Google Indexing Bugs May 2019: New Content Not Indexed

It was noticed on May 22nd that new content was not being indexed by Google.

Even if you searched for new content from any major publishers, there was no content available.

This was then confirmed by Google, stating they had indexing issues which could cause stale search results.

Google could not index any new content, even from major publications.

However, since then Google has fixed the issue.

The indexing issues from earlier today have been resolved. Thank you for your patience.

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) May 23, 2019

But then, low and behold, it came back on May 24th 2019. This is, apparently, unrelated to the last issue.

We're looking into a new indexing issue that started escalating 6 hours ago. The issue is unrelated to yesterday's outage and we're working hard to resolve it. We'll update this thread when we can provide more information.

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) May 24, 2019

Why does this matter?

If you rely on rankings for fresh content, then this could have impacted you quite severely.

But after Google has been hit with de-indexing issues, and the inability to index new content, this is another major blip.

If you notice any fluctuations in your traffic over the 23rd/24th of May and onwards, then this could be down to Google’s algorithm issues, rather than your own optimisations or any official algorithm changes.

Keep an eye out for any news on Google’s algorithm in the coming weeks and months.