Google’s John Mueller recently stated that the robots.txt testing tool will eventually be moved to the new version of Search Console.
This information was provided during a Google Webmaster Central hangout on February 5.
A site owner inquired about when the robots.txt testing tool would be available in the new Google Search Console.
Mueller gave no definite timeline on when it would happen, but since there have been no announcements about removing the feature it should be moved over eventually.
You can hear the full question and answer below, starting at the 35-minute mark.
“We haven’t announced that yet, but we’re trying to be ahead of turning things down so people have a chance to move to something new…
As soon as we have more plans on what is happening there we’ll let you know.
I think this is one of those tools that makes sense to keep. So, since we haven’t announced that we’re turning it off, I imagine that it will just come with the new Search Console over time.”
New Search Console is not replacing the old Search Console
In related news, Mueller recently clarified there are no plans to fully replace the old Search Console.
There was some confusion following an announcement that a number of features are getting removed from the old Search Console.
Some people were led to believe Google was going to shut down the old version of Search Console, but Mueller confirmed that’s not the case.
PSA Search Console is *not* going away. The old Search Console is *not* closing in March. A few features are going away, the rest will remain for the moment. Check out our blog post: https://t.co/Bp2DH2YKAK
(saw/heard some folks saying it was going away: it's not)
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) February 6, 2019
Further, many of the features getting removed will be replaced with similar features in the new Search Console.
