19+ Free Google Tools Every WordPress Blogger Should Use: An Expert‘s Guide

As a webmaster with over 15 years of experience using WordPress, I‘ve leveraged my fair share of Google‘s free toolset to grow websites.

In that time, I‘ve used Analytics to uncover visitor trends, monitored sites with Search Console, and tested platforms like AdSense for monetization.

So trust me when I say Google offers some of the best free resources to help your blogging business thrive. But you need to know how to use them correctly!

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll highlight 19+ essential Google tools for WordPress bloggers and provide expert insights to help you fully maximize these platforms based on real-world experience.

Let‘s dive in and explore how Google‘s toolkit can take your blogging to the next level…

Why You Should Use Google Tools as a WordPress Blogger

With over 1.6 billion websites powered by WordPress, it‘s the world‘s most popular CMS by far.

And Google aims to provide helpful tools for webmasters using all platforms, including WordPress.

Here are 5 key reasons you should be leveraging Google‘s resources:

1. Tap Into Powerful Analytics

Tools like Google Analytics allow you to uncover deep insights about your readers.

But don‘t just rely on vanity metrics like pageviews!

Use features like custom reports, goal tracking, and user segmentation to analyze engagement and conversions. This information is invaluable for creating targeted content.

2. Discover SEO Opportunities

Optimizing your website for search is crucial for driving organic traffic as a blogger.

Google Search Console gives you an inside look at critical technical SEO factors like indexation, crawl errors, manual penalties, and more.

Fixing these types of issues can directly boost your WordPress site‘s search rankings and visibility.

3. Identify Hot Topics and Trends

Finding new blog post ideas and tapping into trends is a constant challenge.

Google Trends allows you to instantly see rising interest in keywords globally or for specific regions.

You can browse by category or drill into granular data for razor-sharp topic targeting.

4. Enhance Site Speed and UX

Page load time has a direct impact on user experience and conversions. Slow sites lead to high bounce rates.

Google PageSpeed Insights analyzes your site‘s performance and gives actionable tips to optimize loading speed for desktop and mobile visitors.

5. Monetize Your Content and Reach

From AdSense to Affiliate networks, you have options to earn from your influence as a blogger.

Google tools like AdSense make it easy to get started with relevant text and display ads. But don‘t stop there…

You can also tap into commerce-related tools like Google Merchant Center to showcase products across Google‘s network in ads and listings.

The common thread is that Google provides resources to help you thrive at all stages of your WordPress blogging journey.

Now let‘s explore 19 of the most useful Google tools available and how to maximize them.

1. Google Analytics: Your Window Into Audience Insights

Adoption Stats:

• Used on over 80% of the web‘s most-visited sites
• Over 40 billion pageviews analyzed daily
• 29% of the web using Universal Analytics

Google Analytics is far and away the most widely used website analytics platform. That‘s because it provides robust, in-depth reporting on your visitors free of charge.

But like any tool, you‘ll only get value if you use it properly. Many bloggers simply look at their homepage views and bounce rates.

To tap into Analytics‘ full potential, you need to go deeper:

• Create custom reports to analyze engagement for different visitor segments and high-value pages.
• Set up goals and conversions to track signups, downloads, purchases, and other micro-wins.
• Enable remarketing to build targeted ad audiences based on site behavior.
• Connect data to Search Console for a 360-degree view of your website‘s performance.
• Segment users to uncover insights about your most engaged readers.

With the wealth of data Google Analytics provides, you can fine-tune your content strategy, site design, and visitor funnels for maximum impact.

But this does require hands-on implementation and analysis. Don‘t just set it and forget it!

2. Search Console: Your Technical SEO Cheat Sheet

Google Search Console integration is a must for any WordPress site. Here‘s why:

• See how Google bots crawl and index your site
• Discover crawl errors preventing pages from being indexed
• Check indexed pages and find content gaps
• Review Search Analytics to optimize rankings
• Submit XML sitemaps for better indexing
• Identify manual spam actions impacting rankings

Resolving critical technical problems revealed by Search Console should be part of your regular SEO regimen.

For example, last month a site I consult for had 50% of its pages suddenly disappear from Google. Turns out there was anindexing issue caused by a URL parameter mismatch.

By quickly fixing the problem based on Search Console‘s data, we successfully restored the missing pages. Traffic stabilized as a result.

This is just one example of how leveraging Search Console data can protect your rankings and visibility. Don‘t wait until it‘s too late!

Pro tip: Use a plugin like The SEO Framework to auto-submit sitemaps andintegrate Search Console data in WordPress.

3. Keyword Planner: Uncover Untapped Keyword Opportunities

When it comes to keyword research, too many bloggers rely solely on Google Keyword Planner.

Don‘t get me wrong, it‘s a useful directional tool. But there are limitations:

• Keyword data is limited and rounded for anonymity
• No historical metrics or trends available
• Results skewed towards advertisers
• Duplicate and low-value keywords dilute data

That being said, Keyword Planner can still provide quality seed keywords to kickstart your research.

Here are a few tips to use it effectively:

• Search across multiple relevant categories to find hidden gems
• Look at keyword suggestions for your top pages/posts
• Leverage long-tail variatons which generally have less competition
• Compare results to other tools like Ahrefs for additional signals

At the end of the day, Keyword Planner gives you a snapshot of keyword ideas. It takes further research to connect the dots for content planning. Use it as one data source among many.

4. Trends: Capitalize on Rising Tides in Search

Trends move fast online. Being reactive instead of proactive means lost opportunities.

Monitoring Google Trends allows you to stay on the pulse of rising and declining keyword and topic interest.

You can analyze trends globally or drill down by country, time period, category, and other filters.

This data enables you to:

• Publish content about emerging trends while interest is spiking
• Find seasonal keywords to target
• Avoid oversaturated declining topics
• Uncover potential niches to expand into

Another pro tip is to cross-reference trends with your existing top posts. See if any align with rising keywords so you can update evergreen content at the right times.

5. PageSpeed Insights: Don‘t Let Slow Loading Speeds Drag You Down

Here‘s a startling stat: 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load.

Optimizing your WordPress site speed is mandatory for keeping visitors engaged.

This is where PageSpeed Insights steps in. It analyzes your homepage and generates a speed score out of 100 along with suggestions to improve performance.

Some common tips include:

• Minify CSS/JS files
• Defer non-critical JS
• Resize and compress images
• Remove render blocking resources
• Enable browser caching
• Serve scaled images for devices

You might think WordPress handles these optimizations automatically. Unfortunately page builders like Elementor often bog down sites.

Running routine audits with PageSpeed Insights allows you to catch speed regressions before they ruin user experience.

For in-depth WordPress site speed optimization, check out my guide here [link].

6. Google My Business: Local SEO On Autopilot

As a blogger, are you targeting a specific metro area or region?

Then you need Google My Business. It‘s the launch pad for local SEO.

By verifying your business on Google, you can publish and maintain your:

• Business name, address and phone number
• Opening hours
• Services, products, and brand info
• Photos, videos, posts and offers

This data will be displayed prominently across Google Search and Maps for relevant local queries.

For example, here are the listings for "coffee shops in Denver":

Appearing in the Local Pack results generates tons of phone calls, location searches, and website clicks.

Getting found by locals browsing Google Maps on mobile is also invaluable. Don‘t miss out on this highly visible real estate.

7. Google Alerts: Your Online Reputation SWAT Team

Here are two core reasons every blogger needs Google Alerts:

1. Brand Monitoring

The first step in reputation management is awareness. Google Alerts act as an early warning system whenever your brand is mentioned online.

You‘ll receive email notifications with links to pages where your keywords were found. This allows you to monitor what‘s being said and address issues.

2. Content Discovery

Alerts also enable you to track competitors, influencers in your space, and industry news.

This constantly supplies fresh ideas and opportunities for content creation. Repurposing discussions already happening online is a smart blogging strategy.

Set up alerts for your top keywords, brand terms, authors, and competitors. Leverage the intel in your content and outreach.

8. Google Docs: Streamlined Collaboration and Workflows

Let‘s explore some advantages Google Docs brings to WordPress content creation:

• Work Anywhere: No need for desktop software. You can write from any device.
• Seamless Collaboration: Multiple people can co-edit docs in real-time with built-in chat.
• Revision History: See a timeline of changes made and restore earlier versions. No more lost drafts!
• Templates: Quickly get up and running with ready-made outlines and formats.
• Work Offline: Docs sync across devices when back online for uninterrupted writing.

Here are some examples of how I leverage Google Docs for blogging:

• Initiating article ideas and outlines to hand off to writers
• Shared folders to collect content from various contributors
• Gathering guest post pitches before importing into WordPress
• Sending polished drafts to clients for reviews/approvals
• Distributing PR materials to media contacts

The ability to work seamlessly across devices and with your team is game-changing. The integrations with other Google services like Drive and Sheets are just icing on the cake.

Google‘s Hidden Gems: More Tools You Shouldn‘t Overlook

So far we‘ve covered the heavy hitters. But Google offers smaller niche tools that can provide real value.

Here are a few worth checking out:

• Google Scholar for researching studies and citeable sources
• Google Dataset Search to discover data for visualization
• Google Web Designer to create engaging HTML5 content
• Google Merchant Center to manage product data for Google Shopping campaigns
• Google Ad Grants provides $10,000 monthly in free Google Ads credit to nonprofits

Don‘t leave money on the table or miss an opportunity to tap into Google‘s full buffet of resources. Poke around and uncover more gems!

Closing Thoughts

Leveraging Google‘s free toolbox provides WordPress bloggers an unfair advantage.

You gain access to unparalleled analytics, SEO insights, trends data, and platforms to reach more users.

But remember – these tools are only as good as the effort put into implementation and analysis.

Don‘t just set up and forget. Learn the advanced functionality, connect the dots between platforms, and act on the insights uncovered.

By mastering Google‘s resources over my 15+ years as a webmaster, I‘ve been able to grow multiple websites from scratch to millions of visitors.

Now it‘s your turn. Just follow this guide‘s tips and you‘ll be well on your way to unlocking the full potential of Google‘s powerful (and free!) webmaster toolkit.

What are your favorite Google tools? Let me know in the comments!