Google is modernizing and revamping its resources for Search Engine Optimizers, web developers, and site owners. “Google Search Central” is replacing “Webmasters Central,” while there’s a new website and blog.
According to the company, the term “webmaster” has become “archaic, and according to the data found in books, its use is in sharp decline.” Namely, “very few web professionals identify themselves as webmasters anymore,” as evidenced by a Google user experience study.
In brainstorming our new name, we realized that there’s not one term that perfectly summarizes the work people do on websites. To focus more on the topic that we talk about (Google Search), we’re changing our name from “Google Webmasters Central” to “Google Search Central”, both on our websites and on social media.
Google Search Central retains the same goal of helping “people improve the visibility of their website on Google Search.” It starts with developers.google.com/search becoming home to:
information related to how Google Search works, crawling and indexing, Search guidelines, and other Search-related topics
As part of this, the announcements blog and localized versions are moving to the new site. RSS and email subscribers will automatically be moved over.
Meanwhile, the Search Console Help Center will be dedicated to information on how to use the Search Console tool but will house the “Google Search Central Community” forum.
One last whimsical change today is a spider sidekick for the Googlebot that crawls and indexes websites:
When we first met this curious critter, we wondered, “Is it really a spider?” After some observation, we noticed this spider bot hybrid can jump great distances and sees best when surrounded by green light. We think Googlebot’s new best friend is a spider from the genus Phidippus, though it seems to also have bot-like characteristics. Googlebot’s been trying out new nicknames for the little spider bot, but they haven’t settled on anything yet. Maybe you can help?
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