Updated January 10, 2023
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Time for a Facelift
Updates, updates, and more updates. Search Console is the latest Google tool to be given a fresh lick of paint. Since the new interface rolled out in Mid January we’ve been playing with it and here are our thoughts on what the new improved Search Console is like and if it can help you get an edge on your analytics.
Cosmetically the overhaul brings Search Console in line with Google’s more glamorous tools AdWords and Google Analytics. Search Console has long been the ugly step-sister forced to do all the hard work in the background, while GA and AdWords get all the attention. However, the new user interface ensures SC is a lot easier to navigate and makes the data that it shows simpler to analyze.
Going Back in Time
One of the simplest improvements in our minds is that you can look at more data. Using Search Console in conjunction with Google Analytics is a great way to judge your site’s SEO health. But the biggest drawback in the past was that you only had three months of data in Search Console. Now, however, in the new and improved performance reports, you can go back as far as sixteen months. This gives you a lot more data to play with making it much easier to gauge your site’s SEO health.
Indexing
The greatest improvement is the index coverage section. This is essentially your dialogue space with Google. Showing you if you have any problems or issues with your site (in Google’s eyes) and where you will see if you have been given any kind of SEO penalty. The way all of this information is presented is a lot more user-friendly and should help to make resolving SEO problems less daunting to the non-initiated.
Another new feature in the index coverage section is that you can now request your pages are reindexed after fixing an issue. So if you notice some errors, you don’t have to wait until Google crawls your site again to get the benefit. You can request your site to be crawled again, meaning that any negative effects from your site errors are minimized.
It’s Not Over Yet
Search Console updates haven’t finished yet, however. There is a big “coming soon” notice on the navigation wizard, stating that all reports have not yet been migrated. So if features you used to use in the old SC are not yet in the new one, don’t despair, they should be soon. Also, as with AdWords, Google is still allowing you to use the old interface. So for the moment to get the full functionality you may need to switch between new and old UI.
What do you think of the new search console? Are there still some missing features you would like to see Google add?
Photo credit – Top: Pexels
