Notes from the Google Webmaster Hangout on the 8th of February 2019.
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.
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.
Google Struggles to Understand Context if All Body Text is in Heading Tags
It is not best practice to include body text within heading tags. Google would see that all the text in the heading tags is of equal importance and would have trouble understanding the content on the page.
Syndicated Content May Rank Higher Than Original Source
If content is syndicated, webmasters need to accept the possibility that other websites publishing your content may rank higher. The canonical tag can help indicate to Google which page should be indexed but this may be overridden.
GSC URL Inspection Tool Shows Target URL When Redirected Page is Entered
GSC’s URL Inspection Tool shows the target page when you enter a redirected URL. John admitted that this could cause confusion when performing a Live Test of the page.
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.
Google More Cautious Displaying Rich Results When Unsure About Structured Data Implementation
Google has algorithms which decide when it makes sense to display structured data as rich results. If Google is unsure about a website or the way structured data has been implemented, then it will be more cautious in displaying structured data as rich results.
URL Inspection Tool Live Test Might Not Load Embedded Resources
Embedded resources might not be loaded using the live test URL Inspection tool if they take too long to load. This doesn’t mean that the embedded resources won’t be loaded for indexing, as Google has designed the tool to provide relatively fast insights.
Google Caches CSS & JS Files so Doesn’t Need to Continuously Fetch Them
Google caches things like CSS files so that it doesn’t have to fetch them again in the future. Combining multiple CSS files into one can help Googlebot with this process, as can minifying JavaScript.
