Deprecated reports & replaced tools

Map old Search Console terminology and reports to their current replacements or removal status.

GSC UI required Intermediate

An older Search Console tutorial can be wrong in three different ways: the feature was renamed, its job moved into another report, or Google removed it without a full replacement. Use the mapping below before trying to reproduce an obsolete navigation path.

“Replacement” does not mean feature parity. Several current reports focus on issue patterns and representative examples rather than restoring the old tool's controls or complete URL lists.

Old-to-current workflow map

Older name or tool	Current status	Use now	Important difference
Search Analytics report	Replaced	Search results Performance report; Search Analytics API; BigQuery bulk export	The current UI retains 16 months and exposes top rows. BigQuery provides the most complete daily export but still excludes anonymized queries.
Index Coverage report	Renamed and redesigned	Page Indexing report plus URL Inspection	Page Indexing emphasizes indexed/not-indexed reasons. Issue examples are limited even though its headline totals are comprehensive within report scope.
Fetch as Google	Replaced	URL Inspection → Test live URL, then request indexing when appropriate	The live test checks current fetchability and some indexability conditions. It does not reproduce Google's indexed state, canonical selection, or guarantee indexing.
Crawl Errors report	Removed in 2019	Page Indexing, URL Inspection, Crawl Stats, availability monitoring, and server logs	There is no one-for-one list or replacement for the old Crawl Errors API. A normal 404 is not automatically a site error.
Old Sitemaps report	Replaced	Current Sitemaps report and sitemap filtering in Page Indexing	Submission and successful parsing do not guarantee indexing.
Structured Data dashboard	Replaced only for supported Search features	Rich-result status reports, Rich Results Test, and URL Inspection	Search Console no longer reports arbitrary schema.org markup. It focuses on structured data that supports current Google Search features.
Blocked Resources report	Removed	URL Inspection's indexed or tested page resources; browser and crawler diagnostics	URL Inspection is page-specific, not a complete property-wide blocked-resource inventory.
HTML Improvements / HTML Suggestions	Removed	Crawl the site and analyze titles and descriptions with a crawler or content inventory	Search Console has no current sitewide duplicate-title or short-description replacement.
Property Sets	Removed	Domain properties plus deliberately scoped URL-prefix properties; external dashboards for arbitrary combinations	A Domain property consolidates protocols and subdomains for one domain, but it is not an arbitrary cross-property set.
Android Apps in Search Console	Removed	Firebase and relevant Android tooling	Website Search Console no longer provides the old app view.
Standalone Webmaster Central verification tool	Sunset after 2023 migration	Settings → Users and permissions and ownership verification	Current Search Console distinguishes verified and delegated owners and shows ownership tokens and history.
International Targeting report	Deprecated in 2022	Implement and validate locale URLs, `hreflang`, canonicals, and international site structure; analyze country data in Performance	There is no replacement country-targeting control. Country Performance data describes searcher location; it does not validate `hreflang`.
URL Parameters tool	Removed in April 2022	Stable crawlable URLs, consistent canonicals and internal links, sitemap discipline, redirects where appropriate, and carefully scoped robots rules	Old parameter settings were not migrated. `robots.txt` controls crawling, not canonicalization or index removal, and should not be treated as an equivalent parameter console.
Combined Page Experience report	Simplified into guidance/navigation	Core Web Vitals, HTTPS report, PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and holistic page-experience review	Google says there is no single “page experience” ranking signal or single report that proves good page experience.
Mobile Usability report	Retired December 1, 2023	Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, Chrome DevTools, device testing, accessibility testing, and URL Inspection rendering evidence	No current GSC property-wide mobile pass/fail report replaces it.
Mobile-Friendly Test and API	Retired December 1, 2023	Lighthouse and current browser/device testing	URL Inspection can help with fetching and rendering but is not the old mobile-friendly verdict API.
Good page experience search-appearance filter	Retired; API transition followed	Analyze Core Web Vitals and HTTPS separately and segment Performance by page where useful	Historical filter values should not be interpreted as a current Search appearance or single ranking factor.
How-to rich-result report and search appearance	Removed in 2023 after the Search feature ended	No direct replacement; retain markup only if useful outside Google Search and supported by its consumers	Valid markup does not recreate a removed Google Search display.

Structured-data and search-appearance retirements

Search Console reports depend on supported Google Search features, not simply on whether markup is syntactically valid.

On September 9, 2025, Search Console removed reporting, Rich Results Test support, and applicable appearance filters for Course Info, Claim Review, Estimated Salary, Learning Video, Special Announcement, and Vehicle Listing. API support lasted through December 2025. Relevant BigQuery appearance fields began returning NULL, so boolean filters should use expressions such as IS NOT TRUE rather than NOT field when old and new dates are mixed.
How-to rich results stopped appearing in 2023, followed by removal of the corresponding Search Console report, test support, appearance, and later API support.
As of May 7, 2026, FAQ rich results no longer appear in Google Search. Expect FAQ impressions to fall in Performance and the FAQ rich-result report. This does not by itself mean the underlying page lost ordinary web-result visibility.

Removing a Google Search feature does not necessarily make its vocabulary invalid outside Google. Decide whether to retain markup based on other consumers and maintenance cost; do not keep it in expectation of a retired Search display.

Legacy tools that still exist

Google's current Reports at a glance page still lists these separately under Legacy tools and reports:

Data Highlighter: teaches Google to extract data from similarly templated pages when markup cannot be added. It must be retrained after design changes.
Web Tools: a collection of other web-related tools reached outside the main report navigation.

Legacy does not mean generally recommended, but it also does not mean removed. Check the live official inventory before writing that either tool has been shut down.

The standalone AMP Test is also still listed in Google's current report inventory as of July 18, 2026. Do not confuse its status with the retired Mobile-Friendly Test.

Common migration mistakes

Treating robots.txt as the URL Parameters replacement

Blocking a parameter pattern can conserve crawling in a well-understood case, but it can also prevent Google from seeing content and consolidation signals. It does not remove already indexed URLs and is not a canonical directive. Diagnose the URL system before adding broad disallow rules.

Expecting URL Inspection to recreate Crawl Errors

URL Inspection answers questions about one supplied URL. Crawl Stats is aggregated, and Page Indexing groups reasons with limited examples. Use a crawler and server logs when the task requires comprehensive URL discovery or request evidence.

Assuming a renamed metric kept identical rules

Report redesigns can change classification, aggregation, examples, and historical comparability. Preserve the old report name and capture date in historical documentation, then explain the current equivalent rather than silently replacing labels.

Assuming an absent rich-result report means valid markup

The report can be absent because Google did not detect the type, the property lacks sufficient items, or the Search feature is unsupported. Test representative live code with the current Rich Results Test and verify that the type remains supported.

How to update an old tutorial

Record the old product name and the tutorial's publication or screenshot date.
Classify it as renamed, replaced, removed, or still legacy.
Link to the current report and describe any lost capability or changed data scope.
Replace obsolete navigation steps with the current path.
Remove promises that the replacement can prove more than it reports.
Preserve the old term once for searchability: for example, “Fetch as Google is now handled through URL Inspection's live test.”
Check the release timeline and current feature status before publishing.

Automation boundary

SearchConsole.ai can query supported Performance data, inspect supplied URLs, and list submitted sitemaps. It cannot restore a removed API, reproduce old property-wide Crawl Errors, read UI-only reports, or change Search Console configuration. A full replacement for several legacy workflows requires a site crawler, server logs, browser diagnostics, or manual UI review.

Screenshot status: no historical screenshots are embedded. If added, label each screenshot with the product name and capture date so it is not mistaken for the current interface.