Blog

A weird year in review

2020, what a year this was! We found new ways to work and collaborate, to learn and have fun, and also to stay safe.

An update on the Structured Data Testing Tool

In July, we announced that the Rich Results Test is out of beta. In that blog post, we said that the Structured Data Testing Tool would be deprecated. Since then, we’ve heard your feedback and we’d like to give an update on what the future looks like for the Structured Data Testing Tool

Updates to Search Console’s API

A few months ago we announced an API infrastructure upgrade to improve the performance of the Search Console API as demand grows. Today we’re happy to announce some more updates coming your way.

New and improved crawl stats for your site

To help website owners better understand how

We moved! Introducing the new home for the Google Webmasters blogs

Last week we changed our name to Google Search Central and published our new central site. As part of this site migration, we’re also consolidating the Google Webmaster Blogs into one place on the new site. Today, we’re announcing that this page within the Google Search Central site is the new home for our blog. We migrated all of the archived blog posts, dating back to 2005.

Web Stories, Search and sheep launches, and more!

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team. In this episode, John, Martin, Gary, and special guest Pascal Birchler, Developer Programs Engineer at Google, deep dive into Web Stories and indexing of AMP and images. They also discuss launching new Search and Search Console features and the recent sheep ‘launch’. Curious to learn more? Have a listen!

Google Search developer site → https://goo.gle/35HtREZ 

Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr010-transcript 

Transcription for Web Stories, Search and sheep launches, and more!

Search Off the Record takes you behind the scenes of Google Search and its inner workings! In each episode, the folks from the Search Relations team will give you background info on the decision-making behind launches, feature prioritization in Search Console, and the projects Google Search teams are working on. They will share fun stories

Goodbye Google Webmasters, hello Google Search Central

Merriam-Webster claims the first known use of the word « webmaster » was in 1993, years before Google even existed. However, the term is becoming archaic, and according to the data found in books, its use is in sharp decline. A user experience study we ran revealed that very few web professionals identify themselves as webmasters anymore. They’re more likely to call themselves Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), online marketer, blogger, web developer, or site owner, but very few « webmasters ».

Timing for bringing page experience to Google Search

This past May, we announced that page experience signals would be included in Google Search ranking. These signals measure how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page and contribute to our ongoing work to ensure people get the most helpful and enjoyable experiences from the web. In the past several months, we’ve seen a median 70% increase in the number of users engaging with Lighthouse and Page Speed Insights, and many site owners using Search Console’s Core Web Vitals report to identify opportunities for improvement.

PES@Home 2020: Google’s first virtual summit for Product Experts

More than ever, users are relying on Google products to do their jobs, educate their kids, and stay in touch with loved ones. Our Google Product Experts (PEs) play a vital role in supporting these users in community forums, like the Webmaster Help Community, across many languages.