Google hates the term webmaster, apparently.

We moved away from using the term "webmaster" in the name of this site (stop looking: it's Search Central) and the only remainder was the "Webmaster Guidelines". As we mentioned previously, "webmaster" is an outdated term and very few people identify with it.

Google called me outdated, I'm offended! j/k, whatever I get called is a badge of honor these days, I'm too old to "identify" with new stuff unless it makes sense.

"Search Essentials World" does not have the same flare as WW and I'm pretty sure NOBODY uses the term "Search Essentials Persons".

That reminds me, where is that list of "bad words" Google made again? It was hundreds of words long and had some headscratchers in it. I wonder how many I'm using and if I'm paying for it in terms of traffic.

Also, in the guidelines it's telling Search Essentials Persons to join forums and tell others about their websites. Round and round we go! Another engine will come along someday, keep building my friends.

Call me old and grumpy, but I suspect that this is just another case of the Millennials in hi-tech positions of power re-inventing the English language, just because they can do it. Call me outdated, too.

It is possible you're right, Martin. They might think that only a group of people have the skills to design, create, promote and maintain a website so the concept of a descriptive name for such a worker does not compute with their views.

It is wonderful to have specialized employees for each level of the overall package but it is not required. Webmasters can hire consultants for specific tasks but if the owner has no idea of how this works and fits together, they are at the mercy of those who do.

Webmasters can hire consultants for specific tasks but if the owner has no idea of how this works and fits together, they are at the mercy of those who do.

If they have no idea how this stuff works they are a web APPRENTICE still, of course they don't identify as Web MASTER. My first response was honest but probably not as helpful as it could have been. Here's better.

There's nothing wrong with being a web apprentice, we all were once, but if the tools to go further aren't there when the curiosity window is open an apprentice they will remain. Yes, you can have a team, but deprecating the term webmaster is more aimed at individuals. Lets explore that from an individual perspective for a moment.

If someone today decides to become a web apprentice and to build a site they are often led to Youtube where a guru tells them to go to a hosting provider and use a one button CMS install and then to use such and such writing company to write their content. Presto - Webmaster? hmm, not when things break or change.

If there is no drive to learn it all then a master will always get the best of them in rankings, hired or self taught thanks to a good mentor, that's a fact of life and not even Google can change that. Masters find a way, it's in their nature, it's how they become masters.

When Google says few identify as a web MASTER that is a sad statement. To me it means many apprentices with too few masters to guide them the rest of the way.

Also a sign of the times: Google has always wanted to feature content created by knowledgable individuals, you need to show expertise in the content itself. That meant a webmaster also had to have other interests to write about. To top rank a site some level of expertise was required in something so two subject masteries were required. An interest and a knowledge of the web. Now content is often outsourced and no web knowledge is required.

Again, nothing wrong with that, but lowering the bar, including in language, is not doing anyone any real favors, imo. Perhaps the time where one could become a webmaster is gone, becoming a specialist in one small aspect of the net makes sense.

Much knowledge will be lost in the next couple of decades as old foggies pass on. Anyone starting out should pick their brains because they were there from the start and have seen it all. WW is a good place to pick brains!

An old webmaster foggy with the following experience is becoming rare....
- Grew up before social media, mobile devices and email was a thing. (perspective)
- Cut their curiosity driven teeth on PEEK and POKE code (self taught, no gurus, learning some unlocked learning more)
- Broke stuff in their parents basements to learn how it worked (TVs, radios, computers, curiosity was strong)
- VIC-20, APPLE II and Commodore systems bring nothing but fantastic memories
- Running old iirc chatboards and message rooms brought them joy
- Knows a working amount of all coding languages, mastered several, improved some.
- Windows 95 and Netscape launched them into building websites, truly hands on new world experience
- Today they can hand code a site without a CMS or Database and it will be faster, just as interactive and users will never know.
- Many have become marketing specialists because that is where good money is but they are web masters all.

The difference between a master and an apprentice (or whatever Google renames it to) is that they learned all of the above out of curiosity and a thirst to learn more, which led to the next code, the next topic, and the next. It was POSSIBLE, everything felt possible, curiosity and drive made them thirst to learn more. RIGHT NOW they are the best teachers even if those skills are outdated because they've kept up on change and knowledge is power.

Google probably means well by renaming things and changing language but when they say it better reflects the times they are literally telling you the bar has lowered. Google can try to change society as they see fit but it's people who change it, or don't. In the end the labels don't matter, curiosity, drive, learning etc do.

Old foggies pass the batton onto this next generation now, ready to answer your curiosity driven questions right here on WW. Pick their brains while you can.

I suggest you do yourself a favor and strive to master at least one thing in life, it can be whatever you want. You'll never regret it and the next generation will need you, too.

Kind of like "cowboys", I doubt "webmaster" will disappear among those working the web solo, or leading a company. Ingrained in the language. Gotta wonder what prompted this in the first place? Was it "web" or "master"?

Would "webtech" pass?

Kind of falls into that strange category---such as blueprints for residential homes that no longer have a declared "master bedroom".

Kind of falls into that strange category---such as blueprints for residential homes that no longer have a declared "master bedroom".

Or "blueprints" for that matter.. Blueprints died decades ago. ;)

Blueprints still exist, just computerized these days---printed on white paper and called grid plans (but the computer engines to create those are still named blueprinters).

MASTER is the word that is being actively erased (for reasons we all can guess), whereas blueprint simply evolved.

Or "blueprints" for that matter.

Heh, beat me to it. My high-school drafting class had a blueprint machine that produced bona fide blue prints. Far as I can remember, though, nobody was allowed to use it. And then there were mimeographs, which converted a white-on-green--or, I guess, transparent-on-green--original into a purple-on-white copy.

The other day I had to explain to someone that a photostat is not another name for a photocopy.

If I* can be a concertmistress, why can’t I be a webmistress?

* Not me, personally--don’t have the ear--but you know what I mean.

You are a fantastic webmistress Lucy, one of the best in fact.

In several dictionaries online the term webmistress is still defined as a female webmaster with the exact same meaning. Unfortunately in several of the more trusted dictionaries the term webmistress now has no results, it's being deprecated as a word along with many others. You can see that in the Wayback Machine.

Does it change you? Not at all.

"webmaster" is an outdated term and very few people identify with it.

DAMN RIGHT, Google! Because you bankrupted most of them. Now there are only idiot "creators" with no independence, no pricing power and no innovation.

"Your content is our content. STFU"

Seems that way, at any rate!

@Tangor, where in their quarterly reports does it suggest they value our content?

True, else they would compensate with traffic out of appreciation instead of using in knowledge, answers, or whatever they call it these days.

Now, only google is a Webmaster. They hold all the keys, they call all the shots. All we can do is just scratch the surface of their black box and cry in joy or despair when a chip falls in our hands. We are the tech , content and behavior slaves fueling internet coal in to their Rank Brain. Some of us, the lucky ones, work in big enough corporations that let them slightly peek in to the insides of the black box but just enough to see the plug holes for their data APIs.

A Webmaster does not need Google to tell him or her what to do, so it makes sense to use a different word for the audience targeted by these guidelines.

[edited by: not2easy at 5:59 pm (utc) on Oct 18, 2022]
[edit reason] edited at user request [/edit]

A Webmaster does not need Google to tell him or her...

This is true. These days we can self-identify how ever we like.