Revamped Google Webmaster Tools

With a positive surprise I realized today that Google's Webmaster Tools had some minor overhauling and provide some more details than before. Most obvious are the changes on the dashboard where the Top Search Queries now provide information about impressions and clicktroughs instead of the rankings before. Only the links of the search expressions are missing.

It seems that the Top search queries were in the focus of this update. The section is now spiced with detailed graphs about what happened during selectable periods on your site. Well, seems that the Webmaster Tools mimic a stripped-down version of Google Analytics...

I was very pleased by the details that are offered when you click on a single query term. Really nice to see the search rankings and your responsible URLs at the same time. Before, you had to put two browser instances side-by-side to achieve this kind of overview.

Personally, I like the approach to visualize statistics the way Google or other providers do. It gives you a quick and informative overview, and enables you to dig further into details about peaks and lows on your visits, page impressions or clickthroughs.