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What: Updated the user-generated spam prevention guide with guidance on blocking indexing of link-shared content and monitoring abuse in Search Console. Why: To help platforms keep user-created pages that aren't meant for Search out of the index and detect spam earlier.
What: Updated the URL structure best practices to clarify word separation guidelines using hyphens versus underscores. Why: To synchronize the documentation with the episodes of "The Non-Canonical Cabinet" video series.
What: Updated the control what you share with Google Search documentation to include existing options such as the robots meta tag, data-nosnippet, X-Robots-Tag, and the Search generative AI control, along with minor clarifications that the page applies to Google Search. Why: To keep the page fresh and reflect the current set of options available to site owners.
What: Updated the Indexing API quota page to reflect the current quota limits and process. Why: To document the current quota limits for the Indexing API and remove an outdated form.
What: Added a new page about the UGC Fresh Data Program. Why: To explain the purpose of the program and help prospective applicants understand the eligibility criteria and how to participate.
What: Updated the using generative AI content guide with information from the Search Quality Raters guidelines. Why: To get our documentation in sync with our presentations we use at our developer events.
What: Added the creator property (noting support for author) and updated interactionStatistic to document supported interaction types in the VideoObject structured data documentation. Why: To document support for the creator and author properties, and clarify supported interaction types for interactionStatistic in VideoObject structured data.
What: Updated the aggregator unit and supplier unit documentation to include support for local business queries. Why: The aggregator unit and supplier unit now support local business queries.
What: Added a new guide on how to add a Search profile badge to your website. Why: To help site owners point their audience to their Search profile.
What: Added documentation about regional differences in Search experience, which includes information about search experiences available in certain countries, such as aggregator units, supplier units, and carousels. Why: To help publishers, businesses, and aggregators learn about the different regional search features available and understand the eligibility criteria and how to participate.
What: Updated the Google European Search Dataset Licensing Program page. Why: Refreshed the program overview, eligibility criteria, and application details.
What: Updated the favicon documentation to specifically list out the supported favicon file formats. Why: To be clearer about which favicon file formats are supported by Google Search. Previously, the documentation linked to an external reference that evolved over time and caused ambiguity about which favicon file formats are actually supported in Google Search. Google Search's supported file formats haven't changed; this update explicitly lists them in the documentation.
What: Updated the site reputation policy. Why: We've adjusted our enforcement approach within the European Economic Area (EEA). For more information, see our blog post.
What: Updated the preferred sources documentation to include instructions on how to add the new custom, interactive button to your site. Why: Site owners can now implement a custom, interactive button to guide their audience to set them as a preferred source, ensuring a seamless experience where users are brought right back to where they left off.
What: Added a new guide on how to analyze your social and video platform content performance in Search Console. Why: To help content creators, social media managers, and SEO professionals understand how their social and video platform content performs on Google Search.
What: Added a new guideline to the review snippet documentation about fake and undisclosed incentivized reviews. Why: To improve user review transparency.
What: Updated the feature availability and eligibility requirements sections package tracking early adopters program documentation. Why: The package tracking early adopters program is no longer accepting new partners.
What: Updated the canonicalization troubleshooting guide with clarifications on re-evaluation time. Why: To provide better expectations about how long it takes for canonicalization changes to take effect.
What: Added a new section on "Sale duration" to the Merchant listing guide. This explains how to use the validFrom, validThrough, and priceValidUntil schema.org properties to set the effective range for sale prices, including best practices and examples for placement on either Offer or PriceSpecification nodes. Why: This aligns schema.org usage with the Merchant Center feed attribute sale_price_effective_date, providing clear instructions and best practices for merchants using structured data.
What: Updated the Merchant listing documentation to detail how the Product.category property can be used with both Text and CategoryCode types. This aligns with the Google Merchant Center feed specifications for the product_type and google_product_category attributes. Why: To help merchants provide both merchant-defined and Google-defined category information within their schema.org markup, enhancing product information for Google Search and Shopping.
