New Google Search Console Layout Coming

What’s this New Google Search Console Layout about?

This is an extract from TWIS SEO News & Updates 21 July 2017.

Read about the leakage of beta screenshots for the new Google Search Console layout and what you can do while we wait for it to be pushed live and rollout..

If you would like help setting up Google Search Console, or ways to interpret and analyse its data, please feel free to contact me.

#SEO #GoogleSearchConsole

Beta Google Search Console Summary:

Google Search Console is beta testing a new layout, away from its old-school layout to a more material design layout in line with other properties.
This is still early days – it was released to a Webmaster Console beta testing group and the screengrabs accidentally leaked.
It look like menus, labelling and report layouts will change.
It’s not yet clear if report contents, and reports / features themselves will be enhanced or degraded.
It looks good, but like all changes will be accompanied by a wailing and gnashing of teeth when it is launched. Who moved my cheese?

(Image from SE Roundtable).

Actions to take:

At the moment, there isn’t a lot to do. This is likely to launch soon, but how soon is anyone’s guess.
And further to the issues with Google Analytics Ask Intelligence feature, when it is released, it may take a long while to roll out to everyone.
In the meantime, entertain yourselves.
Or, if you don;t have a Google Search Console account, then follow this Basic Google Search Console Guide.
Contact me if you would like help setting up, or interpreting Google Search Console and its data.

Discussion:

Whoops! Some people were very naughty and accidentally shared screenshots they weren’t supposed to. Fortunately these were of limited use bar getting an overview of things that may change.

It does frustrate when people / companies run very closed betas. Some of the best web projects in recent times, have been run as open betas, where you can switch between beta and current view with ease and provide active feedback to the developers. Google seems to be heading towards Apple-like secrecy, which apart from a magician’s reveal, doesn’t add much to the equation.

You would hope that Google has a long list of features to add to the release of things that webmasters have been clamouring for. However, experience is that features on production releases are often fewer than they were before, which for a large subset of users leads to a degraded user experience. Usually this is caused by agile projects not being able to code all features in before release, or a budget-holder in the project design team deciding the value of a feature is less than the cost. Quite often that is wrong.

In the mean time we’ll wait with bated-breath for the Beta Google Search Console to become the production release.