Giving Google Too Much Information?

I personally don't believe that having your sites in GA or GWT is going to have any kind of adverse effect. I mean your point about related sites is kinda relevant, but you have to remember that the punishments are for using techniques which google does not approve of.

Particularly bad link building I guess or spun content.

I really don't mind having google in on my sites, having Webmaster tools gives you warnings way before a punishment, I'm not sure if you are able to receive warnings without the webmaster tools, but I mean thats an argument right there.

I did hear some horrorstories about people who had loads of sites in GA and GWT got punished across the board, but I think its more likely its because a similar content or linkbuilding strategy was used, and the fact that they were all in GA or GWT was just a coincidence.

Oh and if you are using adsense to monetize Google knows what you are up to anyway and can see all your sites, so it doesn't really make much sense to be worried.

So yeah, don't worry about if if you are a whitehat.

It depends. Are you trying to hide stuff from google or do you care. Google analytics and webmaster are great tools, but there are other alternatives.

GA sucks it really does. The stats they give you are horrible.

I don't think putting your sites in Google Webmaster tools gives them a dang thing. It just gives you some information.

Really bad backlinks. It is against Google's ToS to build ANY links to your site. If you don't do it, you'll never get your site ranked for anything that is worth ranking for.

Thanks for those with positive input.

Yeah Joseph, I looked at some of those and some of those are the exact reason I asked the question and why I asked them in the way I did.

Many of those post show the continued old line that using those tools gives Google too much information which I think is hogwash.

Google Analytics is a remarkable product - a few years ago, stats like that simply did not exist, and the products that did were very expensive. We had to make do with Webalizer!

Google is starting to suck for other reasons - mainly for hiding referring keywords, (not set in GA) and recent algo changes which seem to actually penalise sites for external links, which is a factor the site owner can't control. See webbactivemedia.net/marketing-blog/285-google-penguin-for-negative-seo.html

If you think GA is a wonderful product use it. I've learned better it simply is not. I have removed that from all my sites. Not because I think it gives them more information but because it slows page load. I have a better tool and I don't see any point in having both. If you do, cool.

There is one case where GA might give them more information. That is anything that doesn't come from Google. Such as a referring site.

If someone searches Google and finds your site and goes to it, Google can track that. Maybe they can't if the user is using secure search within Firefox or another method. In most cases if you've got a lot of traffic, you're getting it from Google. I'd love to be one of those that is not getting it from Google. I hate depending on one source but I'm required to for most of my traffic.

But links to your site? They are going to find the majority of those through crawling other sites. I believe the only exception to that would be if someone visits your site from a link Google has not crawled. The GA could track where that visitor came from. Can AdSense? I think in most cases AdSense can. Like someone said, if you're using AdSense Google already knows nearly everything you're doing. Putting AdSense on any sites you make for the purpose of backlinks is probably a horrible idea. You're backlink wont count for much since you've made it clear to Google the sites are related.

I think GA gives them a little more information but not enough to really do anything.

For now, I think using Webmaster tools is a good idea. Like someone said, you get a lot of information that can help you in the tools. The only thing I find GA good for is raw traffic counts ad that's just not enough information.

I do think it is a good idea to put your websites in different tools accounts. I wonder though, if you don't delete your cookies before moving from one to the other, if Google isn't tracking it that way? Any thoughts on that? I haven't been doing this but I recently took a course from a couple of warriors that recommended it. I've never setup a Webmaster tools account using anything other than a Gmail account. Can you? If not, that could be a way for Google to track you too. That is important to me as I build my own unadvertised private link network.

Jez, I do remember that one firm that was charging around 5K to 10K and more for what GA gives us for free. I have been trying to remember the name of that firm. I wonder if they are still around.

I remember drooling for that software. That was more like 10 years ago. I also remember when GA was launched and I was very excited. Then I found the program closed due to high demand. It is better than what we use to have.

I've just done enough research on this to know that GA is extremely lacking in what it provides. I mean they have better bounce information. Why want they that to us. I don't understand. that at all. Maybe its too expensive.

GA showed my bounce rate around 70%. I struggled for years to get that down. Nothing wortked. I tend to write rather long articles. Probably someone reads that they are wrong out. haha If they never click another link GA counts that as a bounce but Google does not.. They have and use a better true bounce rate number. They have a term for it but it slips my mind now.