Googlebot evergreen rendering in our testing tools
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Wednesday, August 07, 2019
Today we updated most of our testing tools so they are using the
evergreen Chromium renderer. This affects our testing tools like the mobile-friendly test or the
URL inspection tool in Search Console. In this post we look into what this means and what went
into making this update happen.
At its core the update is a switch from Chrome 41 as the rendering engine to the latest stable
Chromium. Googlebot is now using the latest stable Chromium to run JavaScript and render pages. We
will continue to update Googlebot along with the stable Chromium, hence we call it "evergreen".
What this means for your websites
We are very happy to bring the latest features of the web platform not only to Googlebot but to
the tools that let you see what Googlebot sees as well. This means websites using ES6+, Web
Components and
1000+ new web platform features
are now rendered with the latest stable Chromium, both in Googlebot and our testing tools.
What the update changes in our testing tools
Our testing tools reflect how Googlebot processes your pages as closely as possible. With the
update to the new Googlebot, we had to update them to use the same renderer as Googlebot.
The change will affect the rendering within the following tools:
We tested these updates and based on the feedback we have switched the tools listed previously to
the new evergreen Googlebot. A lot of the feedback came from Googlers and the community.
Product Experts and
Google Developer Experts
helped us make sure the update works well.
Note: The new Googlebot still uses the same
user agent
as before the update. There will be more information about an update to the user agent in the near
future. For now, Googlebot's user agent and the user agent used in the testing tools does not
change.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eGoogle's testing tools, including Search Console and the Mobile-Friendly Test, now utilize the evergreen Chromium renderer, mirroring the latest Googlebot update.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWebsites leveraging modern web technologies like ES6+, Web Components, and over 1000 new features will be rendered with the most recent Chromium by Googlebot and testing tools.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThis update ensures Google's testing tools accurately reflect how Googlebot processes web pages, providing developers with valuable insights.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe change primarily affects rendering in tools like Search Console's URL Inspection tool, Mobile-Friendly Test, Rich Results Test, and AMP Test.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWhile the renderer has been updated, Googlebot's user agent remains the same for now, with an update expected in the future.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Google updated its testing tools, including the URL inspection tool, mobile-friendly test, rich results test, and AMP test, to use the evergreen Chromium renderer. This aligns the tools with the new evergreen Googlebot, which now utilizes the latest stable Chromium. This change enables the tools and Googlebot to render websites with newer web platform features like ES6+ and Web Components. The update was implemented after feedback from Google's internal experts and the community. The user agent remains unchanged for now.\n"],null,["Wednesday, August 07, 2019\n\n\nToday we updated most of [our testing tools](/search/tools) so they are using the\nevergreen Chromium renderer. This affects our testing tools like the mobile-friendly test or the\nURL inspection tool in Search Console. In this post we look into what this means and what went\ninto making this update happen.\n\nThe evergreen Chromium renderer\n\n\nAt Google I/O this year we were happy to announce\n[the new evergreen Googlebot](https://www.youtube.com/watch/ufcijo46LCU?t=10m43s).\n\n\nAt its core the update is a switch from Chrome 41 as the rendering engine to the latest stable\nChromium. Googlebot is now using the latest stable Chromium to run JavaScript and render pages. We\nwill continue to update Googlebot along with the stable Chromium, hence we call it \"evergreen\".\n\nWhat this means for your websites\n\n\nWe are very happy to bring the latest features of the web platform not only to Googlebot but to\nthe tools that let you see what Googlebot sees as well. This means websites using ES6+, Web\nComponents and\n[1000+ new web platform features](https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/)\nare now rendered with the latest stable Chromium, both in Googlebot and our testing tools.\n\nWhat the update changes in our testing tools\n\n\nOur testing tools reflect how Googlebot processes your pages as closely as possible. With the\nupdate to the new Googlebot, we had to update them to use the same renderer as Googlebot.\n\nThe change will affect the rendering within the following tools:\n\n- [Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console)'s URL inspection tool\n- [Mobile-friendly test](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/overview)\n- [Rich results test](https://search.google.com/test/rich-results)\n- [AMP test](https://search.google.com/test/amp)\n\n\nWe tested these updates and based on the feedback we have switched the tools listed previously to\nthe new evergreen Googlebot. A lot of the feedback came from Googlers and the community.\n[Product Experts](https://productexperts.withgoogle.com/) and\n[Google Developer Experts](/community/experts)\nhelped us make sure the update works well.\n\n\nNote: The new Googlebot still uses the same\n[user agent](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers)\nas before the update. There will be more information about an update to the user agent in the near\nfuture. For now, Googlebot's user agent and the user agent used in the testing tools does not\nchange.\n\n\nWe are excited about this update and are looking forward to your feedback and questions on\n[Twitter](https://twitter.com/googlesearchc), the\n[webmaster forum](https://support.google.com/webmasters/community)\nor in our\n[webmaster office hours](https://google.com/webmasters/connect).\n\n\nPosted by Zoe Clifford, Software Engineer in the Web Rendering Service team and [Martin Splitt](/search/blog/authors/martin-splitt),\nfriendly internet fairy at Google WTA"]]
