Simplifying Search Console reports with an updated item classification
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Wednesday, June 15, 2022
We are simplifying the way we classify pages, items, and issues in Search Console reports. We hope this will help you focus on
critical issues that affect your visibility in Search, and will help you better prioritize your work. We will roll out this change
to all properties gradually over the next few months, so you might not see any changes for now.
Users have told us that they are confused by the "warning" status when it's applied to a URL or item: does a warning mean that the page
or item can or can't appear on Google?
In response, we are grouping the top-level item (a rich result for the rich result reports, a page or URL for the other reports)
into two groups: pages or items with critical issues are labeled something like invalid; pages or items without critical issues
are labeled something like valid. We think this new grouping will make it easier to see quickly which issues affect your site's
appearance on Google, in order to help you prioritize your fixes. Read more about how this change will affect each of the reports
in the Help Center.
To reiterate, this is only a reporting change in Search Console; there are no changes in how Google Search crawls, indexes, or
serves your pages.
The changes discussed in this post will also be reflected in the
URL Inspection tool when inspecting a particular URL inside Search Console.
However, they'll only be updated in the URL Inspection API when we complete
the rollout in a few months. This means that if your property shows the updated item classification in Search Console, you might see
differences when comparing results from the product interface and the API. Note that after the rollout is complete, there will be no
new values in the API. We'll update this blog post when the API has been updated.
[[["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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eGoogle Search Console is simplifying report classifications for pages, items, and issues to "valid" and "invalid" for better clarity and prioritization of fixes.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThis change is purely for reporting within Search Console; it doesn't affect how Google Search crawls, indexes, or serves web pages.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe URL Inspection tool will reflect these changes immediately, but the URL Inspection API will be updated later after the complete rollout.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers might notice temporary discrepancies between Search Console and the API until the API is updated to reflect the new classification.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Search Console is updating how it classifies pages and items in reports to better highlight critical issues. The \"warning\" status will be removed, and items will be grouped as \"invalid\" (critical issues) or \"valid\" (no critical issues). This is a reporting change only, not affecting how Google crawls or indexes. The URL Inspection tool will also reflect these changes, but the API will update later after full roll out. This roll out will be gradual.\n"],null,["# Simplifying Search Console reports with an updated item classification\n\nWednesday, June 15, 2022\n\nWe are simplifying the way we classify pages, items, and issues in Search Console reports. We hope this will help you focus on\ncritical issues that affect your visibility in Search, and will help you better prioritize your work. We will roll out this change\nto all properties gradually over the next few months, so you might not see any changes for now.\n\nUsers have told us that they are confused by the \"warning\" status when it's applied to a URL or item: does a warning mean that the page\nor item can or can't appear on Google?\n\nIn response, we are grouping the top-level item (a rich result for the rich result reports, a page or URL for the other reports)\ninto two groups: pages or items with critical issues are labeled something like invalid; pages or items without critical issues\nare labeled something like valid. We think this new grouping will make it easier to see quickly which issues affect your site's\nappearance on Google, in order to help you prioritize your fixes. Read more about how this change will affect each of the reports\nin [the Help Center](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/11510493).\n\nTo reiterate, this is only a reporting change in Search Console; there are no changes in how Google Search crawls, indexes, or\nserves your pages.\n\nThe changes discussed in this post will also be reflected in the [URL Inspection tool](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9012289) when inspecting a particular URL inside Search Console.\n\nHowever, they'll only be updated in the [URL Inspection API](/search/blog/2022/01/url-inspection-api) when we complete\nthe rollout in a few months. This means that if your property shows the updated item classification in Search Console, you might see\ndifferences when comparing results from the product interface and the API. Note that after the rollout is complete, there will be no\nnew values in the API. We'll update this blog post when the API has been updated.\n\nIf you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us via the [Google Search Central Community](https://support.google.com/webmasters/threads?thread_filter=(category:search_console)) or on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/googlesearchc).\n\nPosted by Sion Schori, Search Console Engineer and [Moshe Samet](https://www.linkedin.com/in/moshe-samet-5465326/), Search Console Product Manager"]]
