Why is everyone so complimentary about the new Google Search Console?

[Clinton]

What's so great about it?

Google is discontinuing the old one in March and the new one doesn't have much of the functionality the old one has (like crawl stats).

According to Google, the new one is better because

• Sixteen months of search traffic data, versus three months in the old product
• Detailed information about a specific page, including index coverage, canonical URL, mobile usability, and more
• Tracking flows to help you monitor, fix, and request a recrawl of pages affected by crawling issues.
• New and improved reports and tools, described next.
• Works on mobile devices.

But I don't need to access on a mobile device and the "tracking flows" functionality of recrawl etc was already available in the old version. The new URL Inspection which replaces Fetch As Google doesn't have, for example, a history of previous "fetches".

It's even dumbed down error reporting: "The new reports...only show an issue if it threatens to remove your page from the index or prevent the page from being indexed. " But I want to see ALL errors.

HTML Improvements has been removed and there's no replacement. Android Apps, Property Sets etc. all no longer supported.

There's tons of other stuff that's missing.

It's a huge step back, IMO. Why are all the reviews about this new Search Console praising it to high heaven?

What am I not actually seeing here?

 

[Ginger Egg]

Completely agree. Truth is Google want to be as unhelpful as possible without appearing to be unhelpful

 

[ITBadger]

It's going exactly the way of Google Ads, all handholding and no actual useful information for anyone who knows what they're doing.

16mo worth of data is great however I already have this through analytics integration anyway?

I thought it was only a matter of time before they removed 'fetch as Google' from the tools, But I'm worried about just how much they're preparing to strip out in March.

Adwords - Ruined
Search Console - Ruined
Analytics - Prepare for the apocalypse

 

[Cheap Host]

Also I haven't seen a option to set the target country? another negative aspect to add those mentioned above

 

[Darren_Ssc]

Agree that, like most iterations of google products, it gets worse every time.

Ability to group all variations of a domain in one group (or property) is one slight benefit.

Maybe related, or not, but noticed recently that ignoring a search console warning (or, in my case, putting it off until I could be bothered) has resulted in a much more severe penalty than used to be the case.

Lesson learned there.

 

[Calvin Crane]

I like that I get early intel on hidden keywords. That's good. I was not able to see many before. Maybe I was missing a trick.
Don't get me started on the AMP errors...

Google getting rid of PLUS. How did they not get this working is beyond me. UI and UX fail but a failure to understand that people simply wanted a way to reach each other and it was painfully hidden away. A company that grew too big to see detail and tried to do everything else.

 

[The Byre]

HTML Improvements has been removed and there's no replacement.

That should tell you what is going on - SEO is now a consumer activity.

HTML (as easy as it is!) is still a type of language and the 'Googler' of today is drag-n-drop only.

Everything migrates to becoming a consumer activity. Everybody and their mothers-in-law can be a broadcaster, a filmmaker, a composer, a website designer, owner of a forum, every man and his dog is a CEO. Every iPhone the key to being Cecil B. de'GoPro!

The pathway to riches and fame is just a click away!

Real businesses that do real stuff like built electric motors, make tinned milk or manufacture plasterboard? Things people actually need? Boring!

 

[Calvin Crane]

well said Byre

 

[davidlee21]

I completely agree Google is trying to ruin things while showing that they are improving them.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

It's smelly pants and typical of something created and 'improved' by people working within the Google bubble.

 

[justinaldridge]

It will get there. It's not perfect yet and not all features will carry over but I'm finding the extra data very useful. I can live without the HTML improvements section and other features, but overall...I think it's actually coming along nicely.

And it's here to stay so we just have to get used to it

 

[Anthony Daly]

It's true that some functionality is not present in the new Google Search Console. I miss the speedy Fetch as Google - the waiting time on submitting new URLs into the index is frustrating, and requires a CAPTCHA for every URL. I do appreciate that using a sitemap would probably be a better approach, however.

Having said that, I like the simplicity of the new user interface