just two of many that help to do just that. They are both part of Google and as such are freely available online and both are well documented. The first is a tool by itself, and the second is more of suite of tools. Check them out!

Google Analytics Site Overlay

• What it is: A tool that helps you visualize where people are clicking on your page
• How it works: It superimposes data for each link on your site so you can see a variety of data (number of times it has been clicked, transaction, revenue, and goal value) collected by Google Analytics
• The limitations: You must have Google Analytics installed on your site, and it will not track in the following situations -
  • Javascript links
  • Virtual pageviews created with urchinTracker
  • URL redirects
  • URL rewrite filters
  • Links to subdomain pages
  • Frames
• Additional information: Further information can be found at the site overlay home page.
• Why you should use it: I like to be able to see what items are being clicked on my blog, and the additional information it provides above and beyond things like My Blog Log’swidgets.

Google Webmaster Tools

• What it is: A suite of tools that Google provides webmasters to better manage their websites
• How it works: It works by putting the following information at your finger tips to better manage your blogging experience
  • Advanced indexing information
  • Query stats
  • Crawl stats
  • Page analysis
  • Uncrawlable URLS
• The limitations: Before you can use this tool to its full potential you must wait for Google to verify it. You either insert a customized meta tag or upload a customized .html file that Google provides you with. Once that is done you request for Google to verify the site which can take anywhere from a few seconds to several hours depending on their servers workload. Until it is verified most of the tools remain unavailable to you.
• Additional information: Further information can be found Google Webmaster tools blog.
• Why you should use it: It gives a good overview of the general health of your site, and informs of problems you might not otherwise realize exist