Introducing Webmaster Tools

Last month, Google overhauled Google Sitemaps and created Google Webmaster Tools. From within this new tool, you can see what searches users use to find your site and also what position your site is in. Also, if you've been hit by a Google penalty, you can request re-inclusion of the site back into the Google index. The site maps submission process is still the same and reporting on the validity of your sitemap is still done within this tool.

Other things you can do with Google Webmaster Tools include:

• Set a preferred domain (www or non www)
• View any crawl errors
• See an analysis of your robots.txt file

Webmaster Tools looks like a great resource for any web site owner. Any tool that allows you to see how Google and its users are interacting with your site can only be a good thing. It’s much more than other search engines are doing and something that is highly valuable for any site owner.