Back in August, Google announced an “extensive redesign” of the Search Console used for tracking and optimizing site performance in Search. While still in beta, the revamped site with its new design and tools is beginning to rollout for all users.
This revamp features a new responsive interface that’s in line with the company’s other modern web apps. Its goal is to simplify the process of optimizing a website’s presence on Google Search.
The new Search Console was rebuilt from the ground up by surfacing the most actionable insights and creating an interaction model which guides you through the process of fixing any pending issues. We’ve also added ability to share reports within your own organization in order to simplify internal collaboration.
Google notes that the most popular functionality is already available in the new version and the site can “be used in your day-to-day flow of addressing these topics.” However, it is still a beta and the classic version will remain accessible.
Until the new Search Console is complete, both versions will live side-by-side and will be easily interconnected via links in the navigation bar, so you can use both.
Centered around “reports,” the new Search Console is beginning to rollout, with users receiving a notification when the tools are available for their site. Google is actively seeking feedback, with a button available throughout the app in the sidebar.
Search Performance
This report builds on Search Analytics by providing 16 months of data (up from 3) to better allow site admins to analyze long-term trends and make year-over-year comparisons. In the near future, Google will make this data available through the Search Console API.
Index Coverage
The Index Status report is based on the new Issue tracking functionality that provides alerts when URLs from sites are not being indexed. It includes diagnostic tools, while also helping users monitor the progress of a fix.
The new Search Console can also help you confirm that you’ve resolved an issue, and help us to update our index accordingly. To do this, select a flagged issue, and click validate fix. Google will then crawl and reprocess the affected URLs with a higher priority, helping your site to get back on track faster than ever.
Correctly indexed URLs, warnings about potential issues, and reasons why Google isn’t indexing some URLs are also clearly displayed. Meanwhile, a share functionality creates direct links to a report so that other teams within a company can resolve issues.
AMP and Job Postings
The revamped Search Console also helps sites take advantage of Google’s latest “Search Enhancements,” like Accelerated Mobile Pages and Job Postings (from Google for Jobs). Besides features found in the Index Coverage report, fixing AMP errors are now faster than ever with instantaneous testing and notification of still present issues. A Validation Log will list URLs that have been fixed, as well as those that failed or are still pending.
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