Introduction

As an online marketer we understand how important Google is for our survival. We need to optimize (SEO) our websites with Google in mind, and we even buy prominent keywords from Google (Google AdWords Keywords) as part of our search marketing (SEM) campaign. There is no way we can avoid Google, if we want to make money from our websites.

Google has also given us some tools that we can use to accomplish different online marketing activities. We have to use these tools in order to make some money, and the good news is these tools are free. Through this article, I will share some key insight on 5 must-have Google tools. Each of these tools is used to accomplish one key aspect of online marketing. The tools we are going to discuss here are:

• Google Webmaster Tools
• Google AdWords Keyword Tool
• Google Analytics
• Google Trend
• Google Alert

Let us begin discussing about each one of them, individually.

Google Webmaster Tools

“Google Webmaster Tools” is available in 40 different languages. It helps localization of content and the website. It works as one-stop shop for webmasters resources. It helps you accomplish many tasks, which also includes submitting an XML site map to Google. A site map helps Google understand the structure of your website.

In order to use this tool you need to have a Google account. If you have one then use it to access Google Webmaster central, and then add your website there. Once you have added your site to Google’s webmaster central, you will need to verify your website by placing the given codes. This step is mandatory to show that you are the legal owner of the website.

You should also familiarize yourself with Webmaster guidelines shared by Google. These guidelines will make it easy for the crawlers to find, index, categorize, and rank your website. There are many “Quality Guidelines” which you must know, as it contains the list of the practices that Google has declared illegitimate, and if your website is found employing any such practice than your website may get banned by Google. There are many more things to Google Webmaster Tools, which can only be explored. Using this tool is highly recommended.

Google AdWords Keyword Tool

Keywords are life blood of every marketing activity that we perform online. We use it to build websites, to run Google AdWords campaign, to use in backlinks as an anchor text, we use them in author box of articles that we write for article directories to pull the right kinds of visitors to our website, etc.

Google AdWords Keyword Tool is another free tool by Google that helps us find right kind of keywords for our websites, ad campaign, anchor texts, etc. The keywords can be searched in two ways: either you can use the default mode, which is “Descriptive words or phrases,” and enter a keyword in the designated box and find the related keywords, its monthly US as well as global search volume, search pattern, PPC rate, advertiser competitiveness, etc., or you can check the “Website content” radio button and enter the URL of your website, or your competitors’ website to find the right set of keywords for your website or campaign.

You can also weed out negative keywords using this tool. Specifying language and location will make the keywords more focused to your geographical location. This tool is very handy, and easy to use. You must use it when doing a keyword research.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a must-have website traffic analysis tool. It helps you analyze and make sense of your traffic data. This is the best tool around. You can use this tool to analyze the effectiveness of your marketing effort as well.
To use this tool, you will need to have a Google account.

Log in to your Google account and copy the Google Analytics code and add it to each page of the website that you want to track. You can add up to 50 sites in one free Google Analytics account. This tool is designed with marketers in mind to help them make sense of the ocean of data left behind by users.

Once you have inserted the codes in the pages you want, this tool starts tracking visitors and its source. It tracks visitors from search engines, display advertising, pay-per-click networks, email marketing, and also the links from digital documents. So, if you have given out a free e-book with a hope to increase sales or traffic then use this tool to analyze if you have achieved your goal or not.

Google Analytics shows high-level dashboard-type data for the casual users, and its report present in-depth data. You can also use funnel visualization to find out the low performing web pages.

Google Trend

Google Trend is a trend analysis tool that figures out what the world is searching for. You can get Global, US or a country specific data of what users are searching on the Internet. This tool can be a valuable asset for a marketer, as he can see what is hottest on the web and what can be used to maximize his online property’s output. This tool analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute the total number of searches done for the keywords.

This tool can also be used to know the overall volume of searches done for any specific keyword. This tool can work as a valuable keyword analysis tool if used in conjunction with Google AdWords Keyword Tool.

It also tells you about the number of times your topic has appeared in the Google news story. In the nut shell, Google Trend uses the visitor data from various Google websites to churn out the workable numbers for a marketer.

This tool is still in the beta phase, which means it is still a work-in-progress, but you can use it to get the keywords idea.

Google Alert

Google alert is one of the most powerful tools to use to stay at the top of the competition. As the name suggests, this free tool alerts you of the recent happening on the websites, news sources, Google Groups, blogs, etc. You can use it to keep yourself apprised of the recent happening in your niche.

The tool sends out an e-mail whenever something happens in the niche (or keyword) that you have chosen. You can use this tool if:

• You need to stay on top of your competitors.
• You want to focus on the developing niche, so that you can use it when it gathers significant mass.
• You want to follow the bit-by-bit update of a developing news story in your niche.

Conclusion

There are many more tools that Google has to offer for online marketers that include Google search-based keyword tools, Google search insight, etc., but the tools we have discussed above are fundamental to your online success.

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