Google Search Console Tips
Google Search Console (previously called Webmaster Tools) is a free tool provided by Google for website owners to monitor performance and traffic. GSC also offers search engine optimization recommendations and fixes. Our SEO Office Hours recaps below cover a range of advice from Google to help you better understand and get the most out of this fundamental SEO tool.
Move to New Search Console to be Completed by End of 2019
John revealed that the Search Console team have the goal of finishing the move to the new version of Search Console by the end of 2019 at the latest.
The Performance Report in the New GSC Only Shows Errors That Impact Websites
The performance report in GSC won’t include all 404 errors like the old one as John explained that it is more useful to show errors that actually impact a website in terms of what users will land on.
A Spike in GSC Impressions but Not Clicks Suggests Move from Page 2 to the Bottom of Page 1
If there is a significant increase in impressions for a keyword in GSC but clicks remain consistent, this suggests that a page that was previously ranking on page 2 has moved up to the bottom of page 1. The impressions shoot up for page 1 but the clicks don’t increase as much for the bottom results of page 1.
Reduce Number of Unique Downloads if Seeing ‘Uncommon Downloads’ Issue in GSC
The ‘uncommon downloads’ warning in the Security Issues section of GSC can be caused by sites that generate unique downloads for each user. Reduce the number of downloads so Googlebot is able to check them easily before a user accesses them.
Disavowed Links Aren’t Removed From GSC Links Report
Links that have been disavowed will still show up in the links report in Google Search Console. This doesn’t mean that disavowing the links hasn’t worked, rather this is just how the links are reported.
Structured Data Will Still be Supported in New Version of GSC
John can’t confirm how structured data will be reported in the new Search Console. However, structured data will continue to be supported and will likely be shown in a slightly different way compared to the old version of Search Console.
URL Inspection Tool Could Change to Include Desktop Rendered Screenshot
John cannot confirm that the URL Inspection tool will be changing to include a screenshot of the desktop rendered version of pages. However, John admitted that this is something that is missing and that he will put it on the Search Console team’s radar.
Expect Fluctuations in URL Inspection Tool When URL is New or Being Reprocessed
Fluctuation in the data provided in the URL Inspection Tool can be expected if the URL is being reprocessed or if it is a new page. For example, the selected canonical might not show in the Inspection Tool for a while until Google has finished processing the canonical.
Submit Detailed Feedback on New GSC Features Through Feedback Form
John encourages detailed feedback on changes to Search Console through the feedback form, as it gives the team working on this input on what should be prioritized.
Robots.txt Testing Tool Will Be Moved to the New GSC
There have been no announcements around removing this feature, so it should be moved across to the new Google Search Console. There isn’t a timeline on when this will happen yet.