In May 2010 Google greatly improved Webmaster Tools by updating Search Queries to show how often your page appeared in SERPs for specific keywords along with clicks, clickthrough rate and average position. Welcomed changes! They’ve updated Search Queries once again. Let’s take a look at what’s new.

To access Search Queries, log into Webmaster Tools, click Your Site on the Web –> Search Queries, from the left-side menu. You’ll see a screen similar to what’s below.

New Statistics in Webmaster Tools

Right off the bat you’re going to notice the four new columns (highlighted above) which detail how well your rank, impressions, and click throughs have been for the month. Just by glancing at the page, you can see how well your keywords are doing and which need attention. It’s also serves as good feedback for how recent SEO changes are impacting your site. Drastic changes are red flags you’ll want to look into. (Is a new competitor on the scene and you were bumped, was there a penalty, does the site need an update, more links, etc.).

To sort results by greatest to smallest change, click the Change tab. Keep in mind, these are not real-time stats and by default cover the last month ending about three days prior. (For example, I checked these stats on October 6, but wasn’t able to see stats past October 3). To change the date range, click the drop down calendar as shown below.

Traffic Charts in Search Queries

As you can see, this is extremely helpful in reviewing the movement of your keyword phrases at a glance.

New Statistics in Search Queries

Another excellent feature by Google that is going to make reviewing impressions and keywords faster and easier.

Also Read:

Google Webmaster Tools Update

Tags: Google, Webmaster Tools

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Google. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.