Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a collection of tools and resources to help website owners, webmasters, marketers, and SEO professionals improve their websites. This powerful platform allows users to monitor website performance in the Google search index, providing invaluable insights and actionable data.
An essential tool for anyone serious about improving search performance and visibility, Google Search Console offers a unique window into how Google perceives and interacts with your site, providing data that can’t be found anywhere else. That’s why we’re committed to keeping you informed fast about Google Search Console news.
Key features
Google Search Console offers a huge variety of features that include:
- Search Appearance Information: Gain insights into how your site appears in search results.
- Search Traffic Analysis: Understand your audience better by analyzing your overall search performance.
- Technical Status Updates: Receive notifications about critical issues affecting your site’s performance in search results.
- Crawl Data and Indexing Insights: Monitor how Google crawls and indexes your site.
- Performance Reports: Access detailed data on your site’s search performance. Core Web Vitals reports provide crucial information about your site’s user experience.
- URL Inspection Tool: Examine specific URLs to understand how Google views and indexes them and troubleshoot any issues.
- Links Analysis: Explore internal and external links to your site.
Leveraging Google Search Console effectively can lead to significant improvements in your site’s search performance. For example:
- The Performance Report can help identify underperforming pages that might benefit from content optimization.
- The Mobile Usability Report can guide improvements in your site’s mobile experience, which is crucial in today’s mobile-first indexing environment.
- The Links Report can inform your link-building strategy by revealing the most linked content and the top linking sites.
The evolution
Originally launched as Google Webmaster Tools, the platform was significantly rebranded in 2015 to become Google Search Console. This change reflected its broader utility for various marketing professionals beyond webmasters.
The evolution of Google Search Console mirrors the changing landscape of SEO and digital marketing in general. As search algorithms become more sophisticated and UX takes center stage, the platform has adapted to provide more insights and actionable data.
Maximizing your Google Search Console experience
We invite you to read our guides and tips for using Google Search Console, along with the latest news and feature updates. The goal of our content is to help you make the most of Google Search Console.
For example, you can learn how to use Google Search Console to get easy SEO wins. You can also explore our comprehensive SEO’s guide on the platform, as it offers an in-depth look at techniques and best practices for seasoned professionals.
Stay tuned to Search Engine Land to ensure you’re always up-to-date with the latest features and best practices of Google Search Console, helping you maintain a competitive edge in the ever-evolving world of SEO.
Google Search Console performance report delayed but Google will fix the issue
At the time of writing this story, the reports were delayed by over 65 hours.
Google Search bug caused a drop in video traffic
Between May 4 and May 17, there was a bug with Google Search that caused sites to get less traffic to their video content.
Google-InspectionTool – the new Google crawler for Google testing tools
Google has added a new Google crawler to its list, this one is uses for testing tools you use in Search Console or other Google properties.
Google no longer requires video descriptions as part of structured data
Empty descriptions will no longer show up as errors in the Search Console reports.
Google Search Console page experience report going away
The Core Web Vitals and HTTPS report is staying but the mobile-friendly test is going away.
Google shows shipping and return information in the search results
Google Search Console added a report to monitor and fix the structured data required to enable this display.
Core Web Vitals report within Google Search Console updated
You may see a change in the number of URLs reported in the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console
Google Search Console breaks out Merchant listings and Product snippets appearances
This is an update to previously launched reports from last September.
Google Search Console users and permissions management updated
Make sure to review user permissions and levels of access with this update.
Google Search Console adds daily bulk data exports to BigQuery
This will allow you to potentially do more analysis with your data in other platforms.
Google warns against using 403 or 404 status codes for Googlebot crawl rate limiting
Instead, Google recommends you use Google Search Console's crawl rate feature.
Google Search Console Video indexing report gains video impressions overlay and sitemap filter
Google has upgraded the video indexing report to help your videos perform better in search.
Google improves error classification in video indexing report
The total number of errors should not change, this is just a reclassification of those errors.
Product results in Google’s performance report may see an increase in impressions and clicks
This report no longer requires structured data and if Google finds products in your content, it may show in this report starting January 6th going forward.
Google Question Hub to close down
But will it be replaced by the Google Search Console "content ideas" feature?
Content ideas may be coming to Google Search Console
This feature looks and feels a lot like the Google Question Hub.
Subscribe with Google publishers may see an increase in clicks and impressions from Google Search
This started on December 5th, in the search performance report in Google Search Console.
Google Discover performance reports improve accuracy
Google Search Console said click and impression data may appear to increase because of this update.
How to use RStudio to create traffic forecasting models
Learn the basics of producing time series forecasts in RStudio from your Google Search Console click data.
Google Search Console adds Shopping tab listings feature
This gives you more details on your product snippets, merchant listings and the shopping tab listings.
Google Search Console reporting bug with Discover performance report
This was a reporting bug on October 23rd and did not impact the actual search results.
Google fixed a bug with some search features that may impact your site’s visibility
Between October 18th and October 28th, Google Search had a bug with top stories and other search features.
How to get the most out of the Google Search Console API using regex
Learn how to extract the maximum amount of data from the GSC API and filter difficult URLs using regular expressions.
Google Analytics v3 Search Console report query data restored
After about a month, Google has finally fixed the bug where query data was not showing in Universal Analytic's Search Console query report.
Google Search Console mislabeled structured data errors as errors
This was a reporting issue only and did not impact the Google search results.
Google penalties, manual actions and notifications: A complete guide
Learn all about on-page and off-page guideline violations, what Google's messaging means, and how to get a Google manual penalty removed.
4 advanced ways you’re not measuring SEO effectiveness – yet
Measure SEO impact beyond basic traffic and keyword ranking. Learn how your efforts are driving actual business outcomes with these metrics.
Google Analytics v3 Search Console report currently not showing query data
The data is showing in GA4 and in Search Console but not in Universal Analytics 3.
Google Search Console data logging issue on September 21st
Some data may be missing in the search performance report, Google is working on restoring some of the data.
The by-no-means-definitive keyword size showdown: GSC vs. Ahrefs vs. Semrush vs. Moz
See the results of a comparison of four leading SEO tools' keyword coverage for domains in the pharmaceutical space.
Google launches new HTTPS report in Google Search Console
This new report now shows why some pages are not being served as HTTPS.
Google expands enhanced product experiences to more ecommerce sites, releases new Search Console reports
You no longer need to be in Google Merchant Center, websites that implement structured data will also gain rich product experiences in Google search results.
Google Search Console reports may be impacted by review-type changes made in Google Search
You may see changes in your clicks and impression data within the performance and rich result reports.
Google Search Console to remove International Targeting report
Google said it will continue to hreflang and the recommendations for managing multilingual and multiregional sites.
Google Search Console adds URL-level data in Core Web Vitals report
Google also is now highlighting new stats on how improving Core Web Vitals metrics can improve user engagement and business metrics.
Google Search Console’s video indexing report now live for all
You will only see it if you have videos on your site that Google can detect.
Google Search Console reported pages as being indexed when they were not indexed
This affected "many" Google Search Console properties, so make sure to check your reports in the next couple of days.
Google reenables the validate fix feature in Search Console and adds new classifications
As expected, Google has launched the new classifications for the coverage report with a tour to walk you through the changes.
Google reporting issue with Search Console Discover report
This data logging issue was on July 26, 2022 - any drops in clicks or impressions might be just a reporting bug.
Google temporarily disables the validate fix feature in Search Console
Google is updating something in Search Console and for now, you can't issue new validation requests.
