Google’s John Mueller and Martin Splitt discussed how site owners and SEOs approach Search Console (GSC) as the place to find errors to fix and that the better way to use it is to think of it as a place to identify patterns, many of which are normal.
Interpreting Search Console Messages
Martin Splitt called attention to a possible failure on Google’s side to properly communicate how Search Console data should be perceived and used, commenting that many people come to it looking for things that are wrong that need of fixing. What happens is that they see 404 “errors” or pages not indexed and want to fix them when in reality there might not be anything there that needs fixing.
Splitt explained:
“I don’t know if you remember, but recently at a Search Central Live event, there was a question about the indexing report, the coverage report in Search Console where someone’s like, well, there’s this page that I have and it’s indexed, but the search console report shows it’s not indexed.
And why is it wrong, was basically the question.
And I recently saw another example of that with someone on Reddit who thought they screwed up because they have a bunch of non-indexed pages.”
John Mueller agreed, explaining that this is more of a beginners level issue with indexed pages and the idea that pages that aren’t indexed are indicative of a problem that needs solving, which isn’t necessarily the case.
Mueller responded:
“Yeah, I think it’s something that a lot of people, especially in the beginning when they start using Search Console, they run into this kind of thing where they look at the page indexing report and they see, oh, there’s like hundreds of pages that are not indexed. This is an error, clearly on my side, something that I have to fix.
And then they go off and try to do things to understand it or fix it.”
Martin Splitt commented that Google sending emails about it compounds the confusion about page indexing because it unintentionally feeds the idea that something needs fixing.
Splitt continued his thought:
“And I think the mechanism we have for people to acknowledge that they understand what’s happening is this like fix, confirm fixed or mark as fixed or something. And… while generally a great thing, I think in this case, it’s a little… It’s triggering the wrong response or the wrong expectation, I think.”
Mueller responded that the “mark as fixed” interaction may have more to do with using a similar user interface across Search Console.
He said:
“And in some cases, there are things that you can fix. Like if you have a bunch of 404 pages and you realize your server was set up wrong, you can tell us you fixed this issue and we’ll try to fix it.
On the other hand, if something else went wrong in indexing and it’s more like our systems decided we weren’t as curious as you might be, then it’s not something that you necessarily fix yourself, it’s not something purely technical.”
Look For…
Source link
Disclaimer
We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We blogs.grocliq.com want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.
Website Upgradation is going on for any glitch kindly connect at [email protected]
