Google Webmaster Tools Adds New Capability
In the Official Google Webmaster Central blog on June 19, Google announced that they have included a way to make keeping track of certain website metrics much easier.
Now, you can download your Google Webmaster Tools data directly to Google Documents, or "Google Docs," as this member of the Google Applications family is more commonly called.
Cloud computing advantage
This is great for cloud computing enthusiasts because it eliminates the need for an installed spreadsheet program on your computer's hard drive, such as Excel, WordPerfect Office Quattro, or Open Office, to chart or make other changes to the stats as they're presented in your Webmaster Tools account.
Though you can still download the familiar.csv file to be used in stand-alone spreadsheet programs, this new ability to download your files directly to Google Docs makes your data available by browser — anywhere, anytime.
Using this option is extremely simple.
Log into Google Webmaster Tools. Go to "Traffic," then "Links to your site," for example. You can click on "more" under "Who Links the Most," "Your Most Linked Content," or "How Your Data is Linked," and see a button that says, "Download this table." That's when the box (seen above) pops up for you to choose either a .csv file download or a download to Google Docs.
What's great about the ability to do this is that you will be able to see more data than provided in the Google Webmaster Tools interface, giving you an even better picture of how well your site is doing in terms of search.
This download option is also available for Crawl errors and Search queries so that the data can be crunched and examined as you see fit.
An aid for cloud computing
With the popularity of tablet computers and even Google's own Chromebook, which lack a traditional hard drive, this new Webmaster Tools change is a blessing.
Google pointed to its greater significance in the Webmaster Central Blog post, "Using only a web browser you can instantly dive right into slicing and dicing your data to create customized charts for detecting significant changes and tracking longer term trends impacting your site."
Google has made several innovations to Webmaster tools over the past few months, and encourages those with questions about this or any other Webmaster Tools changes to visit the Webmaster Help Forum.
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