Google Engineer Cautions Web Developers About Crawler Issue
One of Google’s engineers recently sent out a public statement announcement that the company’s search engine currently doesn’t support CSS custom properties. Google’s crawler renders websites by using Chrome 41, which is an outdated version of Google Chrome that was released in March 2015. As a result, the crawler can’t properly render sites that rely on CSS custom properties. If your site doesn’t render properly, it can impact your search results rankings. Experts at Saba SEO, a leading internet marketing service provider, discuss the significance of the latest crawler issue.
CSS custom properties are available in Chrome 49, which is still a new and experimental technology, and it’s not yet available in all browsers. However, Google’s engineers have been promoting CSS custom properties since 2015, and other major websites have endorsed it as well. The technology lets publishers theme their site in a way that reduces repetition and gives the code a lighter footprint.
Google’s engineers and analytics team support the use of CSS custom properties, but the crawler team hasn’t caught up yet. Google’s crawler supports all the current standards, but it doesn’t support the experimental CSS custom properties.
In an official announcement, Google said, “Sometimes things don’t go perfectly during rendering, which may negatively impact search results for your site.” If CSS custom properties affect your site rendering, Google’s algorithm may think your site provides a poor user experience, and your search rankings may be negatively impacted.
The most important thing to remember is that site rendering is currently based on Chrome 41, which means Chrome 41 is the standard you should test your site with if you’re concerned about your rankings. Over the next few years, CSS custom properties will probably become more widely used. Hopefully, the technology will be supported by Google’s crawler in the future. For now, you should test your site in Chrome 41 to make sure it renders properly.
If you need help boosting your online ranking, call Saba SEO. We are a leading search engine optimization and web development company San Diego businesses and organizations all over the world trust. For the past ten years, we have helped a wide array of businesses increase leads and sales by creating responsive websites and ensuring high search engine ranking. Our experts stay up to date with the latest changes in search engine algorithms and digital marketing trends, and we’re committed to offering high-quality services. To schedule an appointment with one of our expert web developers, give us a call at 858-951-1717 today.
