John Mueller confirmed on 6th April, 2019, that there was a technical issue, and it has been resolved. But the reality is most people have been experiencing the issue even after fixing the issue.
What Happened Actually?
It is said, that Google had accidentally deleted pages from Google Index on 4th April 2019. On 6th April, 2019, it claimed that it had completely solved the problem, but again on 7th April 2019, it mentioned that the problem is not fully solved.
However, the recent statements from Google, state that the problem is now solved.
Why is this Google Deindexing Bug Gaining Hype?
It is because – many websites lost their traffic, sales, revenue, conversions and above all the Google search statistics! It is so much of harm to many websites, who had consistently put all their hard work in getting the domain to better ranks, hence this hype. Google is already working on the recovery of the URLs and anticipates the problem to be sorted out soon.
Why Should You Care About The Google Deindexing Bug?
In reality not every website was influenced by this de-indexing bug. Hence, this 4% does not mean that your website witnessed 4% of its ranks to drop out of Google’s indexing. This can also mean that your website saw a zero pages drop out or even a 50% drop out in the Google index. Each website is unique and each website can be influenced differently by the bug.
Google has predicted that, this indexing bug will cause many changes to the reports. On April 5, 2019, Google has announced that, “Because of internal management of our Search index, some pages of your websites might have been dropped from our index for a period of a few days without any action on your part. The matter is currently being resolved, no action from your side is needed.” Therefore, you can check Google’s search console report to perceive the indexed pages of your website and how they might have changed.
What Can You Do About This Google Deindexing Bug?
Well, nothing can be done here, as Google claims that it has already fixed the bug. We can be glad that the bug was fixed during a weekend, when the Google searches are naturally lower than the average searches. But, this is a notice that we must focus on various areas to expand the traffic and not limit to any particular strategy.
Is the Google Deindexing Bug not fixed yet?
Most website owners are still grumpy that their website is not fully indexed. Google’s John Mueller has mentioned that, if your pages are still not indexed that is normal, “we don’t index all URLs on the web, so even once it’s reprocessed here, it would be normal that not every URL on every site is indexed. Awesome sites with minimal duplication help us recognise the value of indexing more of your pages.”
As a result, you might have to try Google Search Console’s URL inspection and submit the relevant URL. If you still encounter issues, the URL inspection tool will communicate the issue.
Google Regularly Deindexes Websites for the following Reasons –
- Cloaking – Some websites show the search engines one kind of information and the visitor’s with another content. It is done by delivering content depending on the IP addresses.
- Not Adhering to Webmaster Guidelines – Google looks to eliminate any webpages that does not follow the webmaster guidelines. Any of the following factors could result your website to be deindexed. A few of them are –
- Auto generated content
- Unnatural links
- 301 redirects
- Copied content from another website
- Scam affiliate programs
- Having pages with malicious behaviour
- Not Following Structured Data Guidelines – Wrong mark-up, misleading content or making the mark-up content invisible to users can also cause your website to be deindexed.
- Free Web Hosting – You must first understand that ‘free hosting’ is a deceit. Instead of what you were assured, you will experience a bad service, filled with spammy ads on your website.
- People or bots that leave comments on your website, linking back to a website on user profiles, comment boxes, or forums.
- Copied/Duplicate contents
- Keyword Stuffing
- Spinning Contents
- Paid Links
What should you do to recover from the Google Deindexing Bug?
- The primary step is to check if you have been affected by the bug.
- Conduct a Google search for your website domain and try to get the result pages of everything in the index.
- You can actually narrow this search by adding up the important keywords towards the end of the domain.
- If you find that if any of your pages are missing, you need to quickly verify it and proceed onto the steps for reindexing.
- Continue with your Google Search Console. You can create a free account here.
- In the Google Search Console, you will find a link for ‘URL inspection’ under the overview header.
- With this, you can verify the status of the missing URL. If you do not find them in the index, click on ‘’Request Indexing’ and index manually. The deindexed Pages would gradually return to their original ranking in the results.
Is the Google Deindexing Bug’s Influence Over?
Well, for now the indexing rates appear to have resumed back to normal. But, we can never predict what will happen next. If you still suspect that your URL’s have been deindexed by the bug, it is better to manually reindex with the help of Google Search Console. This is of course a tedious process, with the search console having daily limits in place. So, give priority to the critical pages and then move on to the other significant pages.
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