Google updates Search Console testing tools & URL Inspection tool
Google is integrating elements from the URL Inspection tool into the AMP, Mobile Friendly, and Rich Results testing tools in Search Console. The search engine is harmonising these tools in terms of design and functionalities to address discrepancies across them.
The Search Console team provides three public standalone tools to website owners and SEOs to assist users to identify and repair errors in their web pages, specifically for AMP, Mobile Friendly, and Rich Results.
According to Google, these tools are driven by the same engine that powers Search Console’s URL Inspection tool, which has improved over time. While the engine remains the same, the UI of the tools has evolved independently. “Today, we’re making changes in their designs and improving features to be fully aligned with the URL Inspection Tool,” a Google blog post suggests.
The updates include standardisation of existing functionality as well as new features similar to those found in the URL Inspection tool. In particular, the following information will now be reported on both public testing and URL inspection tools.
- Page availability – Whether or not Google was able to crawl the page when it was crawled, and any difficulties encountered when crawling the URL.
- HTTP headers – The HTTP header response from the examined URL.
- Page snapshot – A screenshot of the produced page as seen by Google.
- Inspect both the canonical and the AMP URLs using paired AMP inspection.
Technically, these are all separate tools, however, they are all driven by the same engine. The search engine has developed over time, and those upgrades have remained consistent across all four tools.
Some of the updates are resulting in a less-than-smooth user experience when navigating between them. But the URL Inspection Tool is now “completely-aligned” with the AMP, mobile-friendly, and rich results testing tools.
