Google acknowledges a problem with its search index that is affecting a lot of websites on July 15. There is no known underlying cause. At 10:50 a.m. Eastern time today, Google acknowledged that a widespread indexing problem is still present. At this moment, it is unclear what caused the problem. Within the next 12 hours, Google will release an update.
So far, we are aware of these specifics.
How Many Sites Are Impacted & To What Extent?
The persistent problem with Google’s search index today seems to mainly affect fresh content. If you add new content today, it probably won’t be indexed until the issue has been resolved.
Search “site:” and filter the results by the last day or hour to see for yourself.
Although we can pinpoint the problem to the last four hours based on when fresh information was last indexed, the exact start date of the problem is unknown. Accordingly, Google’s indexing of fresh pages probably ceased at 7 a.m. Eastern time. As far as we can tell, every site is affected by the problem. or at the very least all websites that are currently adding new content.
You shouldn’t be concerned if you haven’t and don’t plan to add any new pages to your website. The past demonstrates that these indexing problems impacting fresh information do not apply to current content.
Will This Impact My Search Rankings?
The main worry about Google’s problems is how they may affect search engine results. To be clear, this problem only affects indexing and not ranking. The Google Search ranks for current content won’t be impacted by this problem.
New content won’t have a chance to rank because it won’t be indexed, but that will only be the case while Google fixes the issue.
Will My Content Eventually Get Indexed?
It’s hard to predict whether the content you upload today will eventually get indexed because Google doesn’t promise to index all content, even when systems are operating normally.
When the problem is fixed, Google will probably start indexing your new pages again if it typically does.
When Will Google Fix The Problem?
Bugs in Google’s indexing often take 24 hours to fix. Google doesn’t offer a time estimate, so the period may be longer or shorter. When Google fixes the error or has new information to give, it will tweet an update at @GoogleSearch.
