Latest documentation updates

This page details the major updates made to the Google Search Central documentation.

September 2021

September 1: Added documentation about the beta Follow feature and your website.

August 2021

August 11: Added a new case study about how large images in Discover improve CTR and increase visits to publisher sites.
August 9: The Schema Markup Validator has stabilized, and Google now redirects the Structured Data Testing Tool to a landing page to help you select the right tool.
August 6: Added a new recommended author.url property to the Article structured data documentation. The url property helps Google disambiguate the correct author of the article.

July 2021

July 30: Added technical, content, and quality guidelines to the Math solver guidelines 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.
July 29: Added a new case study about how MX Player boosted organic traffic 300x by maximizing video discoverability on Google.
July 28:
- Removed guidance about hosting multiple factchecks per page. To be eligible for the single fact check rich result, a page must only have one ClaimReview element.
- Added details about signed exchange cache lifetime.
July 26: Added a requirement that priceRange fields in Local business must be less than 100 characters to be eligible for use in Search features.
July 22:
- Added example use cases for the FAQ guideline 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.
- Removed the @id property from the Local business documentation. The url property alone is a sufficient identifier to understand the local business.
July 21: Added a set of new documentation about Google search operators.
July 13: Added a new editorial guideline to the JobPosting documentation. Added a new optional property for directApply.

June 2021

June 29: Significantly expanded our redirects guide with the different kinds of redirects and their effects on Google Search.
June 25: Added a page that details how different HTTP status codes, and network and DNS errors affect crawling and indexing.
June 18: Based on feedback we've received from Search Central Product Experts and through the feedback tool, we've made several updates to our documentation:
- Simplified the introduction page to make it clearer what is robots.txt and what is its intended use.
- Expanded the instructions about creating and updating robots.txt files.
- Removed redundant sections from our documentation about how Google handles robots.txt.
- Simplified sentences across all robots.txt documentation in English. This helps with localization.
- 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 Video structured data guide).
- Improved the troubleshooting sections across all structured data feature guides (for example, the Product structured data guide.
- Added more beginner-friendly information about how to get started with structured data.
June 15: Updated the timeline in the page experience documentation. The page experience update is now slowly rolling out to all users. It will be complete by the end of August 2021.
June 11:
- Clarified the Sitelinks search box documentation to explain the more standard and explicit form for specifying the search box urlTemplate. Google will still accept the shorthand form as noted.
- Added a new optional property to the Dataset documentation: funder.
June 10: Deprecated the critic review documentation. 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. Feel free to leave the markup on your site so that search engines can better understand your web page.
June 8: Added BackOrder as an allowed value for the availability property in Product structured data.
June 4: Added gtin as an allowed identifier and clarified how to correctly use isbn for Product structured data.
June 3: Added support for the inLanguage property to the Math solvers documentation.
June 1:
- Modified the Math Solver developer documentation to add six new problem types.
- Updated the DuplexWeb user agent (in Overview of Google crawlers) to use a more recent system and Chrome version.

May 2021

May 18:
- Added documentation for SeekToAction structured data, which is an alternative way to participate in the key moments feature. Clip structured data is now out of beta, and available to be used by any site.
- Modified the JobPosting region availability list to include Austria and Denmark.
May 6: Modified the publisher logo requirements of AMP Article structured data to more accurately reflect that we understand both raw URLs as well as ImageObject markup.

April 2021

April 19: Added new documentation for how to Get started with signed exchanges on Google Search. Learn more about the signed exchange (SXG) announcement in our blog post.
April 8: Added a new quality guideline to the Discover documentation. 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).
April 7: Updated the Video structured data documentation to state that the thumbnailUrl property must use one of the supported Google Images file formats. Previously, the documentation didn't include WebP and SVG.
April 1: Clarified the key moments feature. 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: Clip structured data and updating the description of a YouTube video.
Currently, Google is working with a wide range of providers to ensure that the use of Clip structured data works well at scale (our interest form is closed, as we have reached capacity). You're welcome to read the documentation and implement Clip 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.

March 2021

March 29: Removed the interest form for the Key moments feature. The feature remains in development with a select group of providers, but the program is no longer accepting submissions.
March 25: Added new structured data documentation for practice problems and math solvers.
March 24:
- Based on user feedback, we added examples for the property experienceRequirements.monthsOfExperience in the JobPosting structured data documentation.
- Added a new optional property to the Dataset documentation: isAccessibleForFree.
March 17: Updated the video best practices to more clearly emphasize the important guidelines. Removed duplicate content and updated the screenshots.
March 16: Based on user feedback, we added more examples for the max-snippet meta robots directive, and also specified for each tag what Google's default behavior is when the tags are omitted.
March 11: Added new beta properties to the JobPosting structured data documentation. You may not see any appearance or effect in Google Search right away, as we are still developing how we are using this information.
- educationRequirements.credentialCategory
- experienceRequirements
- experienceRequirements.monthsOfExperience
- experienceInPlaceOfEducation
March 8: Added the JP_E-CODE value as an accepted value for the PropertyValue property in the Book documentation.
March 1: Removed instructions for submitting sitemaps on Google Sites from the sitemap guide. Google Sites doesn't create a sitemap for sites anymore.

February 2021

February 8: Removed the page about joining the 3D and AR Early Adopters Program. The feature remains in development with a select group of providers, but the program is no longer accepting submissions.
February 2: 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.

January 2021

January 28: Updated the Event structured data documentation to state that the offers.priceCurrency property requires an ISO 4217 currency code.
January 22: Added documentation for the price drop enhancement for product rich results.
January 20: Updated the Job Training documentation to clarify that the appearance isn't available on Google Search right now.
January 5: Updated the list of recommended hreflang checker tools and removed those that don't work anymore.

December 2020

December 4: Migrated the following guides from the Search Console Help Center (the content hasn't changed):

November 2020

November 19: Migrated the Google Webmaster blogs to the new Google Search Central Blog.
November 16: Added a new guide about how to join the Google Search Central office hours.
November 12:
- Added a new guideline for STEM-education related Q&A pages.
- Added information about Googlebot's ability to crawl through HTTP/2 to the Googlebot help page.
November 11: Published a redesign of the entire site. Reorganized the navigation to account for a migration of over 100 new pages from the Search Console Help Center. The notable additions include:
- Home page: Expanded the focus to include our entire audience, not just web developers.
- Events landing page: Get an overview of upcoming events, including events that we host and attend as speakers.
- What's new on Google Search Central: Check out the latest updates on Google Search, including changes to our blog, documentation, new Search events, YouTube videos, and podcast episodes.
- Blog landing page: Added a new home page for our blog, previously known as the Google Webmaster Central blog. We plan to move archived posts soon.
- Help landing page: Updated to include all of our help resources. Refreshed and simplified the Webmaster FAQ into 4 pages:
- Documentation landing page: Get an overview of the different learning paths in our documentation, including new Quickstart guides, beginner SEO guides, and advanced SEO guides.
- Quickstart guides: A new set of guides for those that don't have much time to manage their site.
- Beginner SEO guides: A new set of guides for beginners who want to learn about SEO. New pages include: Beginners guide to Search Console.
- Advanced SEO guides: A new set of guides for advanced SEO topics. Most of the pages previously existed in the Search Console Help Center. New pages include:
To learn more about why we made these changes, read our Goodbye Webmasters, Hello Google Search Central blog post.
November 10: Updated the timeline information for the upcoming page experience ranking change. The changes are planned to go live in May 2021.

October 2020

October 30:
- Updated the librarySystem additionalProperty.value property in the Book documentation, replacing the national value with the government value.
- Updated the timeline for data-vocabulary.org support on intro to structured data and breadcrumb page. 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 sunsetting support for data-vocabulary.
October 29: Added image ratio specifications to the hiringOrganization.logo property and the Logo is incorrect troubleshooting section.
October 22: Changed the API requirement for package tracking documentation to state that we only accept POST requests.
October 6: Added new examples of Web Stories, best practices for creating Web Stories, and Web Story content policy.

September 2020

September 22: Added support for shippingDetails to the Product structured data documentation.
September 21: Added new episodes about Indexing (JavaScript) comments and Google's Honest Results Policy to the Search Off the Record podcast page.
September 18: Updated the fact check guidelines to include all relevant eligibility guidelines in one place (some guidelines were previously mentioned only in the Publisher Center article about fact-checked content). Added the following new guidelines:
- You must have a corrections policy or have a mechanism for users to report errors.
- Websites for political entities (such as campaigns, parties, or elected officials) aren't eligible for this feature.
- 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.
September 15:
- Added support for regionsAllowed in the Video documentation. Added Microdata examples.
- Updated the EmployerAggregateRating and Review snippet documentation to clarify that bestRating and worstRating are recommended if you want to specify a different scale than the default 5-point system.

August 2020

August 31: Updated the Image License documentation to state that the Licensable badge is now out of beta.
August 27: Clarified merging of user-agent groups in the file robots.txt documentation.
August 26: Added new documentation about the Home activities rich result.
August 21: Added section to the Fix Search-related JavaScript problems guide to explain how to deal with non-HTTP network connections.
August 10: Clarified that there are different Article requirements for AMP and non-AMP pages. Added an example of a non-AMP page with Article structured data.
August 5: Clarified in all relevant documentation that images referenced in structured data must be in one of the image file formats that are supported by Google Images.
August 3:
- Added a new episode about Indexing (JavaScript) comments to the Search Off the Record podcast page.
- Added the optional jobBenefits and industry properties to the Estimated salary documentation, to match the existing requirements in the Rich Results Test.

July 2020

July 24: Added new episodes to the Search Off the Record podcast page.
July 23: Clarified that Google Search is still working on way to display multiple fact checks for a single page, and that you may not see a rich result that features multiple fact checks in Google Search right away.
July 21: Added a new optional property to the Dataset documentation, measurementTechnique, and clarified that the name property should be unique for distinct datasets.
July 20: Added the reviewCount property to the EmployerAggregateRating documentation, to match the existing requirements in the Rich Results Test. Either reviewCount or ratingCount is required.
July 16:
- Updated the Book documentation to explain how select book providers can provide a feed of data to Google with the structured data schema.
- Clarified that product rich results only support pages that are about a single product, not category pages or lists.
- Based on Lighthouse recommendations, specified what small font size means on the Common mistakes page of the Mobile SEO guidelines.
July 8: Clarified that Google Search understands when you specify multiple items on a page with structured data, whether you nest the items or specify each item individually.
July 1: Clarified in the AMP logo guidelines in the Article documentation that the logo can be in any format supported by Google Images.

June 2020

June 30: Added more examples to the Carousel documentation, and clarified the supported types and how to add them.
June 23: Added a note to differentiate between guidelines applicable to Article AMP logo guidelines and generic Logo guidelines.
June 19: Added a contentUrl requirement to the Image License documentation to make it clear that the feature needs a specific image URL to apply the license to.
June 16: Added native lazy-loading to the lazy-loading guide.
June 15: Added monitoring rich results video and more detailed information on using Search Console to monitor rich results to structured data reference pages (for example Product, Recipe, FAQ).
June 12: Added .webp, too, to the list of supported image file formats for Logo structured data.
June 10: Added .svg to the list of supported image file formats for Logo structured data.
June 8: Clarified that the recognized values for an applicationCategory on a Software App are of type Text.
June 4: Clarified in the Sitelinks search box documentation that the search query parameter key can be any string permitted by RFC 3986; it doesn't have to be q.

May 2020

May 28: Added new documentation that explains page experience in Google Search results.
May 27: Updated the Job training developer documentation to require the occupationalCategory property, recommend the description property, and remove the requirement of the url property. Also updated the educationalProgramMode and financialAidEligible fields to have more precise value specifications.
May 19: Added new guidance on how to enable Web Stories on Google.
May 15: Added a note to the Product structured data documentation about how to be eligible for the Google Shopping tab. Learn more about the data and eligibility requirements.
May 12: Extended the JavaScript SEO basics guide to include guidance on JavaScript-generated links, History API instead of fragment URLs, and avoiding soft 404 errors.
May 11:
- Added guidance on how to reduce the Googlebot crawl rate.
- Removed the following documentation that has been deprecated since June 2019:
  - Social Profile structured data: 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 Update your Google knowledge panel.
  - Corporate Contact structured data: 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 Update your Google knowledge panel.
  - Place Actions structured data: Instead, scheduling providers can use the Maps Booking API. Google Search continues to support existing partners that added Place Action structured data prior to June 17, 2019.
May 7:
- The Rich Result Test now supports Article structured data on AMP pages. Removed the following recommended fields from the documentation because we no longer need these signals: description, publisher.logo.height, publisher.logo.width.
- Added a video to the Submit URLs guide 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.
- Removed the page about joining the Mini-apps Early Adopters Program. The program is no longer accepting submissions.
May 6: Added information about how to test robots.txt markup.
May 5:
- Updated the Job posting content policies to have a clear structure and language that describes what Google will enforce. Added the following new policies:
  - Irrelevant content
  - Incomplete content
  - We don't allow job postings on behalf of an organization or company without authorization.
  - Advertisements disguised as a job posting
- Updated SpecialAnnouncement structured data to include information on how to use Search Console to troubleshoot markup and analyze the rich result performance.
- Podcasts on Google information has migrated to the new Podcasts Manager help center. Visit the help center to learn how to get your podcast on Google.
May 1: Updated the Indexing API documentation to include the <meta name="robots" content="noindex" /> tag as an option for removing a URL.

April 2020

April 30:
- Added a note to explain that it isn't reliable to use cached links for debugging purposes. Instead, use the URL Inspection Tool because it has the a most up-to-date version of your page. The note was added to the general debugging guide, JavaScript debugging guide, and the structured data debugging guide.
- Updated the Breadcrumb structured data documentation to have some explanatory text on how breadcrumbs relate to URL paths.
April 27: Updated the Job training structured data documentation to require 2-letter country codes for provider addresses.
April 23: Added missing meta description issue to the list of error messages in the mobile-first indexing best practices.
April 22: Updated the Paywalled content structured data documentation to include a list of supported types.
April 20: Added COVID-19 resources for sites from Google Search and Best practices for education sites
April 16:
- Added a new example and optional properties to support COVID-19 announcements about government benefits:
- Updated the JobPosting structured data documentation 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.
April 14: Added optional properties to the Event structured data documentation: organizer, organizer.name, organizer.url.
April 10: Updated the COVID-19 announcements documentation. The Rich Results Test now supports SpecialAnnouncements.
April 8:
- Added a note to COVID-19 announcements documentation to clarify that businesses should use LocalBusiness markup or Google My Business to update store hours and post updates.
- Added a new case study that showcases how Saramin increased organic Search traffic 2x by investing in SEO.
April 7: Updated the Event structured data documentation 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.
April 3:
- Removed the caution note about the Structured Data Testing Tool from the COVID-19 announcements documentation. The Structured Data Testing Tool now supports announcementLocation. 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.
- Added new guidance on how to add structured data with JavaScript.
April 2: Added new guidance on how to submit COVID-19 announcements in Search Console. Added information on how to sign up for the technical support group. At first, we'll be accepting only national government domains and US state level agencies. For more information about the group, read our announcement.

March 2020

March 31: Added new guidance for how to add structured data to COVID-19 announcements. This feature is still under development, and you may see changes in requirements, guidelines, and how the feature appears in Google Search.
March 26: Added new guidance for how to pause your online business.
March 24:
- In the Estimated Salary documentation, replaced the unitText property with the duration property. Starting March 24, 2020, we updated the documentation to require duration instead of unitText. While we continue to support unitText, we require duration moving forward. We recommend that you switch over to using duration, if possible.
- Updated the Google Podcasts brand assets to include localized Google Podcasts badges in 49 languages.
March 23: Added a new recommended field to the Package tracking developer documentation: CanReschedule.
March 20:
- Added the Latest updates page (this page), which includes the major updates made to the Google Search developer documentation in March 2020.
- Added a new recommendation to the JavaScript best practices about using long-lived caching to avoid caching issues with Googlebot. Added a new step about using content fingerprinting to the JavaScript troubleshooting documentation.
- Added a note to the Event structured data documentation about the new optional properties that were added on March 16-17, 2020. The Rich Results Test now supports the new properties.
March 17:
- Added optional properties to the Event structured data documentation: eventAttendanceMode, VirtualLocation type for location, location.url for online events. For more information about this change, check out our blog post.
- Added general troubleshooting info 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 WebSite structured data, which can help Google better understand your site.
- In the Job training developer documentation, removed the hasCredential property from the list of recommended properties for EducationalOccupationalProgram. This is because hasCredential is only recommended for the Organization type on schema.org, not EducationalOccupationalProgram.
March 16: Added optional properties to the Event structured data documentation: eventStatus and previousStartDate. For more information about this change, check out our blog post.
March 5:
- In the Product structured data documentation, clarified that one of the following properties is required: review, aggregateRating, offers. Changed the expected type for brand to be Brand or Organization (Thing is still accepted).
- Added new recommended fields to the Package tracking developer documentation: TimestampEvent and LocationEvent.
March 3: Added hostload issues to the list of error messages in the mobile-first indexing best practices.