Is Tech SEO over? Confusion Around Google’s Latest Updates (2023)

Business owners and agency consultants share their thoughts on the latest Google updates. But is there a reason to panic?

In April 2023, Google announced changes to its Google Search Console offerings. I received messages from colleagues and clients alike, wondering, does this mean it’s the end of Tech SEO?

Naturally, I needed clarification. But unfortunately, the announcement happened days before these conversations, and as someone usually on top of SEO news, it surprised me that my colleagues and clients seemed panicked, but no one in my SEO circle seemed even remotely interested in this latest update.

After some research, I started to understand where the confusion was coming from. Several experts on LinkedIn began to post about how Technical SEO was over, there was no hope for us SEOs anymore, and we should hang our hats. 

Whew, what a mess. This was different from my interpretation of the Google updates, and from what I’ve seen across the community since then, my understanding is correct. 

So, what happened, exactly?

Basically, Google made a few announcements at the same time. First, it announced it would deprecate the page experience report within Google Search Console, the mobile usability report, and the mobile-friendly testing tool. However, the core web vitals and HTTPs report would remain in Google. Second, it announced updates to the helpful content guide. Finally, three weeks later, it announced the replacement of FID with INP. 

The triangle of doom, I’ll call them from now on. 

Rest assured, these changes are all useful for the future of websites and SEO, and they are in no way a reason to panic or suddenly call for a new career. 

Here’s why each of these updates is a good thing:

• The page experience report is going away because it’s honestly not that useful. You could see general metrics and errors across groups of pages, and you could filter impressions to diagnose if the drop correlated with an increase or decrease in errors. But, usually, you’d have to use a more advanced technical tool regardless. And most SEOs run regular crawls and cross-check across performance to verify any significant drops in traffic due to “page experience” anyway. In my view, it’s not a huge loss, and the SEO community will adapt just fine.
• The mobile-friendly and usability reports are going away, but we’ll still be able to access mobile friendliness through advanced SEO crawlers, Lighthouse, and Pagespeed Insights. “Google said this is not because mobile friendly and usability is not important…it remains critical for users, who are using mobile devices more than ever, and as such, it remains a part of our page experience guidance. But in the nearly ten years since we initially launched this report, many other robust resources for evaluating mobile usability have emerged, including Lighthouse from Chrome.”
• The helpful content guide updates do not say that Core Web Vitals is no longer critical. In fact, the first bullet point in the new update asks site owners to consider whether their site has a robust Core Web Vitals report. The performance report is entirely separate, and the two should not be confused. Since April, Google announced another update to Core Web Vitals, the switch from FID to INP. This only confirms Google’s ongoing advancement in these reports.  

In short, Core Web Vitals is still vital to website performance and SEO visibility. We can all rest a little easier tonight, yes?

Got questions? Please email me at crystal@socialhart.com.