Look how old this is!
I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 17 years 6 months 11 days ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.

A search engine consultant these days needs to know a lot more than the basic SEO tactics they may have learned over the years. They really need to know how to efficiently navigate Google’s Webmaster Central, and make good use of the tools they have provided.

It seems like not a single month goes by without a new feature or tool being added or tweaked that can make a big difference in how you approach your job as a strategist for any particular domain.

For example, the February introduction of a new “links” tab opened up a whole world of possibilities and information, assuming you noticed it was there. I make use of it daily for multiple domains, especially now that they’ve added (or I just noticed) he ability to download the data in a spreadsheet.

At the end of 2006, Google moved their reinclusion request tool, as well as spam reporting tool, right inside your Webmaster Central console. (It’s located in the top right, before you click into any particular domain listed.) Reporting competitors using unsavory tactics has never been easier.

For a good explanation of the Webmaster tool basics, I just found this post at 10e20, that goes into pretty good detail, including screenshots from Webmaster Central.  If you’re not already an avid user, I suggest you read that post.
Then, to stay updated on all the changes to the bells and whistles, you need to make sure that you are subscribed to the Webmaster Central blog and read every post. Google only just started that blog in August of last year, and it’s possible to go through the entire blog in a fairly short amount of time.

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