On September 4th, Google announced a new and improved Search Console. Don’t worry; if you’re used to the old console, it is still available. Users can switch between the old and the new version as needed. With the new Google Search Console out of beta, you get more data and more control, along with a slew of other new features including:
- Index Coverage report to see which pages have been indexed and how to fix the ones that could not be indexed
- 16 months of Search Analytics data in the Performance report
- Details on backlinks and internal links in the Links report
- Crawling and indexing information from any URL from the Google index using the URL Inspection Tool
- A listing of pages affected by crawling, indexing, AMP, mobile usability, recipes, or job posting issues
- Reports that show HTML code suggestions
- Share information with team members from your organization
- Google will notify resolved issues on your pages and confirm that they’re fixed with a detailed log of validation findings
- Submit sitemaps and individual URLs for indexing
With the new updates, users will have a more accurate account of their data and a streamlined workflow when issues arise. The two biggest changes are the Manual Actions report and the URL Inspection Tool.
Manual Actions Report
Manual action alerts and security issues now display directly on the Overview page so you don’t miss any critical alerts. The Manual Actions section catalogs details for indexing issues. Google alerts you of a manual action if a reviewer finds a page on your site that does not comply with Google’s webmaster quality guidelines. For example, you may be notified if your website seems geared more towards search engines and less towards users, if you employ keyword stuffing, or you misuse structured data.
The report allows you to optimize your site for indexing and makes sure that users get the relevant information they want in the most efficient way possible. If you don’t address an issue, your site may rank lower or be completely denied from SERPs.
URL Inspection Tool
The URL Inspection tool comes as a common request from users to understand how Google views specific URLs. The URL Inspection tool gives you detailed crawl, index, and serving information about your pages. Simply enter a URL that you own to view the last crawl date and whether there are any indexing errors. If the URL prompts a successful index, you’ll receive information about any improvements that Google found on the page.
The URL Inspection tool is especially useful for live testing. This is extremely helpful when it comes to debugging and troubleshooting a specific page. On the old version of Google Search Console, users had to run tests based on the last time the URL was indexed.
There are more features to come for the new Google Search Console, and we’re excited about the more transparent outlook. The more information we have on how we can approve, the better our analytics will be, which means we can tailor our information to answer our readers’ questions. SEO is always changing and it’s hard to get a grasp on which factors affect your rank. With indexing details laid out by the new Google Search Console, we can get one step closer to increasing our SERP rank. Sevaa Group prides itself on hosting, development, and IT management, but we also know that marketing plays a large part in the success of a website. We strive to educate our readers on the latest trends in web development as well as marketing. Talk to us about how we can improve your SEO processes or offer marketing consultation.
