A comprehensive changelog tracking Google Search Central documentation updates from 2024 through April 2026. It documents policy clarifications, new features, deprecations of structured data types, and migrations of crawling documentation to a new shared infrastructure site. Major themes include simplifying search results by phasing out structured data types, expanding preferred sources globally, clarifying spam policies, and adding guidance on AI features and JavaScript handling.
- Preferred sources feature expanded to all languages supported by Google Search in April 2026
- New spam policy introduced for 'back button hijacking' deceptive practice (April 2026)
- Google now uses spam report submissions to take manual action against violations
- Multiple structured data types deprecated and removed (practice problem, course info, estimated salary, learning video, special announcement, vehicle listing, dataset)
- Crawling documentation migrated to a new shared infrastructure site since it applies to many Google products beyond Search (Shopping, News, Gemini, AdSense)
- AI Mode data now counts toward totals in Search Console Performance reports
- New documentation added for AI features, generative AI content guidance, loyalty programs, and merchant return/shipping policies
#seo #google-search #structured-data #web-crawling #search-documentation #spam-policy