Hi everyone, I'm wondering if you guys use Google Webmaster Tools and if it helped you increase your rankings or if you believe it actually slowed down the process. Also, if you do use it, do you put all your sites under one account? Has it affected your rankings? Aren't you scared that if one of your sites gets hit by an update then all your sites will get hit? If you only put one site under one webmaster account, how do you keep them separate so Google doesn't notice it's the same computer/person controlling all these accounts?
Yes, even i use Google Webmaster. It is useful tool and you can submit a multiple site under same account.
I use webmaster tools. It has no direct benefit to your ranking. It's more useful as a diagnostics tool for spotting problems with your site which once correct can then help your site ranking. The ability to submit your sitemap to Google is useful and can help get your site re-crawled (and therefore reindexed) quicker following changes to the site. In terms of the accounts, I don't think it matters whether you have multiple websites in the same account - there's nothing wrong with doing that.
I don't do anything like link wheels so I have no issues with Google knowing my sites are all controlled by the same person. FWIW I have my clients sites under my account but I could just as easily have them in separate accounts and still access - I do that for Adsense.
i prefer google webmaster tools. if you are wordpress user, then active google xml sitemap plugin thanks