Recognizing that a lot of different types of people use Webmaster Tools beyond just traditional webmasters, Google has decided to rebrand its popular product to reflect that. From now on, Google Webmaster Tools will be known as Google Search Console. Here’s the logo:
“For nearly ten years, Google Webmaster Tools has provided users with constantly evolving tools and metrics to help make fantastic websites that our systems love showing in Google Search,” wrote product manager Michael Fink in a blog post. “In the past year, we sought to learn more about you, the loyal users of Google Webmaster Tools: we wanted to understand your role and goals in order to make our product more useful to you.”
“It turns out that the traditional idea of the ‘webmaster’ reflects only some of you,” he added. “We have all kinds of Webmaster Tools fans: hobbyists, small business owners, SEO experts, marketers, programmers, designers, app developers, and, of course, webmasters as well. What you all share is a desire to make your work available online, and to make it findable through Google Search. So, 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 did not announce any new features beyond the rebranding.
Google webmaster trends analyst John Muller had this to say on Google+:
I remember … back when Google Webmaster Tools first launched as a way of submitting sitemap files. It’s had an awesome run, the teams have brought it a long way over the years. It turns out that the traditional idea of the “webmaster” reflects only some of you. We have all kinds of Webmaster Tools fans: hobbyists, small business owners, SEO experts, marketers, programmers, designers, app developers, and, of course, webmasters as well. So, to make sure that our product includes everyone who cares about Search, we’ve decided to rebrand Google Webmaster Tools as Google Search Console .
The rebranding does seem much more user-friendly than the term Webmaster Tools, which some with limited web experience may have found a little intimidating. In an era where businesses must have and maintain a web presence, the offering is more important than ever, and the rebranding could just lead to more businesses utilizing the Webmaster Tools features.
Image via Google