Google Search Console is a free service provided by Google that enables you track, retain and troubleshoot any potential issues identified with your site within Google’s Search Console. One does need to sign up, include specific data about your website on the Google Search Console, this will help in customising the outcomes on Google Search. However, this has been changed moving forward. Search Console helps you comprehend and enhance how Google sees your site. It communicates with individual website owners. It can also send webmasters data about site problems, mistakes, or even penalties by having a registered account. It also offers some restricted instruments to enable you to contact them about the site problems and demands for features. It has made changes to its Search Console platform, making more friendly to webmasters and SEO professionals with tools such as performance reports replacing search analytics and preferred domain settings being done away with for automatic recognition of website URLs by google.
Amongst the offerings of the google search console, was the ability to set the preferred domain also known as canonical domains. However, this has been removed and Google searches will reveal URLs based on what it finds would be preferable to the person searching given the search parameters. The settings on the domain that had been previously implemented by an SEO professional or webmaster will no longer be respected, given the new search console, simply put, would no longer use existing search console settings in regard to domain preference.
How you Set your Preferred Domain with the New Google Search Console?
Through good site architecture, you can now connect your desired domain to Google. Presently you cannot rely on Google to select your preferred domain. With this announcement, you will need to guarantee that your canonical URL specified to Google has not been altered. Google did not disclose whether it would communicate its canonical URL in Google’s index to webmasters, publishers or developers via Search Console. Instead, you need to audit your Google outcomes to guarantee that no modifications have been made. It also says that one can use the below mentioned methods to signal google on your preferred domain to appear on search results:
- Use rel=”canonical” link tag on HTML pages
- Use rel=”canonical” HTTP header
- Use a sitemap
- Use 301 redirects for retired URLs
