Google Search News: Revamped Webmaster Guidelines, Updated Site Names, and More

John Mueller is back again with the latest Google Search News, this time joined by Lizzi to help deliver the updates. In this episode, they discuss new developments in the revamped Search guidelines, site names, ranking systems, and more. The following are some highlights from the Google Search News episode:

Revamped Webmaster Guidelines - Search Essentials

The biggest news in this update is the revamp of Google's Webmaster Guidelines as the Search Essentials. The Search Essentials include the technical requirements, spam policies, and key best practices for Search. These guidelines are essential for anyone who creates websites for Google Search.

The updated guidelines cover various areas to avoid, including new sections for misleading functionality, scam, fraud, and copyright and harassment removals. Web developers and website owners are encouraged to read the documentation to find out more.

Updated Site Names

Google has launched a new way of showing site names in search results, making it easier to identify websites. The change makes site names more visible, while giving page titles a little more space. This feature is currently available on mobile in a specific set of languages. The appropriate structured data may already be in use to display site names, and website owners can read the documentation to learn more.

In addition, with this change, the site's favicon icon may be more noticeable; therefore, it is recommended to double-check that it is visible.

Updates on Ranking Systems

The guide covers over 20 systems, including some that are retired. The ranking systems guide helps SEO professionals and web developers better understand how Google's ranking system works. In addition to the ranking systems guide, Google has a list of ranking updates that includes dates for the rollout and completion of each update. This list is useful for tracking changes in your website's performance that may be attributable to the ranking updates.

Google has also offered detailed documentation on newer systems, like for helpful content and product reviews. The company notes that these changes can be hard for website owners, so they provide updates to help their SEO community be more successful.

Further SEO Considerations

Google also shares SEO lessons from industry experts in its new "SEO Fairytales" series. The company interviews industry experts who share how they solved tricky SEO problems, providing insights to marketers who face similar issues.

Google has also published an interactive video on the right to be forgotten and offers detailed information on Search Console's data filtering and limits on its Search Central Blog.

Finally, Google team members have been seen at events worldwide. The Google Search team recently attended meetings in the UK, Austria, Barcelona, and Singapore and will continue to attend more events worldwide.

Conclusion

Google Search News offers a great way for marketers and SEO professionals to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in Google Search. In this episode, we learned about Google's updated Webmaster Guidelines, site names, and ranking systems, as well as SEO considerations such as interactive videos and lessons from industry experts. To get notified of future episodes, be sure to subscribe to the Google Search News channel and provide feedback and comments.