Google confirmed reports of an ongoing technical issue causing delays in indexing newly published web content.
In a post published to X on Thursday evening, Google’s Search Liaison announced that the company is actively working to identify the root cause of the problem.
However, Google didn’t initially provide an estimated timeline for resolving the issue.
UPDATE: The issue appears to be resolved as of 23:29 PDT.
On October 5, 2023 we encountered an issue that slowed down indexing of some content from 10:30am to 4:20pm PDT. We believe this issue is now resolved. https://t.co/G13rcWoL2s https://t.co/HdmP8kWIS8
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) October 6, 2023
What Does This Mean?
The indexing delays mean that any content published on websites now through whenever the problem is fixed may not show up in Google search results right away.
This could impact news publishers in particular, as breaking news stories and other timely content may not get indexed properly.
Once the technical problem is resolved, previously unpublished content that was affected should get indexed by Google as usual.
What’s The Status?
Publishers can check the latest updates on indexing issues via the Google Search Status Dashboard.
The dashboard will indicate when Google has identified and successfully resolved problems.
Featured Image: DestinaDesign/Shutterstock
