You’ve probably heard by now that Google has changed their search console and it’s kind of a big deal for SEO Companies and businesses alike. It’s still in beta, but Google says it will be changing over to the new features little by little throughout the year. Right now, the new search console only has a few features so you can keep using the old Search Console until the new functionalities are switched over. So far, users seem to be thrilled with the new functionalities.
If you don’t see the new search console on your existing dashboard, you can get it from here: Google Search Console Beta.
So what’s all the fuss about the new Google Search Console anyway?
Let’s find out…
The Differences Between Google’s New Search Console and the Old Search Console
The Old Search Console:
The old search console offered valuable user insights into how people were finding your website while allowing you to monitor it in a way that quickly enabled you to recognize and resolve any technical issues that arose before they turned into a major problem.
In fact, you were able to see total clicks, total impressions, average click-through rates, and the average position of the data all on top of each other with just one click. However, you had to choose between filtering by the type of search, query, page, country, or device, and you could only choose one option at a time.
OK, so what does the new Google Search Console do?
The New Search Console:
The new Google Search Console isn’t actually a new version of the old one at all, it has been completely rebuilt with the focus on a more in-depth user experience. One that will enable webmasters to identify and fix potential problems. And you can now filter multiple variables at a time, so you don’t have to keep switching from option to option just to find the information you need. Any SEO Agency and they will tell you that the new Google Search Console is far superior to the old one and it appears that it’s only going to keep getting better.
In addition, you now have the ability to get a much bigger range of data than you used to. Previously, you could only obtain up to three months of data. However, the new Google Search Console shows 12-16 months of data. This is huge!
The Old Search Console:
The old search console offered valuable user insights into how people were finding your website while allowing you to monitor it in a way that quickly enabled you to recognize and resolve any technical issues that arose before they turned into a major problem.
In fact, you were able to see total clicks, total impressions, average click-through rates, and the average position of the data all on top of each other with just one click. However, you had to choose between filtering by the type of search, query, page, country, or device, and you could only choose one option at a time.
OK, so what does the new Google Search Console do?
The New Search Console:
The new Google Search Console isn’t actually a new version of the old one at all, it has been completely rebuilt with the focus on a more in-depth user experience. One that will enable webmasters to identify and fix potential problems. And you can now filter multiple variables at a time, so you don’t have to keep switching from option to option just to find the information you need. Any SEO Agency and they will tell you that the new Google Search Console is far superior to the old one and it appears that it’s only going to keep getting better.
In addition, you now have the ability to get a much bigger range of data than you used to. Previously, you could only obtain up to three months of data. However, the new Google Search Console shows 12-16 months of data. This is huge!
In addition, you will find better functionalities, as well as added features that include Search Performance, Index Coverage Status, AMP Status, and a Sightmaps Report. And, if you are a business that posts job listings on your website, there is a Job Posting report.
With the new changes, you can look at the easy to read graph of your performance based on the total number of clicks on your website from right there on the home page. You will also be shown a table with the key metrics as mentioned above for the Index, Structured Data, and AMP Status. You simply click them to get the details about the values you’re seeing which will allow you to troubleshoot and fix anything you find.
What Are the Known Issues for the New Google Search Console?
As you would expect, since the new Google Search Console is still in beta, there are a few bugs that need to be worked out. For example, the mobile experience still needs a little work, and neither the property sets or the Android apps are supported as yet. These are the only known issues so far, but Google encourages anyone who encounters a problem to use the Feedback tool that’s built into the program to submit your issues so they can work on fixing them.
What Are the Pros and Cons of the New Google Search Console?
There are more pros than cons with the new Google Search Console so let’s take a look at them.
The Pros of the New Google Search Console:
It’s easier to identify and disavow bad links.
The search analytics function is better because the user can more quickly and easily find pages, search terms, and the position of those search terms that are bringing all the traffic to their website.
The new console includes the Fetch as Google tool so you can test whether or not the Googlebot can access a page on your website, how it renders the page, whether the page resources like any images or scripts are blocked, etc.
The new Google Search Console will save you lots of time that you can then spend on other income-producing tasks.
The Cons of the New Google Search Console:
There are only two cons that we could find so far when it comes to the new Google Search Console and they are:
The new console will give you a list of HTML errors that it found while crawling your website, but it appears that that feature is not always up to date because it sometimes shows errors you have previously fixed.
The page grader could still use a little work.
All in all, most users love the new Google Search Console and can’t wait to see what Google is going to do next!
