How can I detect Google Webmaster tools without asking my client?

[Ideas-Money-Art]

Hi Guys,

I am running an audit for a client and one of the things I investigate is if they have a Google and BING webmaster tools . Also I am trying to detect if they have submitted any XML sitemaps. Is there a way for me to be able to detect these by making a simple search on google or not?

Thank you Mozzers!

[KevinBudzynski]

I don't believe you can find out if someone is using Webmaster tools or not. However, you can easily check to see if they have a sitemap by  filetype:xlm sitemap site:domain.com (you may have to play around with this). Also, this doesn't mean it has been submitted as well.

[BrightHealth]

There is no way to determine that, not unless you have access to the code and can verify the footprint the .html upload verification process leaves behind. For audit purposes, we just verify that a sitemap exists.. not whether or not it has been uploaded.

Best course of action is to talk to them.. ask them. Then, if they haven't, go ahead and work with them setting it up.

[brad.s.knutson]

I am not aware of anyway to determine if a site has implemented Google Webmaster Tools or not, as they could have verified it with by uploading a randomly named file, or through Google Analytics.  I would say if they are fairly large site and have Google Analytics (which you can determime by viewing the source code of the site) they probably have GWMT as well.

To determine if Bing Webmaster Tools are in use, you can go to http://example.com/BingSiteAuth.xml (replace the domain name) and see if the file exists.  If it does, then they activated Bing Webmaster Tools.  If the file does not exist, it either means that they never activated Bing Webmaster Tools, or they did and were smart enough to delete the file from their server.

Hope this helps!

[Ideas-Money-Art]

Thank you guys for all of your answers. It seems that I'll need to ask them!

@Bradley: It seems that this is a good technique whether they install it via BING but I know bing also offers other techniques to verify WMT so even if I don't find it, it could mean either they don't have it or they do(using other verification process), right?

[brad.s.knutson]

Yes the presence of BingSiteAuth.xml or the lack-thereof doesn't really give you a definitive answer, but it does give you a little insight into the situation.

There is really no way to know for sure if they have activated or are using Webmaster Tools accounts unfortunately, unless you have access to their email accounts.