Latest Google Search Documentation Updates | Google Search Central | What's new

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"> <li class="devsite-nav-title" role="heading" tooltip>Data analysis</li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/monitor-debug/search-console-start" track-type="nav" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/monitor-debug/search-console-start" track-metadata-position="nav - documentation" track-metadata-module="tertiary nav" track-metadata-module_headline="site-specific guides" tooltip > <div class="devsite-nav-item-title"> Get started with Search Console </div> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/monitor-debug/debugging-search-traffic-drops" track-type="nav" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/monitor-debug/debugging-search-traffic-drops" track-metadata-position="nav - documentation" track-metadata-module="tertiary nav" track-metadata-module_headline="site-specific guides" tooltip > <div class="devsite-nav-item-title"> Debug 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<tab > <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/help" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://developers.google.com/search/help" class="devsite-tabs-content gc-analytics-event " track-type="nav" track-metadata-position="nav - support" track-metadata-module="primary nav" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Tab: Support" track-name="support" > Support </a> </tab> <tab > <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/blog" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://developers.google.com/search/blog" class="devsite-tabs-content gc-analytics-event " track-type="nav" track-metadata-position="nav - blog" track-metadata-module="primary nav" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Tab: Blog" track-name="blog" > Blog </a> </tab> <tab class="devsite-dropdown devsite-active "> <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/news" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://developers.google.com/search/news" class="devsite-tabs-content gc-analytics-event " track-type="nav" track-metadata-position="nav - what's new" track-metadata-module="primary nav" aria-label="What's new, selected" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Tab: What's new" track-name="what's new" > What's new </a> <a href="#" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Dropdown menu for What's new" track-type="nav" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://developers.google.com/search/news" track-metadata-position="nav - what's new" track-metadata-module="primary nav" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Tab: What's new" track-name="what's new" class="devsite-tabs-dropdown-toggle devsite-icon devsite-icon-arrow-drop-down"></a> <div class="devsite-tabs-dropdown" aria-label="submenu" hidden> <div class="devsite-tabs-dropdown-content"> <div class="devsite-tabs-dropdown-column "> <ul class="devsite-tabs-dropdown-section "> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/news" track-type="nav" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://developers.google.com/search/news" track-metadata-position="nav - what's new" track-metadata-module="tertiary nav" tooltip > <div class="devsite-nav-item-title"> All updates </div> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/updates" track-type="nav" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://developers.google.com/search/updates" track-metadata-position="nav - what's new" track-metadata-module="tertiary nav" tooltip > <div class="devsite-nav-item-title"> Documentation updates </div> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history" track-type="nav" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history" track-metadata-position="nav - what's new" track-metadata-module="tertiary nav" tooltip > <div class="devsite-nav-item-title"> Ranking updates </div> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a 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data-label="Tab: Events" track-name="events" > Events </a> </tab> <tab > <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/case-studies/overview" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://developers.google.com/search/case-studies/overview" class="devsite-tabs-content gc-analytics-event " track-type="nav" track-metadata-position="nav - case studies" track-metadata-module="primary nav" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Tab: Case studies" track-name="case studies" > Case studies </a> </tab> </nav> </devsite-tabs> </div> <devsite-search enable-signin enable-search enable-suggestions enable-query-completion project-name="What's new" tenant-name="Google for Developers" project-scope="/search/news" url-scoped="https://developers.google.com/s/results/search/news" > <form class="devsite-search-form" action="https://developers.google.com/s/results" method="GET"> <div class="devsite-search-container"> <button type="button" search-open class="devsite-search-button 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role="presentation"> <a role="menuitem" lang="zh_cn" >中文 – 简体</a> </li> <li role="presentation"> <a role="menuitem" lang="zh_tw" >中文 – 繁體</a> </li> <li role="presentation"> <a role="menuitem" lang="ja" >日本語</a> </li> <li role="presentation"> <a role="menuitem" lang="ko" >한국어</a> </li> </ul> </devsite-language-selector> <devsite-user enable-profiles fp-auth id="devsite-user"> <span class="button devsite-top-button" aria-hidden="true" visually-hidden>Sign in</span> </devsite-user> </div> </div> </div> <div class="devsite-collapsible-section devsite-header-no-lower-tabs "> <div class="devsite-header-background"> <div class="devsite-product-id-row" > <div class="devsite-product-description-row"> <ul class="devsite-breadcrumb-list" > <li class="devsite-breadcrumb-item "> <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/news" class="devsite-breadcrumb-link gc-analytics-event" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Lower Header" data-value="1" track-type="globalNav" 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material-icons" data-icon="forward" > </span> </a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="devsite-mobile-nav-bottom"> <ul class="devsite-nav-list" menu="_book"> <li class="devsite-nav-item"><a href="/search/news" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Book nav link, pathname: /search/news" track-type="bookNav" track-name="click" track-metadata-eventdetail="/search/news" ><span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip>All updates</span></a></li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"><a href="/search/updates" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Book nav link, pathname: /search/updates" track-type="bookNav" track-name="click" track-metadata-eventdetail="/search/updates" ><span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip>Latest documentation updates</span></a></li> <li class="devsite-nav-item devsite-nav-external"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWf2ZlNsCGDS89VBF_awNvA" class="devsite-nav-title 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aria-hidden="true"></span></a></li> <li class="devsite-nav-item devsite-nav-heading"><div class="devsite-nav-title devsite-nav-title-no-path"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip>Ranking updates</span> </div></li> <li class="devsite-nav-item devsite-nav-external"><a href="https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Book nav link, pathname: https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history" track-type="bookNav" track-name="click" track-metadata-eventdetail="https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history" ><span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip>List of ranking updates</span><span class="devsite-nav-icon material-icons" data-icon="external" data-title="External" aria-hidden="true"></span></a></li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"><a href="/search/updates/core-updates" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Book nav link, pathname: /search/updates/core-updates" track-type="bookNav" track-name="click" track-metadata-eventdetail="/search/updates/core-updates" ><span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip>Core updates</span></a></li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"><a href="/search/updates/spam-updates" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Book nav link, pathname: /search/updates/spam-updates" track-type="bookNav" track-name="click" track-metadata-eventdetail="/search/updates/spam-updates" ><span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip>Spam updates</span></a></li> </ul> <ul class="devsite-nav-list" menu="Documentation" aria-label="Side menu" hidden> <li class="devsite-nav-item devsite-nav-heading"> <span class="devsite-nav-title" tooltip > <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > SEO fundamentals </span> </span> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Introduction" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Introduction </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/essentials" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Search Essentials" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Search Essentials </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: SEO Starter Guide" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > SEO Starter Guide </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/how-search-works" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: How Google Search Works" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > How Google Search Works </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Do you need an SEO?" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Do you need an SEO? </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item devsite-nav-heading"> <span class="devsite-nav-title" tooltip > <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Crawling and indexing </span> </span> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/overview" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Sitemaps" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Sitemaps </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/intro" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: robots.txt" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > robots.txt </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/special-tags" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Meta tags" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Meta tags </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/ask-google-to-recrawl" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Crawler management" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Crawler management </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/control-what-you-share" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Removals" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Removals </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Canonicalization" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Canonicalization </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/301-redirects" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Redirects" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Redirects </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/javascript-seo-basics" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: JavaScript SEO" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > JavaScript SEO </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item devsite-nav-heading"> <span class="devsite-nav-title" tooltip > <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Ranking and search appearance </span> </span> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/appearance/visual-elements-gallery" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Visual Elements gallery" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Visual Elements gallery </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/appearance/title-link" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Title links" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Title links </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/appearance/snippet" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Snippets" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Snippets </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/appearance/google-images" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Images" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Images </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Videos" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Videos </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/search-gallery" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Structured data" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Structured data </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/appearance/favicon-in-search" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Favicons" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Favicons </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item devsite-nav-heading"> <span class="devsite-nav-title" tooltip > <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Site-specific guides </span> </span> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Ecommerce" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Ecommerce </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/specialty/international" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: International and multilingual sites" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > International and multilingual sites </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item devsite-nav-heading"> <span class="devsite-nav-title" tooltip > <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Data analysis </span> </span> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/search-console-start" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Get started with Search Console" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Get started with Search Console </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/debugging-search-traffic-drops" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Debug traffic drops" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Debug traffic drops </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/bubble-chart-analysis" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Improve SEO with a bubble chart" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Improve SEO with a bubble chart </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/trends-start" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Get started with Google Trends" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Get started with Google Trends </span> </a> </li> </ul> <ul class="devsite-nav-list" menu="What's new" aria-label="Side menu" hidden> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/news" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: All updates" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > All updates </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="/search/updates" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Documentation updates" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Documentation updates </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Ranking updates" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Ranking updates </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWf2ZlNsCGDS89VBF_awNvA" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: New YouTube videos" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > New YouTube videos </span> </a> </li> <li class="devsite-nav-item"> <a href="https://pod.link/1512522198" class="devsite-nav-title gc-analytics-event " data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Responsive Tab: Recent podcast episodes" track-type="navMenu" track-metadata-eventDetail="globalMenu" track-metadata-position="nav"> <span class="devsite-nav-text" tooltip > Recent podcast episodes </span> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </devsite-book-nav> <section id="gc-wrapper"> <main role="main" class="devsite-main-content" has-book-nav > <devsite-content> <article class="devsite-article"> <div class="devsite-banner devsite-banner-announcement nocontent" background="light-blue" > <div class="devsite-banner-message"> <div class="devsite-banner-message-text"> <b>We're now on LinkedIn</b>: For news and resources from Google Search on making your site discoverable, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/googlesearchcentral/" class="external-link gc-analytics-event" data-category="Search docs" data-label="linkedin banner">follow us on LinkedIn</a>. </div> </div> </div> <div class="devsite-article-meta nocontent" role="navigation"> <ul class="devsite-breadcrumb-list" aria-label="Breadcrumb"> <li class="devsite-breadcrumb-item "> <a href="https://developers.google.com/" class="devsite-breadcrumb-link gc-analytics-event" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Breadcrumbs" data-value="1" track-type="globalNav" track-name="breadcrumb" track-metadata-position="1" track-metadata-eventdetail="" > Home </a> </li> <li class="devsite-breadcrumb-item "> <div class="devsite-breadcrumb-guillemet material-icons" aria-hidden="true"></div> <a href="https://developers.google.com/search" class="devsite-breadcrumb-link gc-analytics-event" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Breadcrumbs" data-value="2" track-type="globalNav" track-name="breadcrumb" track-metadata-position="2" track-metadata-eventdetail="Google Search Central" > Search Central </a> </li> <li class="devsite-breadcrumb-item "> <div class="devsite-breadcrumb-guillemet material-icons" aria-hidden="true"></div> <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/news" class="devsite-breadcrumb-link gc-analytics-event" data-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" data-label="Breadcrumbs" data-value="3" track-type="globalNav" track-name="breadcrumb" track-metadata-position="3" track-metadata-eventdetail="What's new" > What's new </a> </li> </ul> <devsite-thumb-rating position="header"> </devsite-thumb-rating> </div> <devsite-feedback position="header" project-name="What's new" product-id="103417" bucket="Search Docs" context="DevSite feedback link" version="t-devsite-webserver-20241114-r00-rc02.464922260396498922" data-label="Send Feedback Button" track-type="feedback" track-name="sendFeedbackLink" track-metadata-position="header" class="nocontent" disable-product-feedback project-icon="https://developers.google.com/static/search/images/google-search-central-logo.svg" project-support-url="https://developers.google.com/search/help" > <button> Send feedback </button> </devsite-feedback> <devsite-feature-tooltip ack-key="AckCollectionsBookmarkTooltipDismiss" analytics-category="Site-Wide Custom Events" analytics-action-show="Callout Profile displayed" analytics-action-close="Callout Profile dismissed" analytics-label="Create Collection Callout" class="devsite-page-bookmark-tooltip nocontent" dismiss-button="true" id="devsite-collections-dropdown" dismiss-button-text="Dismiss" close-button-text="Got it"> <devsite-bookmark></devsite-bookmark> <span slot="popout-heading"> Stay organized with collections </span> <span slot="popout-contents"> Save and categorize content based on your preferences. </span> </devsite-feature-tooltip> <devsite-toc class="devsite-nav" depth="2" devsite-toc-embedded > </devsite-toc> <div class="devsite-article-body clearfix devsite-no-page-title"> <h1 class="page-title" id="latest-documentation-updates" data-text="Latest documentation updates" tabindex="-1">Latest documentation updates</h1> <p> This page details the latest major updates made to the Google Search Central documentation. </p> <h2 id="november-2024" data-text="November 2024" tabindex="-1">November 2024</h2> <dl> <dt>November 20</dt> <dd> <h3 id="added-information-about-opting-out-of-the-page-annotations-feature." data-text="Added information about opting out of the Page Annotations feature." tabindex="-1">Added information about opting out of the Page Annotations feature.</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added information about <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/control-what-you-share#page-insights">opting out of the Page Annotations feature</a> that's available on the iOS Google App. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The new Page Annotations feature was launched recently. </p> </dd> <dt>November 19</dt> <dd> <h3 id="updated-our-site-reputation-abuse-policy" data-text="Updated our site reputation abuse policy" tabindex="-1">Updated our <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#site-reputation">site reputation abuse policy</a></h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Updated language to make it clear that using third-party content on a site in an attempt to exploit the site's ranking signals is a violation of this policy — regardless of whether there is first-party involvement or oversight of the content. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: See our <a href="/search/blog/2024/11/site-reputation-abuse">blog post</a> for more details on what changed and why. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="updated-our-guide-to-google-search-ranking-systems" data-text="Updated our Guide to Google Search ranking systems" tabindex="-1">Updated our Guide to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide">Google Search ranking systems</a></h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Brought over and expanded language from <a href="/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies#expandable-3">March 2024 blog post FAQ</a> about site signals. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To make it easier for those interested to understand through our documentation that we have both page-level and site-wide signals used in ranking. </p> </dd> <dt>November 13</dt> <dd> <h3 id="added-information-on-how-c2pa-metadata-can-appear-in-search" data-text="Added information on how C2PA metadata can appear in Search" tabindex="-1">Added information on how <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata#c2pa-metadata">C2PA metadata can appear in Search</a></h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added information on how Google extracts C2PA metadata for use in Search. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Google Search now supports this metadata in the "About this image" feature. </p> </dd> <dt>November 1</dt> <dd> <h3 id="added-notice-about-links-for-large-websites-with-differing-mobile-and-desktop-pages" data-text="Added notice about links for large websites with differing mobile and desktop pages" tabindex="-1">Added notice about links for large websites with differing mobile and desktop pages</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added a best practice about making sure all links are present on the mobile version to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/large-site-managing-crawl-budget#updates">crawl budget documentation.</a> </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: For large websites with separate HTML on mobile and desktop versions, the discovery of new pages can be slower if the mobile version does not include all the links that are present on the desktop version. </p> </dd> </dl> <h2 id="october-2024" data-text="October 2024" tabindex="-1">October 2024</h2> <dl> <dt>October 24</dt> <dd> <h3 id="new-documentation-for-google-trends" data-text="New documentation for Google Trends" tabindex="-1">New documentation for Google Trends</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added a page explaining <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/trends-start">how to get started with Google Trends</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Google Trends can help you better understand how people find information on Google Search, which can help you to develop your content strategy and refine how you talk to your audience. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="updating-favicon-size-and-aspect-ratio-requirements" data-text="Updating favicon size and aspect ratio requirements" tabindex="-1">Updating favicon size and aspect ratio requirements</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/favicon-in-search#guidelines">favicon guidelines</a> to state that favicons must have a 1:1 aspect ratio and be at least 8x8px in size, with a strong recommendation for using a higher resolution favicon of at least 48x48px. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To reflect the actual requirements for favicons. </p> </dd> <dt>October 23</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-url-parameter-best-practices" data-text="Clarifying URL parameter best practices" tabindex="-1">Clarifying URL parameter best practices</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added a URL parameters best practice to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/url-structure">URL structure documentation</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To make it easier to find guidance about URL parameters, as it was previously only mentioned in the <a href="/search/blog/2014/02/faceted-navigation-best-and-5-of-worst#worst-practices">faceted navigation blog post</a>. </p> </dd> <dt>October 7</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-support-for-robots.txt-fields" data-text="Clarifying support for robots.txt fields" tabindex="-1">Clarifying support for robots.txt fields</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified that fields that aren't listed in our <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/robots_txt#syntax">robots.txt documentation</a> aren't supported. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: We sometimes get questions about fields that aren't explicitly listed as supported, and we want to make it clear that they aren't. </p> </dd> <dt>October 3</dt> <dd> <h3 id="adding-support-for-certifications" data-text="Adding support for certifications" tabindex="-1">Adding support for certifications</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Certification</code> markup support for merchant listings in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/merchant-listing#certification-example">product structured data documentation</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Starting in April 2025, we're replacing the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">EnergyConsumptionDetails</code> type with the more robust <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Certification</code> type, as the new type supports more countries and a broader scope of certifications. </p> </dd> <dt>October 2</dt> <dd> <h3 id="removing-noarchive" data-text="Removing noarchive" tabindex="-1">Removing <code translate="no" dir="ltr">noarchive</code></h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Moved the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">noarchive</code> rule to a <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag#history-corner">historical reference section</a> in the <span translate="no">robots</span> <code translate="no" dir="ltr">meta</code> tag documentation. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The cached link feature is no longer available in Google Search results. You don't need to remove the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">meta</code> tag, as other search engines and services may be using it. </p> </dd> <dt>October 1</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-dynamically-generated-product-markup" data-text="Clarifying dynamically-generated Product markup" tabindex="-1">Clarifying dynamically-generated <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Product</code> markup</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added two best practices for handling structured data when optimizing for shopping results in our documentation on <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/merchant-listing#technical-guidelines">product markup</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/generate-structured-data-with-javascript">generating structured data with JavaScript</a>. We recommend putting <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Product</code> markup in the initial HTML for best results, and making sure that your server can handle increased traffic if you're generating <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Product</code> markup with JavaScript. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To clarify that JavaScript-generated markup is supported for ecommerce sites, but there are some best practices to keep in mind. </p> </dd> </dl> <h2 id="september-2024" data-text="September 2024" tabindex="-1">September 2024</h2> <dl> <dt>September 25</dt> <dd> <h3 id="spam-policy-clarifications" data-text="Spam policy clarifications" tabindex="-1">Spam policy clarifications</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified some wording in our <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies">spam policies for Google web search</a> to focus more on what web spam is and the tactics involved. Also integrated an <a href="/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies#coupons">explanation of close involvement</a> from our blog post for easier reference, and clarified that trying to circumvent our policies can also result in ranking lower or not at all. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: We review and refresh our documentation periodically. This update is part of that process. </p> </dd> <dt>September 24</dt> <dd> <h3 id="cache-docs" data-text="Removing the cache: search operator documentation" tabindex="-1">Removing the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">cache:</code> search operator documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Removed the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">cache:</code> search operator documentation. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The <code translate="no" dir="ltr">cache:</code> search operator no longer works in Google Search. </p> </dd> <dt>September 23</dt> <dd> <h3 id="adding-support-for-sale-pricing" data-text="Adding support for sale pricing" tabindex="-1">Adding support for sale pricing</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">priceType</code> property to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/merchant-listing#pricetype">merchant listing documentation</a>. Also added new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/merchant-listing#sale-pricing-example">sale pricing examples</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To make it easier for merchants to specify sale pricing through structured data and bring parity with <a href="https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6324471" class="external-link">price features in Merchant Center</a>. </p> </dd> <dt>September 17</dt> <dd> <h3 id="migrated-the-javascript-guidance-for-infinite-scroll" data-text="Migrated the JavaScript guidance for infinite scroll" tabindex="-1">Migrated the JavaScript guidance for infinite scroll</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Migrated guidance from the blog post on infinite scroll to our <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/lazy-loading#paginated-infinite-scroll">documentation for infinite scroll</a>. There is no change in the guidance. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To make it easier to find our recommendations on infinite scroll and make sure it's still up to date. </p> </dd> <dt>September 16</dt> <dd> <h3 id="updating-the-http-user-agent-string-of-googleproducer" data-text="Updating the HTTP user agent string of GoogleProducer" tabindex="-1">Updating the HTTP user agent string of <code translate="no" dir="ltr">GoogleProducer</code></h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Updated the URL in the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">GoogleProducer</code> HTTP user agent string in the documentation for <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/google-producer">Google's user-triggered fetchers</a> to match the value used by the actual fetcher. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The HTTP user agent string used by <code translate="no" dir="ltr">GoogleProducer</code> was recently updated and future fetches will use the new value. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="adding-content-encoding-information-to-the-crawler-documentation" data-text="Adding content encoding information to the crawler documentation" tabindex="-1">Adding content encoding information to the crawler documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added information about the content encodings (compressions) supported by <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers">Google's crawlers and user-triggered fetchers</a>. This is just documentation change, no change in behavior. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: We realized we never actually documented the content encodings Google's crawlers support, even though we <a href="/search/blog/2008/03/first-date-with-googlebot-headers-and">blogged about it in the past</a>. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="reorganizing-the-crawler-documentation" data-text="Reorganizing the crawler documentation" tabindex="-1">Reorganizing the crawler documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Reorganized the documentation for <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers">Google's crawlers and user-triggered fetchers</a>. We also added explicit notes about what product each crawler affects, and added a robots.txt snippet for each crawler to demonstrate how to use the user agent tokens. There were no meaningful changes to the content otherwise. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The documentation grew very long which limited our ability to extend the content about our crawlers and user-triggered fetchers. </p> </dd> <dt>September 11</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-indexing-api-usage-guidelines" data-text="Clarifying Indexing API usage guidelines" tabindex="-1">Clarifying Indexing API usage guidelines</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified that <a href="/search/apis/indexing-api/v3/quickstart#get-started">submissions to the Indexing API</a> are subject to spam detection. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Usage of the Indexing API is subject to spam detection, and attempts to exceed quotas may result in revoked access. </p> </dd> <dt>September 10</dt> <dd> <h3 id="video-markup-accepts-ineligibleregion" data-text="Video markup accepts ineligibleRegion" tabindex="-1">Video markup accepts <code translate="no" dir="ltr">ineligibleRegion</code></h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#ineligible-region"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">ineligibleRegion</code> property</a> to the video structured data documentation. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Google accepts the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">ineligibleRegion</code> property as another way to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video#restrict-structured-data">restrict a video</a>. </p> </dd> <dt>September 4</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-quota-and-usage-of-the-indexing-api" data-text="Clarifying quota and usage of the Indexing API" tabindex="-1">Clarifying quota and usage of the Indexing API</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified that the <a href="/search/apis/indexing-api/v3/quota-pricing#quota">default quota</a> is for setting up the Indexing API, and how to <a href="/search/apis/indexing-api/v3/quota-pricing#request-more-quota">request approval and quota</a>. Also corrected a documentation error for <a href="/search/apis/indexing-api/v3/quota-pricing#quota">DefaultRequestsPerMinutePerProject quota</a> (it's always been a 380 quota). </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To better explain that the default quota is for initial setup and testing, and it requires additional approval for usage and resource provisioning. </p> </dd> </dl> <h2 id="august-2024" data-text="August 2024" tabindex="-1">August 2024</h2> <dl> <dt>August 30</dt> <dd> <h3 id="adding-support-for-avif" data-text="Adding support for AVIF" tabindex="-1">Adding support for AVIF</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added AVIF to the list of <a href="/search/docs/appearance/google-images#supported-image-formats">supported image formats</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: <a href="/search/blog/2024/08/happy-avifriday">Google Search now supports AVIF</a>. </p> </dd> <dt>August 26</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-how-organization-markup-is-used" data-text="Clarifying how organization markup is used" tabindex="-1">Clarifying how organization markup is used</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/organization">introduction for organization markup</a> to clarify how the markup is used in Google Search. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To better explain that some properties can influence which logo is shown, while others are used behind the scenes. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="adding-og:title-to-the-list-of-title-link-sources" data-text="Adding og:title to the list of title link sources" tabindex="-1">Adding <code translate="no" dir="ltr">og:title</code> to the list of title link sources</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added <code translate="no" dir="ltr">og:title</code> to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/title-link#sources">list of title link sources</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Google Search can use content within <code translate="no" dir="ltr">og:title</code> <code translate="no" dir="ltr">meta</code> tags to automatically generate title links. </p> </dd> <dt>August 23</dt> <dd> <h3 id="improving-the-video-seo-documentation" data-text="Improving the Video SEO documentation" tabindex="-1">Improving the Video SEO documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Overhauled the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video">video SEO best practices</a>. Notably, we clarified the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video#indexing-criteria">video indexing criteria</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video#help-google-find">technical requirements</a>, added a new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video#watch-page">watch page</a> section, and expanded our examples. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Based on feedback submissions, we revisited our video SEO guidance to clarify what's eligible for a video result and how site owners can make it easier for Google to find their videos. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-how-profile-page-and-discussion-forum-markup-is-used" data-text=" Clarifying how profile page and discussion forum markup is used " tabindex="-1"> Clarifying how profile page and discussion forum markup is used </h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Updated how <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/profile-page">profile page</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/discussion-forum">discussion forum</a> markup is used in Google Search. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Perspectives was renamed to Forums in Google Search. </p> </dd> <dt>August 20</dt> <dd> <h3 id="introducing-the-google-cloudvertexbot-crawler" data-text="Introducing the Google-CloudVertexBot crawler" tabindex="-1">Introducing the Google-CloudVertexBot crawler</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added Google-CloudVertexBot to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#google-cloudvertexbot">list of Google crawlers</a>, a new crawler that crawls sites on the site owners' request when building <a href="https://cloud.google.com/generative-ai-app-builder/docs/prepare-data#website" class="external-link">Vertex AI Agents</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The new crawler was introduced to help site owners identify the new crawler traffic. </p> </dd> <dt>August 15</dt> <dd> <h3 id="improvements-to-the-core-updates-documentation" data-text="Improvements to the core updates documentation" tabindex="-1">Improvements to the core updates documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Restructured the <a href="/search/updates/core-updates">core updates documentation</a> so it has clearer sections and includes information from other docs (such as <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/debugging-search-traffic-drops">traffic drops</a> and the <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content">self-assessment</a> guidance). Reduced duplication with the <a href="/search/help/helpful-content-faq">helpful content FAQ</a> and redirected that page. Moved the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide#helpful-content">helpful content system section</a> to the archived section of the ranking systems guide. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To better help site owners assess a traffic drop and make improvements to their site. Also, the <a href="/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies">helpful content system became part of core ranking systems</a> (as we previously shared in March 2024). </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-how-ai-overviews-are-logged-in-search-console" data-text="Clarifying how AI Overviews are logged in Search Console" tabindex="-1">Clarifying how AI Overviews are logged in Search Console</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified that <a href="/search/docs/appearance/ai-overviews#sc-logging">AI Overviews are counted and logged in Search Console</a> in the Performance report. This is a documentation clarification on methodology only, and not a change in Search Console reports. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To confirm the methodology behind how clicks, impressions, and position are recorded for AI Overviews, just as we do for featured snippets, carousels, and other types of Search results. </p> </dd> <dt>August 9</dt> <dd> <h3 id="notes-gone" data-text="Removing Notes documentation" tabindex="-1">Removing Notes documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Removed the documentation about Notes. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The Notes experiment is no longer available. If you <a href="https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/13875847" class="external-link">created a note</a>, your notes content is available to download using <a href="https://takeout.google.com/" class="external-link">Google Takeout</a> through the end of August 2024. </p> </dd> </dl> <h2 id="july-2024" data-text="July 2024" tabindex="-1">July 2024</h2> <dl> <dt>July 31</dt> <dd> <h3 id="geo-data-upload-string-and-url-update" data-text="Geo Data Upload string and URL update" tabindex="-1">Geo Data Upload string and URL update</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Replaced the Geo Data Upload tool references in the <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/get-on-google">Get on Google documentation</a> with the Google Maps Content Partners resource. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The Geo Data Upload name and support pages are deprecated. </p> </dd> <dt>July 31</dt> <dd> <h3 id="non-consensual-fake-imagery-update" data-text="Non-consensual fake imagery update" tabindex="-1">Non-consensual fake imagery update</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified how Google handles sites with a high proportion of sexually explicit non-consensual, fake imagery in our <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#legal-removals">spam policies</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide#online-harassment-removals">ranking systems guide</a>. </p> </dd> <dt>July 24</dt> <dd> <h3 id="google-publisher-center-user-agent-string-update" data-text="Google Publisher Center user agent string update" tabindex="-1">Google Publisher Center user agent string update</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Changed the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#googleproducer">Google Publisher Center user agent string</a> from <code translate="no" dir="ltr">GoogleProducer; (+http://goo.gl/7y4SX)</code> to <code translate="no" dir="ltr">GoogleProducer; (+https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#googleproducer)</code>. If you hardcoded the old value in your code, update the string to avoid potential bugs. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: <a class="external-link" href="https://developers.googleblog.com/en/google-url-shortener-links-will-no-longer-be-available/"> goo.gl is going away</a>. </p> </dd> <dt>July 19</dt> <dd> <h3 id="a-note-about-notes" data-text="A note about Notes" tabindex="-1">A note about Notes</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added a note about the status of Notes to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/notes-and-your-website">Notes</a> documentation. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Notes is winding down at the end of July 2024. </p> </dd> <dt>July 11</dt> <dd> <h3 id="adding-more-detail-about-shipping-and-return-policy-precedence" data-text="Adding more detail about shipping and return policy precedence" tabindex="-1">Adding more detail about shipping and return policy precedence</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added Search Console shipping and return settings as an option and expanded on how precedence works in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/organization#precedence">organization</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/merchant-listing#precedence">merchant listing</a> documentation. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: <a href="/search/blog/2024/07/configure-shipping-and-returns-search-console">Search Console now supports shipping and return settings</a>, and we want to make it clearer how overriding works when combining various configurations. </p> </dd> <dt>July 10</dt> <dd> <h3 id="expanding-translated-results-to-more-languages" data-text="Expanding translated results to more languages" tabindex="-1">Expanding translated results to more languages</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/translated-results">translated results documentation</a> to include the following languages: Arabic, Gujarati, Korean, Persian, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Translated results now support more languages. </p> </dd> <dt>July 9</dt> <dd> <h3 id="supporting-a-new-iptc-digital-source-type" data-text="Supporting a new IPTC digital source type" tabindex="-1">Supporting a new IPTC digital source type</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added <a href="https://cv.iptc.org/newscodes/digitalsourcetype/compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia" class="external-link"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia</code></a> to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata#iptc-photo-metadata">IPTC photo metadata documentation</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Google can now extract the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia</code> IPTC NewsCode. </p> </dd> <dt>July 5</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-fragment-url-guidance" data-text="Clarifying fragment URL guidance" tabindex="-1">Clarifying fragment URL guidance</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified our guidance about fragment URLs in the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/url-structure">URL structure documentation</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To make it easier to find the guideline about fragment URLs, as it was previously only mentioned in the JavaScript and mobile sites documentation. </p> </dd> </dl> <h2 id="june-2024" data-text="June 2024" tabindex="-1">June 2024</h2> <dl> <dt>June 21</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-return-policy-precedence" data-text="Clarifying return policy precedence" tabindex="-1">Clarifying return policy precedence</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/organization#merchant-return-policy-properties">organization-level return policy documentation</a> that product-level return policy markup takes precedence over organization-level return policy markup. If you choose to use both markup (whether it's at the product- or organization-level, or both) and settings in Merchant Center, the Merchant Center return policy information takes precedence for any products submitted in your Merchant Center product feeds. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To address user feedback about which return policy method takes precedence. </p> </dd> <dt>June 20</dt> <dd> <h3 id="marking-up-categories-with-many-items-for-structured-data-carousels-beta" data-text="Marking up categories with many items for structured data carousels (beta)" tabindex="-1">Marking up categories with many items for structured data carousels (beta)</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added guidance on how to mark up categories with many items to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/carousels-beta#guidelines">structured data carousels (beta)</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: We received a question through our feedback button about how to implement this markup for categories with many items, such as paginated content or infinite scroll. </p> </dd> <dt>June 12</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-link-tag-attributes" data-text="Clarifying link tag attributes" tabindex="-1">Clarifying <code translate="no" dir="ltr">link</code> tag attributes</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified in our <a href="/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">hreflang</code> documentation</a> that <code translate="no" dir="ltr">link</code> tags for denoting alternate versions of a page must not be combined in a single <code translate="no" dir="ltr">link</code> tag. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: While debugging a report from a site owner we noticed we don't have this quirk documented. </p> </dd> <dt>June 11</dt> <dd> <h3 id="adding-support-for-organization-level-return-policies" data-text="Adding support for Organization-level return policies" tabindex="-1">Adding support for <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Organization</code>-level return policies</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added documentation on how to specify a general <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/organization#merchant-return-policy-properties">return policy for an <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Organization</code></a> as a whole. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: This makes it easier to define and maintain general return policies for an entire site.</p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="home-activities" data-text="Removing home activity documentation" tabindex="-1">Removing home activity documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Removed documentation on <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/home-activities">home activity structured data</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The home activity feature no longer appears in Google Search results. </p> </dd> <dt>June 4</dt> <dd> <h3 id="publishing-a-new-video-seo-case-study" data-text="Publishing a new video SEO case study" tabindex="-1">Publishing a new video SEO case study</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added a new case study about how <a href="/search/case-studies/vidio-case-study">Vidio brought more locally relevant video-on-demand (VOD) content for Indonesian users through Google Search</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To show how adding video structured data and following best practices can improve video discoverability. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="updating-discussion-forum-guidelines" data-text="Updating Discussion Forum guidelines" tabindex="-1">Updating Discussion Forum guidelines</h3> <p><b>What</b>: Confirm that <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/discussion-forum#content-guidelines"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">SocialMediaPosting</code> markup is also supported</a> and allow <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/discussion-forum#comment-content">only image or video in comments without text</a>. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: To more accurately reflect how the data ingestion for these features work and to remove noise in validation reports. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="resolving-the-issue-with-site-names-and-internal-pages" data-text="Resolving the issue with site names and internal pages" tabindex="-1">Resolving the issue with site names and internal pages</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Removed the warning about the issue that was preventing new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/site-names">site names</a> from propagating to internal pages. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: The issue has been resolved. Keep in mind that it takes time for Google to recrawl and process the new information, including recrawling your internal pages. </p> </dd> </dl> <h2 id="may-2024" data-text="May 2024" tabindex="-1">May 2024</h2> <dl> <dt>May 23</dt> <dd> <h3 id="adding-epub-to-indexable-file-types" data-text="Adding epub to indexable file types" tabindex="-1">Adding <code translate="no" dir="ltr">epub</code> to indexable file types</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added EPUB to <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/indexable-file-types"> the list of indexable file types</a>. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: Google Search now supports epub. </p> </dd> <dt>May 16</dt> <dd> <h3 id="introducing-the-googleother-image-and-googleother-video-crawlers" data-text="Introducing the GoogleOther-Image and GoogleOther-Video crawlers" tabindex="-1">Introducing the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">GoogleOther-Image</code> and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">GoogleOther-Video</code> crawlers</h3> <p><b>What</b>: Added two new crawlers, <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#googleother-image">GoogleOther-Image</a> and <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#googleother-video">GoogleOther-Video</a>, which are versions of GoogleOther optimized for fetching image and video bytes respectively. While at it, we also updated the list of user agent strings of GoogleOther to better reflect the most active user agent versions. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: The new crawlers were launched to better support crawling of binary data that may be used for research and development. </p> </dd> <dt>May 14</dt> <dd> <h3 id="introduced-ai-overviews-in-the-documentation" data-text="Introduced AI Overviews in the documentation" tabindex="-1">Introduced AI Overviews in the documentation</h3> <p><b>What</b>: Added a separate page for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/ai-overviews">AI Overviews and your website</a>, and updated the existing pages for <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag">robots meta tags</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/paywalled-content">subscription and paywalled content</a> accordingly. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: AI Overviews in Search are replacing Search Generative Experience.</p> </dd> <dt>May 1</dt> <dd> <h3 id="restructuring-the-product-structured-data-documentation" data-text="Restructuring the Product structured data documentation" tabindex="-1">Restructuring the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Product</code> structured data documentation</h3> <p><b>What</b>: Reorganized the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Product</code> structured data documentation into three pages: <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">intro to product markup</a>, <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product-snippet">product snippet</a>, and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/merchant-listing">merchant listing</a>. Added a new section about <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#decide">deciding which markup to use</a>. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: The previous tabbed structure was difficult to navigate and find the property you were looking for. </p> </dd> </dl> <h2 id="april-2024" data-text="April 2024" tabindex="-1">April 2024</h2> <dl> <dt>April 26</dt> <dd> <h3 id="improvements-to-the-debugging-traffic-drops-documentation" data-text="Improvements to the debugging traffic drops documentation" tabindex="-1">Improvements to the debugging traffic drops documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Expanded on the effects of <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/debugging-search-traffic-drops#algo">algorithmic updates</a> and how to identify them. Simplified the section on policy and manual actions to be about spam issues. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: To better help site owners identify reasons for a traffic drop. </p> </dd> <dt>April 25</dt> <dd> <h3 id="exporting-an-additional-range-of-google-fetcher-ip-addresses" data-text="Exporting an additional range of Google fetcher IP addresses" tabindex="-1">Exporting an additional range of Google fetcher IP addresses</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/verifying-googlebot">Added an additional list of IP addresses</a> for fetchers that are controlled by Google products, as opposed to, for example, a user controlled <a href="/apps-script" class="external-link">Apps Script</a>. The new list, <a href="/static/search/apis/ipranges/user-triggered-fetchers-google.json"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">user-triggered-fetchers-google.json</code></a>, contains IP ranges that have been in use for a long time. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: It became technically possible to export the ranges.</p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="removing-the-ios-variant-of-adsbot-mobile-web" data-text="Removing the iOS variant of AdsBot Mobile Web" tabindex="-1">Removing the iOS variant of AdsBot Mobile Web</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Removing the iOS variant of AdsBot Mobile Web from the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers">list of Google crawlers</a>. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: Simplify maintenance of AdsBot. </p> </dd> <dt>April 24</dt> <dd> <h3 id="adding-definitions-for-favicon-rel-attribute-values" data-text="Adding definitions for favicon rel attribute values" tabindex="-1">Adding definitions for favicon <code translate="no" dir="ltr">rel</code> attribute values</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added definitions for each supported <code translate="no" dir="ltr">rel</code> attribute value in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/favicon-in-search#implementation">favicon documentation</a>. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: We got a question about which value to use for a favicon and if there's a difference. </p> </dd> <dt>April 17</dt> <dd> <h3 id="removing-video-carousel-limited-access-documentation" data-text="Removing video carousel (limited access) documentation" tabindex="-1">Removing video carousel (limited access) documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Removed video carousel guidance from the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video">video structured data documentation</a>. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: We initially tested video carousel markup with a group of site owners, and ultimately found that it wasn't useful for the ecosystem at scale. You can leave the markup on your site so that search engines and other systems can better understand your web page. </p> </dd> <dt>April 16</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-image-extraction-source" data-text="Clarifying image extraction source" tabindex="-1">Clarifying image extraction source</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: <a href="/search/docs/appearance/google-images">Clarified</a> that images are only extracted from the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">src</code> attribute of <code translate="no" dir="ltr">img</code> tags. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: While not a new change, we occasionally get questions about what HTML elements Google Search can extract images from. </p> </dd> <dt>April 11</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-the-beta-carousels-feature" data-text="Clarifying the beta carousels feature" tabindex="-1">Clarifying the beta carousels feature</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified that the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/carousels-beta">beta carousel feature</a> is for sites that have a summary page that links out to other detail pages on their website. The markup must be on the summary page, and you don't need to add markup to the detail pages in order to be eligible for this feature. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: Based on feedback and questions you submitted, we added more precise guidance on what use cases are supported and what page you need to add markup. This is a documentation update only; there's no material change in feature requirements or eligibility. </p> </dd> </dl> <h2 id="march-2024" data-text="March 2024" tabindex="-1">March 2024</h2> <dl> <dt>March 28</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarified-our-changelog-entry-regarding-availability-of-web-stories" data-text="Clarified our changelog entry regarding availability of Web Stories" tabindex="-1">Clarified our changelog entry regarding availability of Web Stories</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified our <a href="#web-stories-availability">February 8 changelog entry</a> regarding the feature availability of Web Stories in Google Images. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Web Stories continue to appear in Google Images, just as other web content may appear, but Web Stories no longer appear with the Web Stories icon in Google Images. Also, a bug that was blocking Search Console reporting for these URLs in Google Images <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6211453#zippy=%2Cperformance-reports-search-results-discover-google-news" class="external-link">is now resolved</a>. </p> </dd> <dt>March 25</dt> <dd> <h3 id="added-3d-models-for-products" data-text="Added 3D models for products" tabindex="-1">Added 3D models for products</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: We added new <code translate="no" dir="ltr">3DModel</code> markup support for merchant listings in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/merchant-listing#3d-model-example">product structured data documentation</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Sometimes 3D models appear on pages with multiple products and are not clearly connected with any of them. This markup lets site owners link a 3D model to a specific product. </p> </dd> <dt>March 12</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarified-references-to-page-experience-and-core-web-vitals" data-text="Clarified references to page experience and Core Web Vitals" tabindex="-1">Clarified references to page experience and Core Web Vitals</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified how we talk about page experience and Core Web Vitals in our documentation on <a href="/search/docs/appearance/page-experience">page experience</a>, <a href="/search/docs/appearance/signed-exchange">signed exchanges</a> and <a href="/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce/pagination-and-incremental-page-loading">ecommerce pagination</a>. Additionally updated to reflect that <a href="https://web.dev/articles/inp" class="external-link">INP</a> is now a Core Web Vital. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: <a href="https://web.dev/blog/inp-cwv-launch" class="external-link">INP replaces FID as a Core Web Vital</a>. </p> </dd> <dt>March 6</dt> <dd> <h3 id="cleaning-up-recipe-documentation" data-text="Cleaning up recipe documentation" tabindex="-1">Cleaning up recipe documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Removed guided recipes from the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/carousels-beta">recipe structured data documentation</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: As this <a href="https://blog.google/products/assistant/google-assistant-update-january-2024/" class="external-link">Google Assistant feature was removed</a>, we're updating our recipe markup documentation to reflect that change. There's no change needed from site owners; all properties continue to be recommended for use in Google Search. </p> </dd> <dt>March 5</dt> <dd> <h3 id="new-spam-policies" data-text="New spam policies" tabindex="-1">New spam policies</h3> <p> We added 3 new spam policies: <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#expired-domains">expired domain abuse</a>, <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#scaled-content">scaled content abuse</a>, and <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#site-reputation">site reputation abuse</a>. Also added a new <a href="/search/help/helpful-content-faq">FAQ on helpful content</a>. Check out <a href="/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies">our blog post</a> for more details on what changed and why. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="generic-chrome-version-for-google-storebot" data-text="Generic Chrome version for Google StoreBot" tabindex="-1">Generic Chrome version for Google StoreBot</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Updated the Google StoreBot user agent (in <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers">Overview of Google crawlers</a>) to use a placeholder version of Chrome. If you hardcoded the old value in your code, update it to ignore the version. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To make it easier for the Google Shopping team to maintain the StoreBot crawler. </p> </dd> </dl> <h2 id="february-2024" data-text="February 2024" tabindex="-1">February 2024</h2> <dl> <dt>February 29</dt> <dd> <h3 id="adding-new-carousel-documentation-beta" data-text="Adding new carousel documentation (beta)" tabindex="-1">Adding new carousel documentation (beta)</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added documentation for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/carousels-beta">structured data carousels (beta)</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To make it easier for site owners to add carousel markup for new query types, such as for travel, local, and shopping queries. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="added-opt-out-information-for-place-entities-in-page-insights" data-text="Added opt out information for place entities in Page Insights" tabindex="-1">Added opt out information for place entities in Page Insights</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added information about how site owners can <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/control-what-you-share#page-insights">opt out of display in the Place Entity feature</a> in Page Insights. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To make it easier for site owners to control how their content appears on Google. </p> </dd> <dt> February 20 </dt> <dd> <h3 id="added-support-for-product-variants" data-text="Added support for product variants" tabindex="-1">Added support for product variants</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product-variants">product variant structured data documentation</a>. Also added a new <code translate="no" dir="ltr">isVariantOf</code> property to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">product structured data documentation</a> and clarified that Google <a href="/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce/designing-a-url-structure-for-ecommerce-sites#how-google-understands-urls-for-product-variants">support product variants with distinct URLs</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To better support product variant scenarios for ecommerce sites. Since product variants can be a complex and important concept for ecommerce websites (especially for categories like apparel and electronics), we're providing more examples and guidance on how to add product variant structured data. </p> </dd> <dd> <h3 id="clarified-return-fees-markup-for-products" data-text="Clarified return fees markup for products" tabindex="-1">Clarified return fees markup for products</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified when to use <code translate="no" dir="ltr">FreeReturn</code> versus <code translate="no" dir="ltr">ReturnShippingFees</code> as value for <code translate="no" dir="ltr"><a href="https://schema.org/returnfees" class="external-link">returnFees</a></code> for product returns in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">product structured data documentation</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To better support more granular shipping and return fee scenarios. </p> </dd> <dt>February 15</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-the-extraction-of-rel=canonical-annotations" data-text='Clarifying the extraction of rel="canonical" annotations' tabindex="-1">Clarifying the extraction of <code translate="no" dir="ltr">rel="canonical"</code> annotations</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified that <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls#use-rel=canonical-link-annotations"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">rel="canonical"</code> annotations</a> with certain attributes are not used for canonicalization. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The <code translate="no" dir="ltr">rel="canonical"</code> annotations help Google determine which URL of a set of duplicates is the canonical. Adding certain attributes to the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">link</code> element changes the meaning of the annotation to denote a different device or language version. This is a documentation change only; Google has always ignored these <code translate="no" dir="ltr">rel="canonical"</code> annotations for canonicalization purposes. </p> </dd> </dl> <dl> <dt>February 9</dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-the-use-of-spaces-in-product-skus" data-text="Clarifying the use of spaces in product SKUs" tabindex="-1">Clarifying the use of spaces in product SKUs</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified what characters are allowed in product SKUs in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#merchant-listings_product">Product structured data documentation</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To better explain why a <code translate="no" dir="ltr">sku</code> value might be invalid in the Rich Results Test. </p> <h3 id="image-removals-documentation-refresh" data-text="Image removals documentation refresh" tabindex="-1">Image removals documentation refresh</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Part of our ongoing efforts to keep our documentation accurate, we updated the documentation for <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/prevent-images-on-your-page">image removals</a> with more precise language, and addressed some documentation feedback. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: We review and, if necessary, refresh our documentation periodically. This update is part of that process. </p> </dd> </dl> <dl> <dt> February 8 </dt> <dd> <h3 id="web-stories-availability" data-text="Updated the availability of Web Stories" tabindex="-1">Updated the availability of Web Stories</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/enable-web-stories#feature-availability">feature availability</a> of Web Stories. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To make sure our documentation aligns with how the feature appears in Google Search. Web Stories don't appear in Google Images with an icon anymore, and the grid view is now a carousel view in Search results. </p> <h3 id="updated-the-description-of-the-google-extended-product-token" data-text="Updated the description of the Google-Extended product token" tabindex="-1">Updated the description of the Google-Extended product token</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: With the name change of Bard to Gemini Apps, we clarified that Gemini Apps is affected by <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#google-extended">Google-Extended</a>, and, based on publisher feedback, we specified that Google-Extended doesn't affect Google Search. </p> </dd> </dl> <dl> <dt> February 7 </dt> <dd> <h3 id="updated-dynamic-search-ad-targets-crawl-frequency" data-text="Updated Dynamic Search Ad targets crawl frequency" tabindex="-1">Updated Dynamic Search Ad targets crawl frequency</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Updated the crawl frequency for Dynamic Search Ad targets in the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/large-site-managing-crawl-budget">managing crawl budget guide</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To reduce stress on sites, Dynamic Search Ads crawls now occur less frequently, 21 days instead of 14 days. </p> </dd> </dl> <dl> <dt> February 6 </dt> <dd> <h3 id="revisited-javascript-documentation" data-text="Revisited JavaScript documentation" tabindex="-1">Revisited JavaScript documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Reviewed our guidance on <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/javascript-seo-basics">JavaScript SEO basics</a>, <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/fix-search-javascript">fixing Search-related JavaScript problems</a>, <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/lazy-loading">lazy-loading content</a> to remove outdated or unnecessary information. We updated our documentation on <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/dynamic-rendering">dynamic rendering</a> to clarify it's a deprecated workaround. </p> <p><b>Why</b>: Feedback from you showed us there are opportunities to improve and clarify a few aspects. A few things, like dynamic rendering, have evolved in the past few years and our documentation now reflects these developments.</p> </dd> <dt> February 5 </dt> <dd> <h3 id="a-new-case-study" data-text="A new case study" tabindex="-1">A new case study</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added a new case study about how <a href="/search/case-studies/wix-case-study">How Wix generated value for their users by integrating Google APIs</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: To explain how a CMS platform can integrate Google APIs directly into their UI, and what impact it had for their users. </p> </dd> </dl> <dl> <dt> February 2 </dt> <dd> <h3 id="revamping-the-seo-starter-guide" data-text="Revamping the SEO Starter Guide" tabindex="-1">Revamping the SEO Starter Guide</h3> <p> The <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide">SEO Starter Guide</a> got a refresh: we removed outdated content, streamlined and simplified other parts, and added a few sections. Check out our <a href="/search/blog/2024/02/ssg-gets-a-makeover">blog post</a> for more in-depth explanation on what we changed and why. </p> </dd> </dl> <h2 id="january-2024" data-text="January 2024" tabindex="-1">January 2024</h2> <dl> <dt> January 25 </dt> <dd> <h3 id="refreshing-the-googlebot-documentation" data-text="Refreshing the Googlebot documentation" tabindex="-1">Refreshing the Googlebot documentation</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Part of our ongoing efforts to keep our documentation accurate, we updated the documentation for <a href="http://googlebot.com/" class="external-link">Googlebot</a> with more precise language. There was no actionable change to the documentation otherwise. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: We review and, if necessary, refresh our documentation periodically. This update is part of that process. </p> </dd> <dt> January 10 </dt> <dd> <h3 id="more-accessible-anchor-texts" data-text="More accessible anchor texts" tabindex="-1">More accessible anchor texts</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Part of our ongoing efforts to make our documentation more accessible, we updated various anchor texts so they're more descriptive of the target page. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: Depending on the settings of a screen reader, the user may be jumping from link to link on a page, thus each <a href="https://www.mtu.edu/accessibility/training/web/link-text/" class="external-link">anchor text on a page should be descriptive</a>, even without the surrounding context. </p> </dd> <dt> January 9 </dt> <dd> <h3 id="switching-id-references-to-use-hashtags" data-text="Switching @id references to use hashtags" tabindex="-1">Switching <code translate="no" dir="ltr">@id</code> references to use hashtags</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Switch all structured data code examples that use in-page <code translate="no" dir="ltr">@id</code> references to use hashtags instead. For example, the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/recipe#video-with-clips">clips example in our recipe documentation</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: It's a schema best practice to use hashtags as resolvable in-page node identifiers in RDF, and we want our examples follow best practices. However, you don't need to change your existing IDs if you're still using in-page identifiers. </p> <h3 id="adding-support-for-suggestedage-to-product" data-text="Adding support for suggestedAge to Product" tabindex="-1">Adding support for <code translate="no" dir="ltr">suggestedAge</code> to <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Product</code></h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Added support for the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">suggestedAge</code> property as an alternative to <code translate="no" dir="ltr">suggestedMaxAge</code> and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">suggestedMinAge</code>. Clarified the list of possible values for age ranges in our <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">Product structured data documentation</a>. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: We want to make it easier and more flexible for people to specify age ranges for a product. Also, the previous wording was confusing and didn't map well to the Merchant Center documentation about product age ranges. </p> </dd> <dt> January 5 </dt> <dd> <h3 id="clarifying-primary-source-of-snippets" data-text="Clarifying primary source of snippets" tabindex="-1">Clarifying primary source of snippets</h3> <p> <b>What</b>: Clarified in our <a href="/search/docs/appearance/snippet">documentation about snippets</a> that the primary source of the snippet is the page content itself. </p> <p> <b>Why</b>: The previous wording incorrectly implied that structured data and the meta description HTML element are the primary sources for snippets. </p> </dd> </dl> <devsite-expandable id="2023"> <h2 class="showalways" id="2023" data-text="2023" tabindex="-1">2023</h2> <h3 id="december-2023" data-text="December 2023" tabindex="-1">December 2023</h3> <ul> <li> <b>December 19</b>: Further clarified how Google handles sites with a high proportion of non-consensual explicit imagery in our <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies">spam policies</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide">ranking systems guide</a>. </li> <li><b>December 18</b>: Added transcript of <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2023/december">December 2023 Google SEO Office Hours</a>.</li> <li><b>December 14</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/discussion-forum">Discussion Forum</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/qapage">Q&A page</a> documentation to explicitly clarify that author URLs are recommended.</li> <li><b>December 13</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/organization">Organization</a> documentation to explain that <code translate="no" dir="ltr">telephone</code> and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">email</code> can be specified at the Organization level besides <code translate="no" dir="ltr">contactPoint</code>.</li> <li><b>December 12</b>: Added information about <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/course-info#feature-availability">course info</a> availability.</li> <li><b>December 4</b>: Added <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/vacation-rental">vacation rental structured data</a> documentation.</li> <li><b>December 1</b>: Removed mentions of the Mobile Friendly Test and the Mobile Usability report throughout our documentation, <a href="/search/blog/2023/04/page-experience-in-search#search-console-reports">as they are going away</a>. </li> </ul> <h3 id="november-2023" data-text="November 2023" tabindex="-1">November 2023</h3> <ul> <li><b>November 29</b>: Add new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/organization">Organization</a> documentation, which merges the Logo documentation and includes more organizational information (such as contact info, legal name, and business identifiers).</li> <li><b>November 27</b>: Added <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/profile-page">profile page structured data documentation</a>, <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/discussion-forum">discussion forum structured data documentation</a>, and expanded recommendations for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/qapage">Q&A page structured data documentation</a>.</li> <li><b>November 15</b>: <ul> <li>Added documentation for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/notes-and-your-website">Notes and your website</a>.</li> <li>Added <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/course-info">course info structured data documentation</a>.</li> <li>Added a best practice about <a href="/search/docs/appearance/title-link#flight-pages">avoiding flight prices in title links</a>, as Google is less likely to show this information when generating title links for flight pages.</li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>November 14</b>: Since we received many questions about the Google Safety crawler over the past year, added it to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#special-case-crawlers">list of Google crawlers</a>. </li> <li><b>November 8</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/reviews-system">reviews system documentation</a> to explain that this system is being improved at a regular and ongoing pace.</li> <li><b>November 1</b>: Added a recommendation to include time and timezone information in <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video">Video structured data</a>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="october-2023" data-text="October 2023" tabindex="-1">October 2023</h3> <ul> <li> <b>October 18</b>: <ul> <li>Added a reference to the Rich Results Test in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/paywalled-content#example">Subscription and paywalled structured data documentation</a>, as this data type is now supported in the testing tool. Also added a <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/paywalled-content#gen-ai">Generative AI in Search considerations</a> section. Added information about SGE (Search Generative Experience) to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag">Robots meta tag, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">data-nosnippet</code>, and X-Robots-Tag specifications page</a> for the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag#nosnippet"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">nosnippet</code></a> and <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag#max-snippet"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">max-snippet</code></a> rules.</li> <li> Clarified in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/favicon-in-search">favicon documentation</a> that both the favicon file and the home page of the site must be allowed for crawling by Googlebot-Image and Googlebot respectively. Also removed information about the Google Favicon HTTP <code translate="no" dir="ltr">user-agent</code> string throughout our documentation, as this is no longer used. The removal of the HTTP <code translate="no" dir="ltr">user-agent</code> string means no changes for site owners. Google Favicon depended on the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Googlebot-Image</code> and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Googlebot</code> robots.txt user agent tokens, which remain supported. </li> </ul> </li> <li><b>October 17</b>: <ul><li>Added a reminder to provide the timezone in <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article">Article structured data</a> and clarified what happens if a timezone isn't provided.</li> <li>Added mention about <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/googlebot">Googlebot's timezone, which is PST</a>. </li></ul></li> <li><b>October 16</b>: Added <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/vehicle-listing">vehicle listing structured data documentation</a>.</li> <li><b>October 13</b>: Removed the host group visual element from the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/visual-elements-gallery">Visual Elements gallery</a>, as it no longer appears in Google Search results.</li> </ul> <h3 id="september-2023" data-text="September 2023" tabindex="-1">September 2023</h3> <ul> <li><b>September 29</b>: Added more explanation about <a href="/search/docs/appearance/google-discover#traffic-changes">why Discover traffic may change over time</a>. </li> <li> <b>September 28</b>: Added a new user agent token, <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#google-extended"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Google-Extended</code></a>, which acts as a new control that web publishers can use to manage whether their sites help improve Bard and Vertex AI generative APIs, including future generations of models that power those products. </li> <li><b>September 27</b>: Clarified how Google handles sites with a high proportion of CSAM content in our <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#legal-removals">spam policies</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide#removals">ranking systems guide</a>. </li> <li><b>September 26</b>: <ul><li>Revamped two previously published blog posts into new documentation pages with tips to <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/debugging-search-traffic-drops">debug drops in search traffic</a> and <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/bubble-chart-analysis">improve SEO with a Search Console bubble chart</a>.</li> <li>Merged two introductory Search Console articles into <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/search-console-start">one starter guide</a>.</li></ul> </li> <li><b>September 22</b>: Clarified in the <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/get-started-developers">developer's guide</a> that Google Search currently may not index content inside CSS content properties as that isn't part of the DOM. </li> <li><b>September 14</b>: <ul> <li>Added new guidance about <a href="/search/updates/helpful-content-update#hosting-third-party-content">hosting third-party content</a> and more explanation on <a href="/search/updates/helpful-content-update#what-to-do">what to do after a helpful content system update</a> (perhaps you don't need to do anything, or perhaps self-assess your content).</li> <li>Added new points about <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content#changing-dates">removing content or changing dates</a> to the help page on how to create helpful, reliable people-first content.</li> <li id="how-to-case-study">Removed the <a href="/search/case-studies/stylecraze-case-study">How-to rich result case study</a>, as <a href="/search/blog/2023/08/howto-faq-changes">this feature is deprecated</a>.</li> <li id="how-to-deprecation">Removed the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/how-to">How-to structured data documentation</a>, as this rich result is no longer shown in search results, on both desktop and mobile devices. <a href="/search/blog/2023/08/howto-faq-changes">Read more in the blog post</a>.</li> <li>Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/faqpage">FAQ structured data documentation</a> to state that the feature is only shown for well-known, authoritative government and health websites.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>September 11</b>: Fixed a typo in the user-agent string of the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#google-inspectiontool">Google-InspectionTool</a> common crawler. </li> <li><b>September 7</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/site-names#availability">feature availability section</a> in the site names documentation, as <a href="/search/blog/2023/09/site-names-global-rollout">site names are now available</a> in all languages where Google Search is available. </li> <li><b>September 6</b>: Added transcript of <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2023/september">September 2023 Google SEO Office Hours</a>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="august-2023" data-text="August 2023" tabindex="-1">August 2023</h3> <ul> <li><b>August 24</b>: Added CSV to <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/indexable-file-types">the list of indexable file types</a>.</li> <li><b>August 15</b>: Clarified that we only support standard schema.org enumeration values for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business#dayofweek">local business opening hours</a>, and these values must be in English per the schema.org specification.</li> <li><b>August 9</b>: Added transcript of <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2023/august">August 2023 Google SEO Office Hours</a>. </li> <li><b>August 2</b>: <ul> <li>Removed unneeded mention of <code translate="no" dir="ltr">"@id"</code> in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/site-names">site names</a> documentation. </li> <li>Clarified in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business">local business structured data documentation</a> that the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">review</code> and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">aggregateRating</code> properties are only recommended for sites that capture reviews about other local businesses. This is not new information; see the <a href="/search/docs/advanced/structured-data/review-snippet#self-serving">guidelines about self-serving reviews</a> and <a href="/search/blog/2019/09/making-review-rich-results-more-helpful#updated">the update on our blog post from 2019</a> on this topic. </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3 id="july-2023" data-text="July 2023" tabindex="-1">July 2023</h3> <ul> <li><b>July 28</b>: Added new sections to the site name documentation: <a href="/search/docs/appearance/site-names#troubleshooting">what to do if your preferred site name isn't selected</a>, guidance around <a href="/search/docs/appearance/site-names#choosing-site-name">choosing an alternative name</a>, and information about a <a href="/search/docs/appearance/site-names#known-issue">known issue</a>. Site names are now available on both desktop and mobile devices.</li> <li> <b>July 20</b>: Based on user feedback, we clarified <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/url-structure">what characters Google Search supports in URLs</a>. </li> <li><b>July 19</b>: Added a new case study about <a href="/search/case-studies/cross-regional-video-seo-case-study">how video SEO features helped three global publishers reach their audiences</a>.</li> <li><b>July 18</b>: Removed the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">related:</code> operator from the <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/search-operators">search operators documentation</a>, as it's no longer supported.</li> <li><b>July 11</b>: Added transcript of <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2023/july">July 2023 Google SEO Office Hours</a>. </li> </ul> <h3 id="june-2023" data-text="June 2023" tabindex="-1">June 2023</h3> <ul> <li><b>June 13</b>: Added examples of how to handle derivatives, integrals, and limits in the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">potentialAction.mathExpression-input</code> field in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/math-solvers#math-expression-input"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">MathSolver</code> documentation</a>.</li> <li><b>June 7</b>: Added transcript of <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2023/june">June 2023 Google SEO Office Hours</a>. </li> </ul> <h3 id="may-2023" data-text="May 2023" tabindex="-1">May 2023</h3> <ul> <li><b>May 30</b>: Added <code translate="no" dir="ltr">.ai</code> to the <a href="/search/docs/specialty/international/managing-multi-regional-sites#generic-domains">list of TLDs that Google Search treats as a global TLD (gTLD)</a>. </li> <li><b>May 26</b>: Added a <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/safesearch#agegates">recommendation for adult sites with age gate interstitials</a>. </li> <li><b>May 24</b>: <ul> <li> Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event#region-availability">list of countries</a> where the events search experience is launched to only include those where users can see that experience. The previous list also included regions where users could see events in Knowledge Panels. </li> <li> In November 2020 we accidentally updated the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#google-read-aloud">Google Read Aloud user agent string</a> in our documentation, replacing the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">+https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1061943</code> crawler documentation URL with <code translate="no" dir="ltr">+https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/crawling/overview-google-crawlers</code>. We reverted that change. </li> </ul> </li> <li><b>May 22</b>: Updated our documentation on <a href="/search/docs/appearance/site-names">site names</a> to mention subdomains. </li> <li> <b>May 17</b>: <ul> <li>Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/translated-results">translated results documentation</a> to include the following languages: Bengali, English, French, German, Marathi, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu.</li> <li>Added a new crawler, <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#google-inspectiontool">Google-InspectionTool</a> to the list of Google crawlers.</li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>May 10</b>: <ul><li>Added a new recommendation for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata#digital-source-type">Digital Source Type</a> to the Image Metadata documentation. </li> <li>Added a banner to pages about Core Web Vitals for informing about <a href="/search/blog/2023/05/introducing-inp">Interaction to Next Paint (INP)</a> as a replacement for FID in March 2024. </li></ul> </li> <li> <b>May 4</b>: <ul> <li> Moved the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#description-property">video <code translate="no" dir="ltr">description</code> property</a> to the recommended table, as <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6211453#rich_result_reports" class="external-link">it's no longer required</a>. </li> <li> Added transcript of <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2023/may">May 2023 Google SEO Office Hours</a>. </li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>May 2</b>: Updated our <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization-troubleshooting#syndicated-content">documentation about canonicalization</a> with explicit recommendations for syndicated content. </li> </ul> <h3 id="april-2023" data-text="April 2023" tabindex="-1">April 2023</h3> <ul> <li> <b>April 28</b>: Removed the opt out section from <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/education-qa">Education Q&A</a> structured data documentation. </li> <li> <b>April 26</b>: Increased the maximum number of return countries (<code translate="no" dir="ltr">applicableCountry</code>) from 25 to 50 in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#merchant-listings_merchant-return-policy">return policy information</a> in the Product structured data documentation. </li> <li> <b>April 24</b>: Reorganized the page about <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers">Google's crawlers</a> so the user agents are now in logical clusters based on their capabilities and triggers. </li> <li> <b>April 21</b>: Added more information about the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/verifying-googlebot">different crawlers Google uses</a>, along with the JSON formatted list of IP addresses the different crawlers use. </li> <li> <b>April 20</b>: Added a new generic crawler, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">GoogleOther</code>, to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#googleother">list of Google crawlers</a>. </li> <li><b>April 19</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content">guidance on creating helpful content</a> to include page experience, revised the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/page-experience">page experience help page</a>, partially moving content to a new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/core-web-vitals">Core Web Vitals page</a>. </li> <li> <b>April 17</b>: Added <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#merchant-listings_merchant-return-policy">return policy information</a> to the Product structured data documentation. </li> <li><b>April 12</b>: Added transcript of <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2023/april">April 2023 Google SEO Office Hours</a>.</li> <li> <b>April 3</b>: Updated the eligibility criteria for the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/package-tracking" class="external-link">package tracking documentation</a> Early Adoption Program to focus on India, Japan, and Brazil. </li> </ul> <h3 id="march-2023" data-text="March 2023" tabindex="-1">March 2023</h3> <ul> <li> <b>March 17</b>: We further clarified that the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/googlebot">15MB fetch size limit</a> applies to each fetch of the individual subresources referenced in the HTML as well (in particular, JavaScript and CSS files). </li> <li> <b>March 13</b>: <ul> <li> Updated the User Agent string for <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers"> AdsBot Mobile Web Android</a>. If you hardcoded the old value in your code, update the string to avoid potential bugs. </li> <li> Added an overview page for the <a href="/search/help/office-hours">Google SEO Office Hours</a>. </li> </ul> </li> <li><b>March 9</b>: Added transcript of <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2023/march">March 2023 Google SEO Office Hours</a>.</li> <li> <b>March 2</b>: Removed South Korea from the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#region-availability">available regions</a> for the job search experience on Google. </li> </ul> <h3 id="february-2023" data-text="February 2023" tabindex="-1">February 2023</h3> <ul> <li> <b>February 23</b>: Removed the hosting location requirement from the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/favicon-in-search">favicon documentation</a>; you don't need to host the favicon in the same domain in order to be eligible for a favicon in Google Search results. </li> <li> <b>February 22</b>: Clarified that Discover uses many of the same signals as Search, in both the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/google-discover">Discover documentation</a> and the <a href="/search/updates/helpful-content-update">helpful content system page</a>. </li> <li> <b>February 15</b>: Added new <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/links-crawlable">best practices for links</a>. </li> <li> <b>February 13</b>: <ul> <li> Simplified the wording in the <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#policy-circumvention">Policy circumvention section</a> of our spam policies based on user feedback. </li> <li> Based on user feedback, we revamped our <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/build-sitemap">documentation about sitemaps</a>. Notably, we reduced duplication between <a href="https://sitemaps.org/" class="external-link">the sitemaps protocol</a> and our documentation, added more examples to our documentation about sitemap extensions, and added a new document about how to <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/combine-sitemap-extensions">combine sitemap extensions</a>. </li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>February 10</b>: Added the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#googleproducer"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">GoogleProducer</code> user agent</a> to the list of Google crawlers (this is not a new user agent; this is a documentation update only). </li> <li> <b>February 8</b>: Added new guidance about <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content#ask-who-how-why">thinking in terms of "Who, How, and Why"</a> in relation to how content is produced. </li> <li> <b>February 3</b>: Clarified why <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/intro-structured-data#supported-formats">JSON-LD is recommended for structured data</a>: it's because it's generally the easiest for website owners to implement and maintain. All 3 supported formats are equally fine for Google, as long as they are valid and implemented properly per the feature's documentation. </li> <li> <b>February 2</b>: Refreshed our documentation about canonicalization. To better help site owners, the original documentation is split in three distinct sections: <ol> <li> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization">What is URL canonicalization</a>. </li> <li> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls">How to specify a canonical with <code translate="no" dir="ltr">rel="canonical"</code> and other methods</a>. </li> <li> <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization-troubleshooting">Fix canonicalization issues</a>. </li> </ol> </li> <li><b>February 1</b>: Added a new section for <a href="/search/blog/authors">Authors on the Google Search Central Blog</a>. </li> </ul> <h3 id="january-2023" data-text="January 2023" tabindex="-1">January 2023</h3> <ul> <li><b>January 31</b>: Added transcript of <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2023/january">January 2023 Google SEO Office Hours</a>.</li> <li> <b>January 25</b>: Added a new case study about <a href="/search/case-studies/vimeo-case-study">how Vimeo improved Video SEO at scale for their customers</a> by using the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">indexifembedded</code> rule combined with <code translate="no" dir="ltr">noindex</code> and adding structured data. </li> <li> <b>January 23</b>: <ul> <li>Added guidance about what to include in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/google-discover#feed-guidelines">RSS feed for the Follow feature in Google Discover</a>: the <code translate="no" dir="ltr"><title></code> element and your per item <code translate="no" dir="ltr"><link></code> elements.</li> <li> Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/google-images">Images best practices</a> to clarify that <a href="/search/docs/appearance/google-images#semantic-html">Google parses <code translate="no" dir="ltr"><img></code> elements</a> (even when they're enclosed in other elements such as <code translate="no" dir="ltr"><picture></code> elements) when indexing images. Also updated the alt text and filenames in the examples to be more descriptive. </li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>January 6</b>: Clarified that <code translate="no" dir="ltr">www</code> and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">m</code> prefixes for domain names are generally considered as root domain names for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/site-names">Site Names in Google Search</a>. </li> <li> <b>January 5</b>: Added information about the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">If-Modified-Since</code> request header to our <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/large-site-managing-crawl-budget#if-modified-since">documentation about managing crawl budget</a>. </li> <li><b>January 3</b>: Removed the 110 character limit for the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">headline</code> property in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article#article-types">Article structured data documentation</a>. There's no hard character limit; instead, we recommend that you write concise titles as long titles may be truncated on some devices.</li> </ul> </devsite-expandable> <devsite-expandable id="2022"> <h2 class="showalways" id="2022" data-text="2022" tabindex="-1">2022</h2> <h3 id="december-2022" data-text="December 2022" tabindex="-1">December 2022</h3> <ul> <li><b>December 29</b>: Added transcript of <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2022/december">December 2022 Google SEO Office Hours</a>.</li> <li id="web-light"><b>December 19</b>: Removed the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/web-light">Web Light documentation</a> and retired the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#retired">Web Light user agent</a>. We introduced Web Light to enable us to serve faster, lighter pages to people searching on entry-level devices. While this feature has worked as intended and enabled broader access to the richness of the web, increased affordability of more powerful smartphones has diminished the need for such functionality. We remain committed to evolving and refining the Search experience to meet the changing needs of our users. </li> <li> <b>December 14</b>: <ul> <li>Added link spam specific information to the <a href="/search/updates/spam-updates">spam updates</a> documentation.</li> <li>Added a new page on <a href="/search/help/status-dashboard">how to use the Google Search Status Dashboard</a>.</li> <li>Updated <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/learning-video">Learning Video structured data</a> to state that the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">text</code> field is recommended instead of required for Problem walkthrough videos and clips.</li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>December 13</b>: <ul> <li>Added a section for <a href="/search/help/office-hours/2022/november">transcripts from the Google SEO Office Hours</a>.</li> <li>Added the new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/visual-elements-gallery">Visual Elements Gallery of Google Search</a>.</li> <li>Cleaned up and consolidated our <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile">mobile site and mobile-first indexing</a> related documentation. Unsurprisingly, there's no additions. </li> </ul> </li> <li><b>December 6</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/updates/helpful-content-update">Helpful content system page</a> to state that the classifier works globally across all languages.</li> <li><b>December 2</b>: Added two new myths to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/large-site-managing-crawl-budget#myths_and_facts">crawl budget documentation</a>. <code translate="no" dir="ltr">noindex</code> isn't a good way to control crawl budget (but can be a method to indirectly free up crawl budget in the long run), and pages that serve <code translate="no" dir="ltr">4xx</code> status codes (except <code translate="no" dir="ltr">429</code>) don't waste crawl budget.</li> <li><b>December 1</b>: Retired the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#retired">Duplex on the web user agent</a>. </li> </ul> <h3 id="november-2022" data-text="November 2022" tabindex="-1">November 2022</h3> <ul> <li><b>November 23</b>: Added descriptions to enumerated properties, such as availability, in <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">Product structured data</a> to support page translation to non-English languages. </li> <li><b>November 22</b>: <ul> <li>Added a list of currently supported languages for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video#key-moments">video key moments</a>.</li> <li>Clarified the eligibility criteria for rich result appearance in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/sd-policies">General structured data guidelines</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>November 21</b>: <ul> <li>Added a new section on <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#policy-circumvention">Policy circumvention</a> and clarified our phrasing in the <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#copyright-removal-requests">Legal</a> and <a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#online-harassment-removals">personal information removals</a> sections to align with definitions of those systems in the new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide">Guide to Google Search ranking systems</a>.</li> <li>Added a new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide">Guide to Google Search ranking systems</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li id="mobile-recharge"><b>November 15</b>: Removed the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/mobile-recharge">Mobile recharge Early Adoptors Program signup page</a>, as we received enough signups.</li> <li><b>November 14</b>: Updated <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/review-snippet">Review Snippet structured data</a> to recommend using dot separators for decimal ratings. If you're currently using comma separators for decimal ratings in your markup, you'll still be eligible for review snippets. However, we recommend that you update your markup for a more accurate interpretation.</li> <li><b>November 9</b>: Clarified that it's fine to use JavaScript to insert <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/links-crawlable">crawlable links</a> into pages.</li> <li> <b>November 8</b>: <ul> <li>Clarified in the <a href="/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions#sitemap">sitemap documentation for localized versions</a> that child elements don't count towards the total number of URLs in a sitemap file.</li> <li>Added notes to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers">AdsBot</a> user agents that they ignore the global (<code translate="no" dir="ltr">*</code>) <code translate="no" dir="ltr">user-agent</code> rules in robots.txt. This was documented already in our <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/create-robots-txt">robots.txt documentation</a>; we added the notes for consistency.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3 id="october-2022" data-text="October 2022" tabindex="-1">October 2022</h3> <ul> <li><b>October 24</b>: Clarified that <a href="/search/docs/appearance/site-names#technical-guidelines">site names are supported</a> at the domain level, and not at the subdomain or subdirectory level. <a href="/search/docs/appearance/favicon-in-search#guidelines">Favicons are supported</a> at the domain and subdomain level, and not at the subdirectory level.</li> <li><b>October 14</b>: Added the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/site-names">site name documentation</a>.</li> <li><b>October 13</b>: <ul> <li> Added new pages for the following Google ranking updates. The information itself isn't new; the pages contain consolidated information from previous blog posts about each of these updates. <ul> <li><a href="/search/updates/core-updates">Google Search's core updates and your website</a></li> <li><a href="/search/updates/helpful-content-update">Google Search's helpful content update and your website</a></li> <li><a href="/search/updates/product-reviews-update">Google Search's product reviews update and your website</a></li> <li><a href="/search/updates/spam-updates">Google Search's spam updates and your website</a></li> </ul> </li> <li> Refreshed and renamed the Webmaster Guidelines. Notable changes include: <ul> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials">Google Search Essentials</a>: Replaces the Webmaster Guidelines overview page. It includes new sections: technical requirements, spam policies, and key best practices.</li> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials/technical">Google Search technical requirements</a>: Covers what Google needs from a web page to show it in Google Search.</li> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies">Spam policies for Google web search</a>: Replaces the Quality Guidelines section of the Webmaster Guidelines. It's been rewritten to cover more relevant examples and use more precise language. Notable updates include: <ul> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#link-spam">Link spam</a>: Consolidates previous pages on Paid links and Link schemes.</li> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#malware-and-malicious-behaviors">Malware and malicious behaviors</a>: Consolidates information that was previously in the Security section on our site.</li> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#hacked-content">Hacked content</a>: Consolidates information that was previously in the Security section on our site.</li> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#thin-affiliate-pages">Thin affliliate pages</a>: Consolidates previous pages on Thin content and Affiliate programs.</li> </ul> <p> New sections include: </p> <ul> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#misleading-functionality">Misleading functionality</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#copyright-removal-requests">Copyright-removal requests</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#online-harassment-removals">Online harassment removals</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#scam-and-fraud">Scam and fraud</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content">Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content</a>: This document consolidates advice from the <a href="/search/blog/2022/08/helpful-content-update">helpful content blog post</a> and the <a href="/search/blog/2019/08/core-updates">core updates post</a>; none of the content is new.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>October 12</b>: Added support for image credits to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata">Image Metadata structured data</a> documentation. Previously, you could only provide image credit information with IPTC photo metadata. </li> <li><b>October 7</b>: Added examples of product review pages to <a href="/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce/write-high-quality-reviews">Write high quality product reviews</a>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="september-2022" data-text="September 2022" tabindex="-1">September 2022</h3> <ul> <li><b>September 20</b>: Added the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers#google_site_verifier">Google Site Verifier</a> user agent.</li> <li> <b>September 13</b>: <ul> <li>Major update to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">Product structured data</a> documentation to document requirements for eligibility to Merchant Listings experiences based on structured data. See the blog <a href="/search/blog/2022/09/merchant-listings">New Search Console Merchant Listings report: expanding eligibility with Product structured data</a> for details.</li> <li>Re-added the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">itemReviewed.datePublished</code> property. This was removed accidentally as part of the previous update to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/factcheck#structured-data-type-definitions">Fact Check structured data documentation</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>September 9</b>: Removed the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">datePublished</code> property from the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/factcheck#structured-data-type-definitions">Fact Check structured data documentation</a>. Currently, the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">ClaimReview</code> publish date isn't used in the Fact Check rich result. </li> <li> <b>September 2</b>: Migrated the documentation about the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/indexable-file-types">file types Google can index</a> from the Search Console Help Center (the content hasn't changed). </li> <li><b>September 1</b>: Added more examples to show <a href="/search/docs/appearance/snippet#use-quality-descriptions">how meta descriptions could be improved</a>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="august-2022" data-text="August 2022" tabindex="-1">August 2022</h3> <ul> <li><b>August 31</b>: Added a note on the use of JavaScript to add, change, or remove <code translate="no" dir="ltr">meta</code> tags on a page to <a href="/search/docs/advanced/crawling/special-tags">the list of meta and inline tags Google Search understands</a>.</li> <li><b>August 29</b>: <ul> <li>Added the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/learning-video#educational-level">full list of supported academic values for <code translate="no" dir="ltr">educationalLevel</code></a> in the Learning video structured data documentation.</li> <li>Clarified how to specify multiple types in <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business#local-business-properties">Local Business structured data</a>. If you have multiple types, specify them in an array (<code translate="no" dir="ltr">additionalType</code> isn't supported).</li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>August 24</b>: <ul> <li>Added <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/education-qa#content-guidelines">content guidelines</a> to the Education Q&A structured data documentation.</li> <li>Removed references to the <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/12474899" class="external-link">deprecated International Targeting report</a> in Search Console. The recommendations described in our documentation about <a href="/search/docs/specialty/international/managing-multi-regional-sites">managing multiregional sites</a> and <a href="/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions">localized versions of your pages</a> remain relevant. </li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>August 22</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article">Article structured data documentation</a> to reflect that <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Article</code> markup is open to all types of pages (as <a href="/search/blog/2020/05/evaluating-page-experience#page-experience-and-the-mobile-top-stories-feature">announced in 2020 with the page experience update</a>). </li> <li id="flash"> <b>August 11</b>: Removed our documentation about rich-media files, such as Silverlight and Flash. Turns out it's not 2005 anymore. </li> <li> <b>August 10</b>: <ul> <li>Added the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">gtin12</code> property to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">Product structured data</a> documentation. This has been supported; it's a documentation change only. Clarified that you can use the generic <code translate="no" dir="ltr">gtin</code> property for all GTINs, but we recommend that you use the most specific one if possible.</li> <li>Updated the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/dynamic-rendering">dynamic rendering</a> documentation to explain that this isn't a recommended solution, and is a workaround if you have no other choice. Instead we recommend server-side rendering, static rendering, or client-side rendering with hydration.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>August 9</b>: Added best practices for feeds to the <a href="/search/docs/advanced/mobile/google-discover#follow">Follow feature documentation</a>. We recommend that you: <ul> <li>Use a descriptive title for your RSS feed, just like you would for a web page.</li> <li>For multiple feeds, we recommend that you use a single feed. Both methods are still supported, but we clarified that a single feed is easier for you to maintain and for users to subscribe to your feed.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>August 8</b>: Clarified that we don't support the URL form for GTINs in <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">Product structured data</a>. Make sure to use the numerical GTIN form.</li> <li><b>August 5</b>: Added documentation about the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#pros-cons">pros and cons</a> enhancement for editorial product review pages. </li> </ul> <h3 id="july-2022" data-text="July 2022" tabindex="-1">July 2022</h3> <ul> <li> <b>July 19</b>: Standardized how we refer to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/title-link">headings and title text</a> on the page. Previously we used the word headline, but that can be confusing in other languages. </li> <li> <b>July 13</b>: Updated the User Agent string for <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers"> AdsBot Mobile Web</a>. If you hardcoded the old value in your code, update the string to avoid potential bugs. </li> <li> <b>July 7</b>: Added a new page for <a href="https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history" class="external-link">Google Search ranking updates</a>. This is not new information; it's a compiled list of things we've previously confirmed on <a href="/search/blog">our blog</a> or on <a href="https://twitter.com/googlesearchc" class="external-link">Twitter</a>. </li> <li> <b>July 6</b>: Reorganized the navigational structure to be based on topic instead of level. Removed duplicate guides that were aimed at basic or beginner level, as these documents were duplicating guidance already explained in the <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide">SEO Starter Guide</a>. </li> <li><b>July 4</b>: Clarified that you must add three courses to be eligible for the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/course"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Course</code> rich result</a>. This is not a new requirement; it was previously only documented in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/carousel">Carousel documentation</a>. </li> </ul> <h3 id="june-2022" data-text="June 2022" tabindex="-1">June 2022</h3> <ul> <li> <b>June 30</b>: Added information about using JavaScript to <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/javascript-seo-basics#properly-inject-canonical-links">inject canonical link tags</a>. </li> <li> <b>June 23</b>: Added information about how many bytes of textual content, such as HTML, <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/googlebot">Googlebot</a> will crawl. For <a href="/search/blog/2022/06/googlebot-15mb">FAQs on the matter, check out our blog post</a>. </li> <li> <b>June 22</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting">Job Posting</a> documentation to specify that when you use the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">jobLocation</code> property, you must also include the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">addressCountry</code> property. </li> <li><b>June 17</b>: Clarified that <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#guidelines">product rich results</a> support pages that focus on a single product, and that includes product variants where each product variant has a distinct URL. </li> <li><b>June 10</b>: Documented new <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Vary: Cookie</code> support for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/signed-exchange">signed exchanges</a>. </li> <li><b>June 3</b>: Added a best practice for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/title-link#mismatch-of-script-or-language-used-in-title-elements">script or language mismatches in titles</a>. For <code translate="no" dir="ltr"><title></code> elements, use the same script and language as the page's primary content. </li> <li><b>June 1</b>: <ul> <li>Added new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article#author-bp">author markup best practices</a> to the Article structured data documentation.</li> <li>Added new documentation about <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/learning-video">Learning Video structured data</a>.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3 id="may-2022" data-text="May 2022" tabindex="-1">May 2022</h3> <ul> <li id="job-training"><b>May 31</b>: Removed the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-training">Job training structured data documentation</a>. We initially tested this markup with a group of site owners, and ultimately found that it wasn't useful for the ecosystem at scale. This change doesn't affect any other features that may use Job training markup. You can leave the markup on your site so that search engines can better understand your web page.</li> <li><b>May 22</b>: Added <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video#provide-a-high-quality-thumbnail"> transparency guidelines for video thumbnails</a>. Ensure that at least 80% of your thumbnail pixels have little or no transparency to enable video indexing. </li> </ul> <ul> <li> <b>May 10</b>: <ul> <li>Added new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/education-qa">Education Q&A</a> documentation.</li> <li>Added new documentation about <a href="/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/valid-html">using valid page metadata</a>.</li> <li>Added new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/title-link#no-clear-main-headline">troubleshooting tip about headlines</a> in the title link documentation.</li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>May 6</b>: Removed the deprecated tags and attributes from the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/image-sitemaps#deprecated-tags-and-attributes">Image</a> and <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/video-sitemaps#deprecated-tags-and-attributes">Video</a> sitemaps documentation. For more information, refer to our <a href="/search/blog/2022/05/spring-cleaning-sitemap-extensions">announcement about the deprecation</a>. </li> </ul> <h3 id="april-2022" data-text="April 2022" tabindex="-1">April 2022</h3> <ul> <li> <b>April 14</b>: Consolidated our <a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/how-search-works">How Search Works documentation for site owners</a> by merging the basic, beginner, and advanced versions into one central document. While we cleaned up the language slightly, we haven't added anything new to the How Search Works documentation. </li> </ul> <h3 id="march-2022" data-text="March 2022" tabindex="-1">March 2022</h3> <ul> <li><b>March 23</b>: Added two more best practices when <a href="/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce/write-high-quality-reviews">writing high quality product reviews</a> for reviews comparing multiple products.</li> <li><b>March 17</b>: Added a section to the SafeSearch documentation about <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/safesearch#allow-fetch">allowing Google to fetch your video content files</a>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="february-2022" data-text="February 2022" tabindex="-1">February 2022</h3> <ul> <li><b>February 25</b>: Removed a reference to the Crawl Stats report in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/signed-exchange">signed exchange documentation</a>. This is no longer relevant as of the update from November 4.</li> <li><b>February 11</b>: Added link to <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sxg-validator/hiijcdgcphjeljafieaejfhodfbpmgoe" class="external-link">SXG Validator Chrome extension</a> in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/signed-exchange">signed exchange documentation</a>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="january-2022" data-text="January 2022" tabindex="-1">January 2022</h3> <ul> <li><b>January 28</b>: Merged our SafeSearch documentation into <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/safesearch">one new document</a>. We expanded on how SafeSearch works and added a troubleshooting section. The guidance remains the same: <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/safesearch#add-metadata">add the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">rating</code> <code translate="no" dir="ltr">meta</code> tag to explicit pages</a> and <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/safesearch#group-content">group explicit content in a separate location on your site</a>.</li> <li> <b>January 21</b>: Added a new <span translate="no">robots</span> <code translate="no" dir="ltr">meta</code> tag, <a href="/search/docs/advanced/robots/robots_meta_tag#indexifembedded"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">indexifembedded</code></a>, to the <span translate="no">robots</span> <code translate="no" dir="ltr">meta</code> tag documentation. <a href="/search/blog/2022/01/robots-meta-tag-indexifembedded">Learn more about the new tag in our blog post</a>. </li> <li><b>January 20</b>: Added a note describing how to specify <a href="https://schema.org/Car" class="external-link"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Car</code></a> markup and still have <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">Product review snippet</a> feature eligibility.</li> <li><b>January 18</b>: Removed guidance about specifying a range for the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">cookTime</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">prepTime</code>, and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">totalTime</code> properties in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/recipe">Recipe documentation</a>. Currently, the only supported method is an exact time; time ranges aren't supported. If you're currently specifying a time range and you'd like Google to better understand your time values, we recommend updating that value in your structured data to a single value (for example, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">"cookTime": "PT30M"</code>).</li> </ul> </devsite-expandable> <devsite-expandable id="2021"> <h2 class="showalways" id="2021" data-text="2021" tabindex="-1">2021</h2> <h3 id="december-2021" data-text="December 2021" tabindex="-1">December 2021</h3> <ul> <li><b>December 16</b>: Converted our old <a href="/search/blog/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on">blog post</a> about intrusive interstitials into <a href="/search/docs/appearance/avoid-intrusive-interstitials">guidelines</a>. There are no substantial changes compared to what we have in the blog post. </li> <li><b>December 1</b>: Added <a href="/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce/write-high-quality-reviews">Write high quality product reviews</a> to bring together advice from several blog posts.</li> </ul> <h3 id="november-2021" data-text="November 2021" tabindex="-1">November 2021</h3> <ul> <li><b>November 18</b>: Explained how to <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/read-aloud-user-agent#prevent">opt out of Google Read Aloud</a> and clarified the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/read-aloud-user-agent#crawling">crawling behavior of the user agent</a>.</li> <li><b>November 17</b>: <ul> <li>Added an <a href="/search">interactive checklist</a> that suggests readings based on the profile users select.</li> <li> Added documentation about <a href="/search/docs/appearance/translated-results">translated results</a> and how to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/ad-network-and-translation">enable your ad network to work with translation-related Google Search features</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>November 16</b>: Added a guideline about <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/logo#logo-property">logos and white backgrounds</a>.</li> <li><b>November 10</b>: <ul> <li>Updated <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/logo">Logo</a> documentation to support new flexibility in using the <a href="https://schema.org/ImageObject" class="external-link"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">ImageObject</code></a> type to specify an organization logo.</li> <li><a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/verifying-googlebot">Published the list of Googlebot IP addresses</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>November 4</b>: Removed the recommendation to verify that SXGs are well-formed from the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/signed-exchange">signed exchange documentation</a>. Added a note that Google will automatically retry without an SXG <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Accept</code> header in these cases.</li> <li><strong>November 4</strong>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/page-experience">page experience documentation</a> to include the <a href="/search/blog/2021/11/bringing-page-experience-to-desktop">upcoming desktop rollout</a>.</li> <li><b>November 2</b>: Added a recommendation about creating a dedicated page for each video to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video#help-google-find">Video best practices</a>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="october-2021" data-text="October 2021" tabindex="-1">October 2021</h3> <ul> <li><b>October 28</b>: Removed the following structured data fields from documentation, since they are unused by Google Search and Rich Result Test doesn't flag warnings for them: <ul> <li><code translate="no" dir="ltr">HowTo</code>: <code translate="no" dir="ltr">description</code>.</li> <li><code translate="no" dir="ltr">QAPage</code>: <code translate="no" dir="ltr">mainEntity.suggestedAnswer.author</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">mainEntity.dateCreated</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">mainEntity.suggestedAnswer.dateCreated</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">mainEntity.acceptedAnswer.author</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">mainEntity.acceptedAnswer.dateCreated</code>, and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">mainEntity.author </code>.</li> <li><code translate="no" dir="ltr">SpecialAnnouncement</code>: <code translate="no" dir="ltr">provider</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">audience</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">serviceType</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">address</code>, and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">category</code>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>October 15</b>: Added a requirement that the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">author.name</code> field in <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/review-snippet">Review snippets</a> must be less than 100 characters to be eligible for use in Search features.</li> <li><b>October 13</b>: Clarified that <code translate="no" dir="ltr">VideoGame</code> is not a valid node type for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/software-app#extended-properties-for-app-subtypes">Software Apps</a>. To make sure that your Software App is still eligible for a rich result appearance, co-type the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">VideoGame</code> type with another supported type.</li> <li><b>October 8</b>: Updated our documentation about titles and snippets in Google Search results. There are now two separate documents that explain each of these search result features: <ul> <li><b><a href="/search/docs/appearance/title-link">Control your title links in search results</a></b>: Created a new page to describe how to control title links in search results. Introduced a new term, <em>title link</em>, for the title of a search result on Google Search and other properties to help clarify when we mean the title link in search results versus a <code translate="no" dir="ltr"><title></code> element on a web page. Added examples of <a href="/search/docs/appearance/title-link#examples">how Google may adjust title links</a>. There aren't any changes to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/title-link#page-titles">best practices for writing descriptive <code translate="no" dir="ltr"><title></code> elements</a>.</li> <li><b><a href="/search/docs/appearance/snippet">Control your snippets in search results</a></b>: Created a new page to describe how to control snippets in search results. The updates were minimal structural updates; there aren't any changes to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/snippet#meta-descriptions">guidelines</a> themselves.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3 id="september-2021" data-text="September 2021" tabindex="-1">September 2021</h3> <ul> <li><b>September 27</b>: Added new documentation on <a href="/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce">Best practices for ecommerce sites in Google Search</a>.</li> <li><b>September 1</b>: Added documentation about the <a href="/search/docs/advanced/mobile/google-discover#follow">beta Follow feature and your website</a>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="august-2021" data-text="August 2021" tabindex="-1">August 2021</h3> <ul> <li><b>August 11</b>: Added a new case study about how <a href="/search/case-studies/large-images-case-study">large images in Discover improve CTR and increase visits to publisher sites</a>.</li> <li><b>August 9</b>: The <a href="https://validator.schema.org/" class="external-link">Schema Markup Validator</a> has stabilized, and Google now redirects the Structured Data Testing Tool to a <a href="/search/docs/advanced/structured-data">landing page</a> to help you select the right tool.</li> <li><b>August 6</b>: Added a new recommended <code translate="no" dir="ltr">author.url</code> property to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Article</code> structured data documentation</a>. The <code translate="no" dir="ltr">url</code> property helps Google disambiguate the correct author of the article.</li> </ul> <h3 id="july-2021" data-text=" July 2021 " tabindex="-1"> July 2021 </h3> <ul> <li><b>July 30</b>: Added technical, content, and quality guidelines to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/math-solvers#guidelines">Math solver guidelines</a> and removed solution page markup instructions to make it easier for site owners to get their math solver site on Search. It is fine to remove any existing solution page markup. </li> <li><b>July 29</b>: Added a new case study about how <a href="/search/case-studies/mx-case-study">MX Player boosted organic traffic 3x by maximizing video discoverability on Google</a>.</li> <li><b>July 28</b>: <ul> <li>Removed <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/factcheck#technical-guidelines">guidance</a> about hosting multiple factchecks per page. To be eligible for the single fact check rich result, a page must only have one <code translate="no" dir="ltr">ClaimReview</code> element.</li> <li>Added details about <a href="/search/docs/appearance/signed-exchange">signed exchange</a> cache lifetime.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>July 26</b>: Added a requirement that <code translate="no" dir="ltr">priceRange</code> fields in <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business">Local business</a> must be less than 100 characters to be eligible for use in Search features.</li> <li><b>July 22</b>: <ul> <li>Added example use cases for the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/faqpage#content-guidelines">FAQ guideline</a> about hidden content on the page. The user must be able to access the answer on the page, and clicking an expandable section to view the answer is a valid use case.</li> <li>Removed the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">@id</code> property from the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business">Local business documentation</a>. The <code translate="no" dir="ltr">url</code> property alone is a sufficient identifier to understand the local business.</li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>July 21</b>: Added a set of new documentation about <a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/search-operators">Google search operators</a>. </li> <li><b>July 13</b>: Added a new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#editorial">editorial guideline</a> to the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">JobPosting</code> documentation. Added a new optional property for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#direct-apply"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">directApply</code></a>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="june-2021" data-text="June 2021" tabindex="-1">June 2021</h3> <ul> <li><b>June 29</b>: Significantly expanded our <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/301-redirects">redirects guide</a> with the different kinds of redirects and their effects on Google Search. </li> <li><b>June 25</b>: Added a page that details <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/http-network-errors">how different HTTP status codes, and network and DNS errors affect crawling and indexing</a>. </li> <li><b>June 18</b>: Based on feedback we've received from Search Central Product Experts and through the feedback tool, we've made several updates to our documentation: <ul> <li> Simplified the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/intro">introduction page</a> to make it clearer what is robots.txt and what is its intended use. </li> <li> Expanded the instructions about <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/create-robots-txt">creating</a> and <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/submit-updated-robots-txt">updating</a> robots.txt files. </li> <li> Removed redundant sections from our documentation about <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/robots_txt">how Google handles robots.txt</a>. </li> <li> Simplified sentences across all robots.txt documentation in English. This helps with localization. </li> <li>Removed redundant documentation about how to build, test, and release structured data. Each feature has guidance about this, embedded directly into each guide (for example, the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#add-structured-data">Video structured data guide</a>).</li> <li>Improved the troubleshooting sections across all structured data feature guides (for example, the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#troubleshooting">Product structured data guide</a>).</li> <li>Added more beginner-friendly information about how to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/intro-structured-data#get-started">get started with structured data</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>June 15</b>: Updated the timeline in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/page-experience">page experience documentation</a>. The page experience update is now slowly rolling out to all users. It will be complete by the end of August 2021.</li> <li><b>June 11</b>: <ul> <li>Clarified the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/sitelinks-searchbox#potential-action-target">Sitelinks search box</a> documentation to explain the more standard and explicit form for specifying the search box <code translate="no" dir="ltr">urlTemplate</code>. Google will still accept the shorthand form as noted.</li> <li>Added a new optional property to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/dataset">Dataset documentation</a>: <code translate="no" dir="ltr">funder</code>.</li> </ul> </li> <li id="critic-review"><b>June 10</b>: Deprecated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/critic-review">critic review documentation</a>. We initially tested critic review markup with a group of site owners, and ultimately found that it wasn't useful for the ecosystem at scale. This deprecation doesn't affect any other features on Google Search that use review markup. You can leave the markup on your site so that search engines can better understand your web page.</li> <li><b>June 8</b>: Added <a href="https://schema.org/BackOrder" class="external-link"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">BackOrder</code></a> as an allowed value for the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">availability</code> property in <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">Product structured data</a>.</li> <li><b>June 4</b>: Added <a href="https://schema.org/gtin" class="external-link"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">gtin</code></a> as an allowed identifier and clarified how to correctly use <a href="https://schema.org/isbn"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">isbn</code></a> for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product">Product structured data</a>.</li> <li><b>June 3</b>: Added support for the <a href="https://schema.org/inLanguage" class="external-link"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">inLanguage</code></a> property to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/math-solvers#math-solver">Math solvers documentation</a>.</li> <li><b>June 1</b>: <ul> <li>Modified the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/math-solvers#problem-type-definitions">Math Solver developer documentation</a> to add six new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/math-solvers#problem-type-definitions">problem types.</a></li> <li>Updated the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">DuplexWeb</code> user agent (in <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers">Overview of Google crawlers</a>) to use a more recent system and Chrome version.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3 id="may-2021" data-text="May 2021" tabindex="-1">May 2021</h3> <ul> <li><b>May 18</b>: <ul> <li>Added <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#key-moments">documentation</a> for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#seek"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">SeekToAction</code> structured data</a>, which is an alternative way to participate in the key moments feature. <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#clip"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Clip</code></a> structured data is now out of beta, and available to be used by any site.</li> <li>Modified the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#region-availability"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">JobPosting</code> region availability list</a> to include Austria and Denmark.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>May 6</b>: Modified the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article#article-types">publisher logo requirements of AMP <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Article</code></a> structured data to more accurately reflect that we understand both raw URLs as well as <code translate="no" dir="ltr">ImageObject</code> markup.</li> </ul> <h3 id="april-2021" data-text="April 2021" tabindex="-1">April 2021</h3> <ul> <li><b>April 19</b>: Added new documentation for how to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/signed-exchange">Get started with signed exchanges on Google Search</a>. Learn more about the <a href="/search/blog/2021/04/more-details-page-experience#sxg">signed exchange (SXG) announcement in our blog post</a>.</li> <li><b>April 8</b>: Added a new quality guideline to the <a href="/search/docs/advanced/mobile/google-discover">Discover documentation</a>. Discover focuses on interest-based feeds (for example, articles and videos), and filters out content that might confuse readers (for example, Discover might not recommend job applications, petitions, forms, code repositories, or satirical content that's removed from its original context).</li> <li><b>April 7</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#thumbnail-url"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Video</code> structured data documentation</a> to state that the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">thumbnailUrl</code> property must use one of the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/google-images#supported-image-formats">supported Google Images file formats</a>. Previously, the documentation didn't include WebP and SVG.</li> <li><b>April 1</b>: Clarified the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video#key-moments">key moments feature</a>. Google Search tries to automatically detect the segments in your video and show key moments to users, without any effort on your part. Alternatively, there are two ways that you can manually tell Google which timestamp and label to use: <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#clip"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Clip</code> structured data</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#best-practices-youtube">updating the description of a YouTube video</a>. <aside class="note">Currently, Google is working with a wide range of providers to ensure that the use of <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Clip</code> structured data works well at scale (our interest form is closed, as we have reached capacity). You're welcome to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#clip">read the documentation</a> and implement <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Clip</code> structured data in advance. Keep in mind that Google doesn't guarantee that your structured data will show up in search results, even if your page is marked up correctly according to the Rich Results Test.</aside> </li> </ul> <h3 id="march-2021" data-text=" March 2021 " tabindex="-1"> March 2021 </h3> <ul> <li><b>March 29</b>: Removed the interest form for the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video#clips-example">Key moments feature</a>. The feature remains in development with a select group of providers, but the program is no longer accepting submissions.</li> <li><b>March 25</b>: Added new structured data documentation for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/practice-problems">practice problems</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/math-solvers">math solvers</a>. </li> <li><b>March 24</b>: <ul> <li>Based on user feedback, we added examples for the property <code translate="no" dir="ltr">experienceRequirements.monthsOfExperience</code> in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#education-and-experience-properties-beta"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">JobPosting</code> structured data documentation</a>.</li> <li>Added a new optional property to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/dataset">Dataset documentation</a>: <code translate="no" dir="ltr">isAccessibleForFree</code>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>March 17</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/video">video best practices</a> to more clearly emphasize the important guidelines. Removed duplicate content and updated the screenshots.</li> <li><b>March 16</b>: Based on user feedback, we added more examples for the <a href="/search/docs/advanced/robots/robots_meta_tag#all"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">max-snippet</code> <span translate="no">robots</span> <code translate="no" dir="ltr">meta</code> rule</a>, and also specified for each tag what Google's default behavior is when the tags are omitted. </li> <li><b>March 11</b>: Added new beta properties to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#education-and-experience-properties-beta"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">JobPosting</code> structured data documentation</a>. You may not see any appearance or effect in Google Search right away, as we are still developing how we are using this information. <ul> <li><code translate="no" dir="ltr">educationRequirements.credentialCategory</code></li> <li><code translate="no" dir="ltr">experienceRequirements</code></li> <li><code translate="no" dir="ltr">experienceRequirements.monthsOfExperience</code></li> <li><code translate="no" dir="ltr">experienceInPlaceOfEducation</code></li> </ul> </li> <li><b>March 8</b>: Added the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">JP_E-CODE</code> value as an accepted value for the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/book#propertyvalue-identifier"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">PropertyValue</code></a> property in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/book"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Book</code> documentation.</a> </li> <li><b>March 1</b>: Removed instructions for submitting sitemaps on Google Sites from the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/build-sitemap">sitemap guide</a>. Google Sites doesn't create a sitemap for sites anymore.</li> </ul> <h3 id="february-2021" data-text=" February 2021 " tabindex="-1"> February 2021 </h3> <ul> <li><b>February 8</b>: Removed the page about joining the 3D and AR Early Adopters Program. The <a href="https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9817187" class="external-link">feature</a> remains in development with a select group of providers, but the program is no longer accepting submissions.</li> <li><b>February 2</b>: Removed the documentation for cross-language search results. This page was specific to an experimental approach with a small group of providers, and we're removing the page because it's obsolete.</li> </ul> <h3 id="January-2021" data-text=" January 2021 " tabindex="-1"> January 2021 </h3> <ul> <li><b>January 28</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Event</code> structured data documentation</a> to state that the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event#offers-priceCurrency"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">offers.priceCurrency</code></a> property requires an ISO 4217 currency code.</li> <li><b>January 22</b>: Added documentation for the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#price-drop">price drop enhancement</a> for product rich results.</li> <li><b>January 20</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-training">Job Training documentation</a> to clarify that the appearance isn't available on Google Search right now.</li> <li><b>January 5</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions#debugging-hreflang-errors">list of recommended hreflang checker tools</a> and removed those that don't work anymore.</li> </ul> </devsite-expandable> <devsite-expandable id="2020"> <h2 class="showalways" id="2020" data-text="2020" tabindex="-1">2020</h2> <h3 id="december-2020" data-text=" December 2020 " tabindex="-1"> December 2020 </h3> <ul> <li><b>December 4</b>: Migrated the following guides from the Search Console Help Center (the content hasn't changed): <ul> <li><a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/large-site-managing-crawl-budget">Large site owner's guide to managing your crawl budget</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/monitor-debug/prevent-abuse">Web hosting services</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/keep-redacted-information-out">Keep redacted information out of Google Search</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/bloggers">Best practices for bloggers</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/http-network-errors#soft-404-errors"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Soft 404</code> errors</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3 id="november-2020" data-text=" November 2020 " tabindex="-1"> November 2020 </h3> <ul> <li><b>November 19</b>: Migrated the Google Webmaster blogs to the new <a href="/search/blog">Google Search Central Blog</a>.</li> <li><b>November 16</b>: Added a new guide about <a href="/search/events/join-office-hours">how to join the Google Search Central office hours</a>.</li> <li><b>November 12</b>: <ul> <li>Added a new <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/qapage#guidelines">guideline</a> for STEM-education related Q&A pages.</li> <li>Added information about Googlebot's ability to crawl through HTTP/2 to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/googlebot">Googlebot help page</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>November 11</b>: Published a redesign of the entire site. Reorganized the navigation to account for a migration of over 100 new pages from the <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters" class="external-link">Search Console Help Center</a>. The notable additions include: <ul> <li><a href="/search">Home page</a>: Expanded the focus to include our entire audience, not just web developers.</li> <li><a href="/search/events">Events landing page</a>: Get an overview of upcoming events, including events that we host and attend as speakers.</li> <li><a href="/search/news">What's new on Google Search Central</a>: Check out the latest updates on Google Search, including changes to our blog, documentation, new Search events, YouTube videos, and podcast episodes. </li> <li><a href="/search/blog">Blog landing page</a>: Added a new home page for our blog, previously known as the Google Webmaster Central blog. We plan to move archived posts soon.</li> <li><a href="/search/help">Help landing page</a>: Updated to include all of our help resources. Refreshed and simplified the Webmaster FAQ into 4 pages: <ul> <li><a href="/search/help/crawling-index-faq">Crawling and indexing FAQ</a></li> <li><a href="/search/help/site-position-in-search-faq">Site position FAQ</a></li> <li><a href="/search/help/site-appearance-faq">Site appearance FAQ</a></li> <li><a href="/search/help/removing-information-from-search">Removing content from Google FAQ</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/search/docs">Documentation landing page</a>: Get an overview of the different learning paths in our documentation, including new Quickstart guides, beginner SEO guides, and advanced SEO guides.</li> <li><a href="/search/docs/basics/get-started">Quickstart guides</a>: A new set of guides for those that don't have much time to manage their site.</li> <li><a href="/search/docs/beginner/get-started">Beginner SEO guides</a>: A new set of guides for beginners who want to learn about SEO. New pages include: <a href="/search/docs/beginner/search-console">Beginners guide to Search Console</a>.</li> <li><a href="/search/docs/fundamentals/get-started">Advanced SEO guides</a>: A new set of guides for advanced SEO topics. Most of the pages previously existed in the <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters" class="external-link">Search Console Help Center</a>. New pages include: <ul> <li><a href="/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/search-console">Advanced guide to Search Console</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance">Overview of Search Appearance topics</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/advanced/crawling/block-access-overview">Block access to your content</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/specialty/international">Overview of international and multilingual site topics</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/what-is-site-move">What is a site move</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-no-url-changes">Move a site without URL changes</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes">Move a site with URL changes</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <aside class="note">To learn more about why we made these changes, read our <a href="/search/blog/2020/11/goodbye-google-webmasters">Goodbye Webmasters, Hello Google Search Central blog post</a>.</aside> </li> <li><b>November 10</b>: Updated the timeline information for the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/page-experience">upcoming page experience ranking change</a>. The changes are planned to go live in May 2021.</li> </ul> <h3 id="october-2020" data-text=" October 2020 " tabindex="-1"> October 2020 </h3> <ul> <li><b>October 30</b>: <ul> <li>Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/book#librarysystem"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">librarySystem</code></a> <code translate="no" dir="ltr">additionalProperty.value</code> property in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/book"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Book</code> documentation,</a> replacing the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">national</code> value with the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">government</code> value.</li> <li> Updated the timeline for data-vocabulary.org support on <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/intro-structured-data">intro to structured data</a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/breadcrumb">breadcrumb page</a>. As of January 29, 2021, data-vocabulary.org markup will no longer be eligible for Google rich result features. To be eligible after January 29, 2021, you need to replace data-vocabulary.org markup with schema.org markup. Learn more about <a href="/search/blog/2020/01/data-vocabulary" class="external-link">sunsetting support for data-vocabulary</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>October 29</b>: Added image ratio specifications to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#hiring"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">hiringOrganization.logo</code> property </a> and the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#logo-is-incorrect">Logo is incorrect troubleshooting section</a>. </li> <li><b>October 22</b>: Changed the API requirement for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/package-tracking">package tracking documentation</a> to state that we only accept POST requests. </li> <li><b>October 6</b>: Added new <a href="/search/docs/guides/enable-web-stories">examples of Web Stories</a>, <a href="/search/docs/guides/web-stories-creation-best-practices">best practices for creating Web Stories</a>, and <a href="/search/docs/guides/web-stories-content-policy">Web Story content policy</a>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="september-2020" data-text=" September 2020 " tabindex="-1"> September 2020 </h3> <ul> <li><b>September 22</b>: Added support for <code translate="no" dir="ltr">shippingDetails</code> to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#shipping"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Product</code> structured data documentation</a>.</li> <li><b>September 21</b>: Added new episodes about <a href="https://search-off-the-record.libsyn.com/indexing-javascript-comments-and-much-more-0" class="external-link">Indexing (JavaScript) comments</a> and <a href="https://search-off-the-record.libsyn.com/honestly-about-googles-honest-results-policy-and-more-0" class="external-link"> Google's Honest Results Policy</a> to the <a href="/search/podcasts/search-off-the-record">Search Off the Record podcast page</a>.</li> <li><b>September 18</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/factcheck#guidelines">fact check guidelines</a> to include all relevant eligibility guidelines in one place (some guidelines were previously mentioned only in the <a href="https://support.google.com/news/publisher-center/answer/9606542" class="external-link">Publisher Center article about fact-checked content</a>). Added the following new guidelines: <ul> <li>You must have a corrections policy or have a mechanism for users to report errors.</li> <li>Websites for political entities (such as campaigns, parties, or elected officials) aren't eligible for this feature.</li> <li>You must clearly attribute the specific claim that you're assessing to a distinct origin (separate from your website), whether it's another website, public statement, social media, or other traceable source.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>September 15</b>: <ul> <li>Added support for <code translate="no" dir="ltr">regionsAllowed</code> in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video">Video documentation</a>. Added Microdata examples.</li> <li>Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/employer-rating"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">EmployerAggregateRating</code></a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/employer-rating">Review snippet documentation</a> to clarify that <code translate="no" dir="ltr">bestRating</code> and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">worstRating</code> are recommended if you want to specify a different scale than the default 5-point system.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3 id="august-2020" data-text=" August 2020 " tabindex="-1"> August 2020 </h3> <ul> <li><b>August 31</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata">Image License documentation</a> to state that the Licensable badge is now out of beta.</li> <li><b>August 27</b>: Clarified merging of user-agent groups in the file <a href="/search/reference/robots_txt">robots.txt</a> documentation.</li> <li><b>August 26</b>: Added new documentation about the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/home-activities">Home activities</a> rich result.</li> <li><b>August 21</b>: Added section to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/fix-search-javascript">Fix Search-related JavaScript problems</a> guide to explain how to deal with non-HTTP network connections.</li> <li><b>August 10</b>: Clarified that there are different <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Article</code> requirements</a> for AMP and non-AMP pages. Added an example of a non-AMP page with <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Article</code> structured data.</li> <li><b>August 5</b>: Clarified in all relevant documentation that images referenced in structured data must be in one of the image file formats that are <a href="/search/docs/appearance/google-images#supported-image-formats" rel="external">supported by Google Images</a>.</li> <li><b>August 3</b>: <ul> <li>Added a new episode about <a href="https://search-off-the-record.libsyn.com/indexing-javascript-comments-and-much-more-0" class="external-link">Indexing (JavaScript) comments</a> to the <a href="/search/podcasts/search-off-the-record">Search Off the Record podcast page</a>.</li> <li>Added the optional <code translate="no" dir="ltr">jobBenefits</code> and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">industry</code> properties to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/estimated-salary">Estimated salary documentation</a>, to match the existing requirements in the Rich Results Test.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3 id="july-2020" data-text=" July 2020 " tabindex="-1"> July 2020 </h3> <ul> <li><b>July 24</b>: Added new episodes to the <a href="/search/podcasts/search-off-the-record">Search Off the Record podcast page</a>.</li> <li><b>July 23</b>: Clarified that Google Search is still working on way to display <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/factcheck#multiple-factchecks">multiple fact checks</a> for a single page, and that you may not see a rich result that features multiple fact checks in Google Search right away.</li> <li><b>July 21</b>: Added a new optional property to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/dataset">Dataset documentation</a>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">measurementTechnique</code>, and clarified that the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">name</code> property should be unique for distinct datasets.</li> <li><b>July 20</b>: Added the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">reviewCount</code> property to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/employer-rating"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">EmployerAggregateRating</code> documentation</a>, to match the existing requirements in the Rich Results Test. Either <code translate="no" dir="ltr">reviewCount</code> or <code translate="no" dir="ltr">ratingCount</code> is required.</li> <li><b>July 16</b>: <ul> <li>Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/book"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Book</code> documentation</a> to explain how select book providers can provide a feed of data to Google with the structured data schema.</li> <li>Clarified that <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#guidelines">product rich results</a> only support pages that are about a single product, not category pages or lists.</li> <li>Based on <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/seo/font-size" class="external-link">Lighthouse recommendations</a>, specified what small font size means on the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing#small-font-size">Common mistakes</a> page of the Mobile SEO guidelines.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>July 8</b>: Clarified that Google Search understands when you specify <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/sd-policies#multiple-items">multiple items</a> on a page with structured data, whether you nest the items or specify each item individually.</li> <li><b>July 1</b>: Clarified in the AMP logo guidelines in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Article</code> documentation</a> that the logo can be in any format supported by Google Images.</li> </ul> <h3 id="june-2020" data-text=" June 2020 " tabindex="-1"> June 2020 </h3> <ul> <li><b>June 30</b>: Added more examples to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/carousel">Carousel documentation</a>, and clarified the supported types and how to add them.</li> <li><b>June 23</b>: Added a note to differentiate between guidelines applicable to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Article</code> AMP logo</a> guidelines and generic <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/logo"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Logo</code></a> guidelines.</li> <li><b>June 19</b>: Added a <code translate="no" dir="ltr">contentUrl</code> requirement to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/image-license-metadata">Image License documentation</a> to make it clear that the feature needs a specific image URL to apply the license to.</li> <li><b>June 16</b>: Added native lazy-loading to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/lazy-loading">lazy-loading guide</a>.</li> <li><b>June 15</b>: Added <a class="external-link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmfvf8nG09k">monitoring rich results video</a> and more detailed information on using Search Console to monitor rich results to structured data reference pages (for example <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product#monitor">Product</a>, <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/recipe#monitor"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Recipe</code></a>, <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/faqpage#monitor">FAQ</a>).</li> <li><b>June 12</b>: Added <code translate="no" dir="ltr">.webp</code>, too, to the list of supported image file formats for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/logo"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Logo</code> structured data</a>.</li> <li><b>June 10</b>: Added <code translate="no" dir="ltr">.svg</code> to the list of supported image file formats for <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/logo"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Logo</code> structured data</a>.</li> <li><b>June 8</b>: Clarified that the recognized values for an <code translate="no" dir="ltr">applicationCategory</code> on a <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/software-app">Software App</a> are of type <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Text</code>.</li> <li><b>June 4</b>: Clarified in the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/sitelinks-searchbox">Sitelinks search box</a> documentation that the search query parameter key can be any string permitted by <a class="external-link" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986#section-3.4">RFC 3986</a>; it doesn't have to be <code translate="no" dir="ltr">q</code>. </li> </ul> <h3 id="may-2020" data-text=" May 2020 " tabindex="-1"> May 2020 </h3> <ul> <li><b>May 28</b>: Added new documentation that explains <a href="/search/docs/appearance/page-experience">page experience in Google Search results</a>.</li> <li><b>May 27</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-training">Job training developer documentation</a> to require the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">occupationalCategory</code> property, recommend the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">description</code> property, and remove the requirement of the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">url</code> property. Also updated the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">educationalProgramMode</code> and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">financialAidEligible</code> fields to have more precise value specifications. </li> <li><b>May 19</b>: Added new guidance on how to <a href="/search/docs/guides/enable-web-stories">enable Web Stories on Google</a>.</li> <li><b>May 15</b>: Added a note to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Product</code> structured data documentation</a> about how to be eligible for the Google Shopping tab. Learn more about the <a href="https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/9199328" class="external-link">data and eligibility requirements</a>.</li> <li><b>May 12</b>: Extended the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/javascript-seo-basics"> JavaScript SEO basics guide</a> to include <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/javascript-seo-basics#how-googlebot-processes-javascript">guidance on JavaScript-generated links</a>, <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/javascript-seo-basics#use-history-api">History API instead of fragment URLs</a>, and <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/javascript-seo-basics#avoid-soft-404s">avoiding <code translate="no" dir="ltr">soft 404</code> errors</a>.</li> <li><b>May 11</b>: <ul> <li>Added guidance on <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/reduce-crawl-rate">how to reduce the Googlebot crawl rate</a>.</li> <li>Removed the following documentation that has been deprecated since June 2019: <ul> <li><b>Social Profile structured data</b>: We now automatically discover social profiles to include in Google knowledge panels. If you're verified as an official representative, you can suggest a change directly. Learn more at <a href="https://support.google.com/knowledgepanel/answer/7534842" class="external-link">Update your Google knowledge panel</a>.</li> <li><b>Corporate Contact structured data</b>: We now automatically discover corporate contact information to include in Google knowledge panels. If you're verified as an official representative of a Google knowledge panel, you can suggest a change directly. Learn more at <a href="https://support.google.com/knowledgepanel/answer/7534842" class="external-link">Update your Google knowledge panel</a>.</li> <li><b>Place Actions structured data</b>: Instead, scheduling providers can use the <a href="/maps-booking/guides/starter-integration/overview" class="external-link">Maps Booking API</a>. Google Search continues to support existing partners that added Place Action structured data prior to June 17, 2019.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li><b>May 7</b>: <ul> <li>The Rich Result Test now supports <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/article#examples"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Article</code> structured data on AMP pages</a>. Removed the following recommended fields from the documentation because we no longer need these signals: <code translate="no" dir="ltr">description</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">publisher.logo.height</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">publisher.logo.width</code>.</li> <li>Added a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlamLfyFjTA" class="external-link">video</a> to the <a href="/search/docs/guides/submit-URLs">Submit URLs guide</a> that explains what a sitemap is, whether you need one or not, and how to submit a sitemap and track its status using Search Console.</li> <li>Removed the page about joining the Mini-apps Early Adopters Program. The program is no longer accepting submissions.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>May 6</b>: Added information about how to <a href="/search/reference/robots_txt#testing">test robots.txt markup</a>.</li> <li><b>May 5</b>: <ul> <li>Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#content-policies">Job posting content policies</a> to have a clear structure and language that describes what Google will enforce. Added the following new policies: <ul> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#irrelevant-content">Irrelevant content</a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#incomplete">Incomplete content</a></li> <li>We don't allow job postings on behalf of an organization or company without authorization.</li> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting#advertisements">Advertisements disguised as a job posting</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Updated <code translate="no" dir="ltr">SpecialAnnouncement</code> structured data to include information on <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#monitor">how to use Search Console</a> to troubleshoot markup and analyze the rich result performance.</li> <li>Podcasts on Google information has migrated to the new <a href="https://support.google.com/podcast-publishers/answer/9476656" class="external-link">Podcasts Manager</a> help center. Visit the help center to learn how to get your podcast on Google.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>May 1</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/apis/indexing-api/v3/using-api#removing">Indexing API documentation</a> to include the <code translate="no" dir="ltr"><meta name="robots" content="noindex" /></code> tag as an option for removing a URL. </li> </ul> <h3 id="april-2020" data-text=" April 2020 " tabindex="-1"> April 2020 </h3> <ul> <li><b>April 30</b>: <ul> <li>Added a note to explain that it isn't reliable to use <a href="https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1687222" class="external-link">cached links</a> for debugging purposes. Instead, use the <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9012289" class="external-link">URL Inspection Tool</a> because it has the a most up-to-date version of your page. The note was added to the <a href="/search/help/debug">general debugging guide</a>, <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/fix-search-javascript">JavaScript debugging guide</a>, and the <a href="/search/docs/guides/prototype#fix-page">structured data debugging guide</a>.</li> <li>Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/breadcrumb">Breadcrumb structured data documentation</a> to have some explanatory text on how breadcrumbs relate to URL paths.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>April 27</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-training">Job training structured data documentation</a> to require 2-letter country codes for provider addresses.</li> <li><b>April 23</b>: Added <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing#missing-meta-description"> missing meta description issue</a> to the list of error messages in the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing">mobile-first indexing best practices</a>. </li> <li><b>April 22</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/paywalled-content">Paywalled content structured data documentation</a> to include a list of supported types.</li> <li><b>April 20</b>: Added <a href="/search/docs/guides/covid-19-resources">COVID-19 resources for sites from Google Search</a> and <a href="/search/docs/guides/education-tips">Best practices for education sites</a> </li> <li><b>April 16</b>: <ul> <li>Added a <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#government-benefits">new example</a> and optional properties to support COVID-19 announcements about government benefits: <ul> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#government-benefits-info"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">governmentBenefitsInfo</code></a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#audience"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">governmentBenefitsInfo.audience</code></a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#audience-name"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">governmentBenefitsInfo.audience.name</code></a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#benefits-name"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">governmentBenefitsInfo.name</code></a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#provider"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">governmentBenefitsInfo.provider</code></a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#provider-name"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">governmentBenefitsInfo.provider.name</code></a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#service-type"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">governmentBenefitsInfo.serviceType</code></a></li> <li><a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#government-benefits-info-url"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">governmentBenefitsInfo.url</code></a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-posting"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">JobPosting</code> structured data documentation</a> to highlight markup for work from home jobs. Added a screenshot of the feature in Google Search, a code example, and a banner at the top of the documentation.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>April 14</b>: Added optional properties to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Event</code> structured data documentation</a>: <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event#organizer"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">organizer</code></a>, <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event#organizer-name"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">organizer.name</code></a>, <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event#organizer-url"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">organizer.url</code></a>.</li> <li><b>April 10</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements">COVID-19 announcements documentation</a>. The Rich Results Test now supports <code translate="no" dir="ltr">SpecialAnnouncements</code>.</li> <li><b>April 8</b>: <ul> <li>Added a note to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements">COVID-19 announcements documentation</a> to clarify that businesses should use <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">LocalBusiness</code> markup</a> or <a href="https://support.google.com/business/answer/9773423" class="external-link">Google My Business</a> to update store hours and post updates. </li> <li>Added a new case study that showcases how <a href="/search/case-studies/saramin-case-study">Saramin increased organic Search traffic 2x by investing in SEO</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>April 7</b>: Updated the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Event</code> structured data documentation</a> to state that the timezone UTC/GMT offset is required for online events, since there is no location information that Google can use to understand when the event starts.</li> <li><b>April 3</b>: <ul> <li>Removed the caution note about the Structured Data Testing Tool from the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements">COVID-19 announcements documentation</a>. The Structured Data Testing Tool now supports <code translate="no" dir="ltr">announcementLocation</code>. Added a new screenshot of an announcement in Search results. Added a new example that shows a page with multiple announcements, and added Microdata examples.</li> <li>Added new guidance on how to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/generate-structured-data-with-javascript">add structured data with JavaScript</a>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>April 2</b>: Added new guidance on how to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#using-search-console">submit COVID-19 announcements in Search Console</a>. Added information on <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements#troubleshooting">how to sign up for the technical support group</a>. At first, we'll be accepting only national government domains and US state level agencies. For more information about the group, <a href="/search/blog/2020/03/health-organizations-covid19" class="external-link">read our announcement</a>. </li> </ul> <h3 id="march-2020" data-text="March 2020" tabindex="-1">March 2020</h3> <ul> <li><b>March 31</b>: Added new guidance for how to <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/special-announcements">add structured data to COVID-19 announcements</a>. This feature is still under development, and you may see changes in requirements, guidelines, and how the feature appears in Google Search.</li> <li><b>March 26</b>: Added new guidance for how to <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/pause-online-business">pause your online business</a>.</li> <li><b>March 24</b>: <ul> <li>In the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/estimated-salary">Estimated Salary documentation</a>, replaced the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">unitText</code> property with the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">duration</code> property. Starting March 24, 2020, we updated the documentation to require <code translate="no" dir="ltr">duration</code> instead of <code translate="no" dir="ltr">unitText</code>. While we continue to support <code translate="no" dir="ltr">unitText</code>, we require <code translate="no" dir="ltr">duration</code> moving forward. We recommend that you switch over to using <code translate="no" dir="ltr">duration</code>, if possible.</li> <li>Updated the <a href="/search/docs/guides/podcast-management#direct-link">Google Podcasts brand assets</a> to include localized Google Podcasts badges in 49 languages.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>March 23</b>: Added a new recommended field to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/package-tracking">Package tracking developer documentation</a>: <code translate="no" dir="ltr">CanReschedule</code>.</li> <li><b>March 20</b>: <ul> <li>Added the Latest updates page (this page), which includes the major updates made to the Google Search developer documentation in March 2020.</li> <li>Added a new recommendation to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/javascript-seo-basics#caching">JavaScript best practices</a> about using long-lived caching to avoid caching issues with Googlebot. Added a new step about using content fingerprinting to the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/javascript/fix-search-javascript">JavaScript troubleshooting documentation</a>.</li> <li>Added a note to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Event</code> structured data documentation</a> about the new optional properties that were added on March 16-17, 2020. The Rich Results Test now supports the new properties.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>March 17</b>: <ul> <li>Added optional properties to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Event</code> structured data documentation</a>: <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event#event-attendance-mode"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">eventAttendanceMode</code></a>, <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event#virtual-location"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">VirtualLocation</code></a> type for <code translate="no" dir="ltr">location</code>, <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event#location-url"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">location.url</code></a> for online events. For more information about this change, check out our <a href="/search/blog/2020/03/new-properties-virtual-or-canceled-events" class="external-link">blog post</a>.</li> <li>Added <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/sitelinks-searchbox#troubleshooting">general troubleshooting info</a> to the Sitelinks search box documentation. Clarified that while Google Search may automatically display a search box scoped to your website, it's still helpful to explicitly provide information by adding <code translate="no" dir="ltr">WebSite</code> structured data, which can help Google better understand your site.</li> <li>In the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/job-training">Job training developer documentation</a>, removed the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">hasCredential</code> property from the list of recommended properties for <code translate="no" dir="ltr">EducationalOccupationalProgram</code>. This is because <code translate="no" dir="ltr">hasCredential</code> is only recommended for the <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Organization</code> type on schema.org, not <code translate="no" dir="ltr">EducationalOccupationalProgram</code>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>March 16</b>: Added optional properties to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Event</code> structured data documentation</a>: <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event#eventstatus"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">eventStatus</code></a> and <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/event#previous-start-date"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">previousStartDate</code></a>. For more information about this change, check out our <a href="/search/blog/2020/03/new-properties-virtual-or-canceled-events" class="external-link">blog post</a>. </li> <li><b>March 5</b>: <ul> <li>In the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product"><code translate="no" dir="ltr">Product</code> structured data</a> documentation, clarified that one of the following properties is required: <code translate="no" dir="ltr">review</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">aggregateRating</code>, <code translate="no" dir="ltr">offers</code>. Changed the expected type for <code translate="no" dir="ltr">brand</code> to be <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Brand</code> or <code translate="no" dir="ltr">Organization</code> (<code translate="no" dir="ltr">Thing</code> is still accepted).</li> <li>Added new recommended fields to the <a href="/search/docs/appearance/package-tracking">Package tracking developer documentation</a>: <code translate="no" dir="ltr">TimestampEvent</code> and <code translate="no" dir="ltr">LocationEvent</code>.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>March 3</b>: Added <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing#hostload-issues">hostload issues</a> to the list of error messages in the <a href="/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing">mobile-first indexing best practices</a>.</li> </ul> </devsite-expandable> <devsite-hats-survey class="nocontent" hats-id="egUfosvgZ0gb2CML1jd0VMoBx2ec" listnr-id="103417"></devsite-hats-survey> </div> <devsite-thumb-rating position="footer"> </devsite-thumb-rating> <devsite-feedback position="footer" project-name="What's new" product-id="103417" bucket="Search Docs" context="DevSite feedback link" version="t-devsite-webserver-20241114-r00-rc02.464922260396498922" data-label="Send Feedback Button" track-type="feedback" track-name="sendFeedbackLink" track-metadata-position="footer" class="nocontent" disable-product-feedback project-icon="https://developers.google.com/static/search/images/google-search-central-logo.svg" project-support-url="https://developers.google.com/search/help" > <button> Send feedback </button> </devsite-feedback> <div class="devsite-floating-action-buttons"> </div> </article> <devsite-content-footer class="nocontent"> <p>Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License</a>, and code samples are licensed under the <a href="https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0">Apache 2.0 License</a>. 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