Google has confirmed issues with indexing new content and displaying that content in Google Search. Users need only do a search on the keyword “Google” -- setting the tools criteria to the past hour -- to identify the issue, which started early on Friday morning.
“There's an ongoing issue with indexing in Google Search that's affecting a large number of sites,” a Google Search Central tweet said this morning. “Sites may experience delayed indexing. We're working on identifying the root cause. Next update will be within 12 hours.”
News content from publishers is not being indexed in Google Search, which means those searching on the engine for information, especially within the past 24 hours, will not see any recent articles posted. The reader will need to go directly to the publisher’s website.
Publishers from Business Insider and Reuters to The Wall Street Journal and many others are affected.
Google Analytics 4 real-time traffic reporting also is not showing full traffic data. It likely will impact the site’s traffic for new content published this morning.
A search-engine optimization (SEO) web developer on Twitter asked Google to provide a list of the affected sites — some type of warning in Google Search Console, so people know it is Google and not due to something they are doing wrong.
“What's the point of giving us this message if there's no way to know what sites and pages it affects?” he tweeted.
Google is working on a fix, and says the company will soon resolve the issue.