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For an SEO professional nothing is quite so aggravating as Google’s habit of changing the rules without any notice. We can’t blame them of course after all they are trying to keep web search results as natural as possible. But before we completely write Google off as “The Enemy” there is a site that they have provided that can give us clues as to what they want to see, Webmaster Tools.
This site links to your Google account and can be set to monitor your website and let you know what is going on behind the scenes so to speak. You can see how your site responds to searches, what your download speeds are, and other useful metrics. However the real gold for SEO Professionals are the hints Google has there. Things like messages warning you about your meta tags and showing you what kind of links you have pointing at your site. This is also where Google will let you know if they have manually placed a penalty on your site.
But wait there is more. Google also uses this site to introduce new features and code they will be looking at. Currently they are showing information on structured data and data highlighting. Google has not said these greatly affect ranking, but odds are if they are putting this level of interest in them, then they are worth looking into.
Written By: Cameron Verkaik
