Google Search Console out of beta, adds more features

Google has announced the new Google Search Console is out of beta after being tested for over a year. Over the year, Google has done a full open beta invite to all users and has been migrating features from the old Google Search Console to the new version.

With this, Google removed the word “beta” from the top menu bar. Here is what the bar looked like this morning:

That side bar has removed the word “beta,” grouped together some of the features on the left sidebar and added new features and options in the new Google Search Console.

Google has added a “manual actions” section to the sidebar, which was not there this morning. Google also said it has launched a “Test Live” feature for the URL inspection tool.

Here is a screen shot of the new menu bar:

Manual actions section

Here is a screen shot of the manual actions section in the new Google Search Console. Google incorporated this feature in the new version to make sure it is available for all users in both versions, the old and the new. It has a redesigned interface:

Live test — URL inspection tool

The URL inspection tool now allows you to run live tests against your live URL. It is no longer just based on the last time Google indexed that URL but is now based on what Google sees on that URL in real time. Google said, “This is useful for debugging and fixing issues in a page or confirming whether a reported issue still exists in a page. If the issue is fixed on the live version of the page, you can ask Google to recrawl and index the page.”

Out of beta, but…

Finally, while Google said this is now out of beta, not all features have been migrated. Google said, “[T]he old Search Console still has some features that are not yet available in the new one, we believe that the most common use cases are supported, in an improved way, in the new Search Console. … When an equivalent feature exists in both old and new Search Console, our messages will point users to the new version.”

The old reports are still available in the sidebar, but Google said, “[A]fter a reasonable period, we will remove the old report.”

Google said, “We will continue working on moving more reports and tools as well as adding exciting new capabilities to the new Search Console.”