I was thinking of adding client websites to Google webmaster tools, but thought it may be better to do this under a separate account away from my own domains. I figure the clients will never do this themselves, but it’s probably a good thing to do.
Is anybody else doing this or have any thoughts about adding client websites? I see we can actually sign up with a Google account as an individual or as a business as well.
I set it up for all my clients under my business email, but i make sure to add them as an “owner” in the “Users and permissions” setting for their “property”. I let them know that this is a way for me to keep an eye on issues (Google will automatically send an email if there are any “indexing issues”) but I also let them know that they can remove me at anytime if they’d like. I have had clients that are a little privacy concerned…
OK thanks, I’ll have to look into this. Presumably this means they could access their account online, but not see others listed there. Currently I just have my own domains attached to my personal gmail account that I’d had for years.
Why would you give them access to Webmaster? I get Analytics but not Webmaster.
You can obviously add users to each site you manage and control their abilities.
If all you want to do is enable them to ‘see’ whats going on then you could iFrame/Limelight the page into the project behind a password so that they don’t have to go anywhere else to see their data.
You can even embed Analytics data directly onto a page https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/embed-api/
My reason for doing this was simply to receive notifications of indexing issues or basic tasks like submitting an updated sitemap and I hadn’t thought it would be needed to add others. Presumably @Raimo has a reason for doing it this way, such as allowing them to move away if they choose another web designer.
You/your user account has access to all your sites but you can add additional users to EACH site, that user will only be able to see the data on that site. You can grant them full or restricted access etc.
OK thanks, I’ll do some research on how this works, because I have only done it for my own sites until now.
Why not give them access to their own account? Very few of them ever bother to look at it, but they all like that I am doing this for them, and that I have shown them another tool to help their website/business. I always show them the “performance tab” that shows which “search queries” are actually working for their website, I find it easier for them to understand than what Google Analytics shows… no “(not provided)” search query as the number 1 answer, no need to filter out “bot traffic” which skews actual user counts.
It also helps retain the clients from the “ambulance chasers” that send them emails about all the improvements their “SEO agency” could bring to their websites. By showing them their Webmaster Tools reports, it is easy to call out the BS
Good points