Google Webmaster Tools Renamed to Search Console

[netmeg]

Don't need to link to anything, just go to your GWT account and now it's called "Search Console." Which is probably a bit more accurate, but I don't expect I'll break the habit any time soon.

[not2easy]

I just saw that, it seemed weird to me. I guess it depends on how you use GWT (which I will continue to call it, sorry) I just don't see any relevance to a "Search Console", and it usually isn't a very consoling place to visit...

OT: I also noticed that they are back to 404s for pages and directories that have not existed for several years. Sometimes they go many months without that silliness so you know they are revisiting their old archives.

[engine]

For those of you that want to read the official announcement, here's the link to it.

to make sure that our product includes everyone who cares about Search, we've decided to rebrand Google Webmaster Tools as Google Search Console. Google Search Console [googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com]

We'll be rolling out the updated branding across the product over the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

GWT = Google Webmaster Tools
GSC = Google Search Console

I guess we'll have to get used to calling the the new name.

[fathom]

Or the GWTWTFGSC

[netmeg]

There's still plenty of people who called it WMT as well.

[lucy24]

We'll be rolling out the updated branding across the product over the coming weeks

It takes several weeks to change the <title> of the login screen? (Where my GWT bookmark takes me, because I never stay logged-in.)

Search Console? wtf? How is that a more useful or accurate label? It sounds more like something a user would go to if they wanted to fine-tune their search settings.

I also noticed that they are back to 404s for pages and directories that have not existed for several years. Sometimes they go many months without that silliness so you know they are revisiting their old archives.

For the past year and a half I've paid extra close attention to redirects because I moved 6/8 of a site and was curious about crawl patterns. Requests dropped steadily after the initial move-- but in the last month or two there's been an upsurge in requests for URLs that haven't existed in years. Weirdly it's not only Google though. Yandex has gone absolutely berserk, requesting certain long-relocated URLs every day like clockwork, while Bing is even requesting some URLs that never existed in the first place (ancient paths applied to new hostname). And yup, GWT, er GSC, er, GThingy is currently listing a clutch of 410s that they've known about for at least a year.

Well, you gotta assume that the various major search engines talk to each other in some way. Businesses don't just ignore the competition.

[not2easy]

I did not see the login page because when I need to go there I log in to AdSense then open a new tab. But I noticed it as soon as the page loaded - also noticed that they now refer to your sites as "properties". Oh, and then they send me email notifications that "someone" logged in, to two different email addresses - that started about a week or so ago.

[avalon37]

Weird name change.

[netmeg]

(So is Bing going to wait six or eight months and rename theirs too? ork ork)

[EditorialGuy]

Thanks, netmeg. It probably would have taken me a year to notice he change if you hadn't posted. :-)

[francie brady]

Not the most fitting name ;-)

[webcentric]

The impact of this announcement is staggering! Or not.