Yesterday, Google announced a much needed design update for its Webmaster Toolssite. The new user interface is live, but Google is also leaving the old interface up for another couple of weeks while they receive feedback on the new design. Until the new Webmaster Tools becomes the default interface, you can try it out by visiting http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/new.
Personally, I am very happy with the new design. The redesigned dashboard presents much more useful information than it previously did. Users are now immediately presented with information on backlinks, top search queries, crawl errors, and sitemaps without having to dig through the site. Some other highlights of the new Webmaster Tools include:
- Increase in to search queries: users can now view up to 100 queries to track for impressions and clickthrough
- Message subscription: users can now subscribe to Message Center notifications via email to stay on top of any crawl errors or other site issues
- Removal of the enhanced image search option
- Improved sitemap tracking
Google did a great job with this update and I am especially happy to see the new Message Center subscriptions. That feature should really help webmasters with a bunch of websites catch any site issues early, before they can become bigger problems.
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Funny, I just commented a minute ago on another blog featuring google webmasters, then I found this post. It has a new look? Great. Now if only there’s new and better features for easy and faster page indexing.
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Okay, I have to admit that I hadn’t even paid any attention to noticing there was anything new, and I’m there often. How focused is that?
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