Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 4:41 PM
As a follow-up to my recent post about how user reports of webspam and paid links help improve Google's search results for millions of users, I wanted to highlight one of the most essential parts of Google Webmaster Central: our Webmaster Help Group. With over 37,000 members in our English group and support in 15 other languages, the group is the place to get your questions answered regarding crawling and indexing or Webmaster Tools. We're thankful for a fabulous group of Bionic Posters who have dedicated their time and energy to making the Webmaster Help Group a great place to be. When appropriate, Googlers, including myself, jump in to clarify issues or participate in the dialogue. One thing to note: we try hard to read most posts in the group, and although we may not respond to each one, your feedback and concerns help drive the features we work on. Here are a few examples:
Sitemap detailsSubmitting a Sitemap through Webmaster Tools is one way to let know Google know about what pages exist on your site. Users were quick to note that even though they submitted a Sitemap of all the pages on their site, they only found a sampling of URLs indexed through a site: search. In response, the Webmaster Tools team created a Sitemaps details page to better tell you how your Sitemap was processed. You can read a refresher about the Sitemaps details page in Jonathan's blog post.
Contextual help
One request we received early on with Webmaster Tools was for better documentation on the data displayed. We saw several questions about meta description and title tag issues using our Content Analysis tool, which led us to beef up our documentation on that page and link to that Help Center article directly from that page. Similarly, we discovered that users needed clarification on the distinction between "top search queries" and "top clicked queries" and how the data can be used. We added an expandable section entitled "How do I use this data?" and placed contextual help information across Webmaster Tools to explain what each feature is and where to get more information about it.
Blog posts
The Webmaster Help Group is also a way for us to keep a pulse on what overarching questions are on the minds of webmasters so we can address some of those concerns through this blog. Whether it's how to submit a reconsideration request using Webmaster Tools, deal with duplicate content, move a site, or design for accessibility, we're always open to hearing more about your concerns in the Group. Which reminds me...
It's time for more Popular Picks!
Last year, we devoted two weeks to soliciting and answering five of your most pressing webmaster-related questions. These Popular Picks covered the following topics:
Sitemap detailsSubmitting a Sitemap through Webmaster Tools is one way to let know Google know about what pages exist on your site. Users were quick to note that even though they submitted a Sitemap of all the pages on their site, they only found a sampling of URLs indexed through a site: search. In response, the Webmaster Tools team created a Sitemaps details page to better tell you how your Sitemap was processed. You can read a refresher about the Sitemaps details page in Jonathan's blog post.
Contextual help
One request we received early on with Webmaster Tools was for better documentation on the data displayed. We saw several questions about meta description and title tag issues using our Content Analysis tool, which led us to beef up our documentation on that page and link to that Help Center article directly from that page. Similarly, we discovered that users needed clarification on the distinction between "top search queries" and "top clicked queries" and how the data can be used. We added an expandable section entitled "How do I use this data?" and placed contextual help information across Webmaster Tools to explain what each feature is and where to get more information about it.
Blog posts
The Webmaster Help Group is also a way for us to keep a pulse on what overarching questions are on the minds of webmasters so we can address some of those concerns through this blog. Whether it's how to submit a reconsideration request using Webmaster Tools, deal with duplicate content, move a site, or design for accessibility, we're always open to hearing more about your concerns in the Group. Which reminds me...
It's time for more Popular Picks!
Last year, we devoted two weeks to soliciting and answering five of your most pressing webmaster-related questions. These Popular Picks covered the following topics:
- Susan outlined a few ways to ensure your site is being indexed by Google.
- John answered some questions about spam reporting and reconsideration requests.
- John also wrote a blog post that is a great resource for meta tags.
- Wysz provided some clarification on hidden text.
- Matt detailed appropriate uses of the nofollow tag.
22 comments:
I have to say, and not because I am trying to stroke G and win points ;-), that G Webamster Tools is the finest resource a webmaster could have, any which way you look at it! Thanks Guys!
I'd rather be sending an email than a post comment - but can't find one - please email me and let me know how the eff to turn OFF the drop down menu full of oh-so-annoying (I'm sure some one finds them helpful, but not me) words when I'm typing in a search. Because if it's that "Disable"button in the Preferences - it does not work.
Thank you.
Thanks for the info you are providing here for sure.
I am one who had a site manually delisted due to a few reasons, I have yet to had confirmed anywhere.
I corrected what I thought may have been the problems on the site, removed ANYTHING that was even close to being considered an offense, and have now resubmitted the site a second time in 3 months, for reinclusion.
If there was one area I could recommend improvement, it would be in the process of communication with webmasters who are trying to do right by the guidelines, and have a site returned to the index.
After we request reconsideration, there is no followup or way we even know the request was received. I have used the Webmaster forum to help figure out what could have been wrong, but once these are corrected... where next?
If it was received and is still in violation of the guidelines, a bit of feedback would be helpful.
Thanks again,
Mark Hansen
I am having a problem with a site indexed by Google. The page it is currently pointing to is displaying an alert message implying that your PC may be infected by a virus. It is obviously some scam that someone somehow attached to the old home page. I have updated the page and a direct link to it now works fine. However linking to it from a Google search still shows the error. I have also submitted a report to Google. You have to add the site to your webmaster list for Google to reply, however. I have started that process, added the required Meta tag and submitted the site to be verified numerous times. So far, I have not gotten any response and the person who owns the site would like to get this resolved ASAP. Is there ANY way I can expedite the process?
Communication with Google. I know you get a lot of queries about inclusion and exclusion.
Couldn't you have a service which for $29.95 gets you a written answer to your question within 24 hours? You'd probably have to force the questions towards being clear with lots of multiple choice technology but still, it's very frustrating to wait and wait and wonder and wonder.
$49.95 and 48 hours would also be reasonable.
I'm new to all this webmaster stuff as i've recently begun a blog and have been concerned about duplicate content from blogs on the main page and being simultaneously with their own URL's affecting what google thinks of it.
Im learning a lot here and it's in plane english which is easily understood.
Thanks
Practical Self Defence resource
One huge improvement would be a way of reporting sites using "black hat" techniques.
I have some nugget who has cobbled together a range of sites which link to mine that are nothing but duplicated glorified link farms and include a "muslim-uk" site that was linking to a website dedicating to selling pork sausages and glamour modelling!
I've reported, mentioned it on Matt Cutts and even tracked down the webmaster and still no one does anything or communicates with me.
Dear Google,
please unblock the site: http://marquee.weekendrain.com/
It is NOT an attack site. It's just a blog I made for the guy I love. There's nothing wrong with it, and I would appreciate it if you stopped this nonsense and unblocked it.
Thank-you.
Just found this site, thanks for great info guys :)
Google is starting to have serious reality problems due to the increasingly bloated size of the company, and trying to offer everything to everyone. In this regard, Google is beginning to resemble Microsoft.
I used google's tools to CREATE a sitemap, then uploaded it. I've done this twice. Both times the sitemap is reported as an ERROR in the tools: "incorrect format." What, google can't give me the correct format using its own tools?
All I did was upload the file, it wasn't changed or even edited in any way. I'm assuming Google will take Microsoftian high-road and blame me for this in some way.
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/sitemap?siteUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ungoth.com%2F&sitemapUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ungoth.com%2Fsitemap.xml&hl=en
Why is crawling taking so long regarding blogger sites? That's all. Thanks for your time and patience.
$4u w/ google adsense...
Google Chrome Dosent Work For Java i dont know why can you guys fix that?
Thank You
i'm currently using Google Chrome. there's only ONE problem with it. When i create or edit posts that i made using Blogger, it adds tons of other html nonsense in the posts itself. unlike when i use firefox browser. what's wrong with it can someone tell me?
my blog is http://news-at-core.blogspot.com
you can also email me at corey.lhs@gmail.com.
(and yes, i love google (: )
okay. maybe it was because i was initially using firefox to create my posts.. i'd still like to know why it does react in such a way.
Thanks for the explanation in advanced.
Hay people thanks for the great In fo on all good job and a great way to find thing out be well. Thanks for all the hard work.
Hi
I don't particularly agree with the reporting of paid links, as buying links is rife ! Its hard to know were to draw the line between a good link placement and attempting to manipulate the search results. I would bet that the vast majority of reports are posted by people wishing to eradicate their competition.
I'm a little confused, I know it's against Google policy for people to 'buy' their way onto sites with high page rank, yet when I searched Google for 'google page rank' to see if anybody had a page rank tool to show a site page rank I noticed in the Adwords column on the right a paid ad on Google offering the opportunity to buy text links on Google page rank sites. This is allowed now or?
All I want is a print preview command in Google Chrome, is that really too much to ask?
Hi everyone,
Since over a year has passed since we published this post, we're closing the comments to help us focus on the work ahead. If you still have a question or comment you'd like to discuss, free to visit and/or post your topic in our Webmaster Central Help Forum.
Thanks and take care,
The Webmaster Central Team
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