Have you ever logged into Google Search Console and found it was not updating? Let's see why this happens and how to tackle this problem.
How to Know if Google Search Console is Not Updating
When you enter Google Search Console, you will see the overview page. If you click on the search results under the performance section, you will go to the performance report. In the top right corner of the screen, you can see when the report was last updated. When everything is working as expected, you will see the data was updated a few hours ago. On the other hand, if your performance report shows a message saying "last updated 40 or 60 hours ago," then it's pretty safe to assume there's an issue with the data.
Why Google Search Console is Not Updating
There are a number of reasons why Google Search Console is not updating. The first and often the most common reason is an issue with Google and its servers. Sometimes, even a company as large as Google has issues. If this is the case, Google will often post about the issue somewhere like Twitter or Google Search Console. In this scenario, the downtime you are facing is not your fault. Google Search Central usually tweets once these issues have been resolved and lets you know when you can expect data to be up to date again. Sometimes, Google will also let you know about issues with data directly in Google Search Console.
A problem with your sitemap could also be the cause of Google Search Console's inability to update. Aside from manually asking Google to index your page via the submission tool, Google relies on crawling sitemaps and the web to find pages worth indexing and ranking. For newer sites that do not have many backlinks from external sources, Google may rely even more on their sitemap to index and rank their pages. If Google has an issue reading your sitemap, this could delay indexing pages on your site and delay showing your data until it has crawled the necessary pages. You can take a look at the status of your sitemap directly in Google Search Console to check if everything is okay.
In some instances, when you make changes to your robots.txt file, it can cause delays with Google Search Console processing your data. The robots.txt file governs the way Googlebot and other search engine crawlers access and navigate your website. If you have made changes to your robots.txt file that are stopping crawlers from accessing large sections of your site, you can experience a delay in your data appearing on Google Search Console. Whatever the reasoning, it's better to check your file and make sure Googlebot is able to crawl all the pages you want to be crawled.
If you make major changes to your site structure, you may find that Google takes longer than usual to re-crawl and display your data in GSC. It is doubtful that Google will crawl your site every day due to the enormous volume of pages on the internet and the sheer expanse of the web. Because Google prefers to crawl smaller sites more frequently than larger, more active ones, this is particularly true for the former and less of a problem for the latter. For this reason, it may take Google longer to re-crawl smaller and less active sites.
Occasionally, Google will apply a manual action if it believes the site has engaged in black-hat SEO practices like purchasing backlinks. Head to the manual actions tab to see if any action has been applied to your site, which may be the cause of data not updating.
How to Fix Google Search Console Not Updating
Depending on the reason for Google Search Console not updating your account, here are the things you can do:
- If Google has an issue reading your sitemap, it will show an error in the status section. Or, if you find that Google has not read your sitemap in a while, you can resubmit it and see if this gets the ball rolling. It is also important to remember that you can click inside each sitemap to identify any problems with certain pages.
- If you suspect the issue is due to your robots.txt file, it's a good idea to scan it. Can you see any instances where the robots.txt file is blocking Googlebot from visiting your pages or your entire site? Head to your page indexing report, and you may find that some pages are being indexed but blocked by robots.txt. Fixing these issues is a great way to make Googlebot crawl your site again.
- If Google applies a manual action, they will tell you the reasoning for this in the manual action section of Google Search Console. Pay attention to the explanations provided by Google for the manual operation and find a quick solution. You might need to change things like your site structure or even disavow some backlinks, but working on this should be a priority.
- If it's a Google issue rather than a problem with your site, the only thing you can do is wait. In general, Google is quick in resolving issues with Google Search Console. However, you may also ask Google to re-crawl your sites using the URL submission tool, or you can submit a new sitemap to encourage it to do so more quickly. However, this tool has a limit of 10 URLs per day, and in most cases, you are better off letting Google do its own thing.
As you are dealing with Google Search Console not updating, there's a chance you might also be experiencing a traffic drop. That's why you should always keep visiting and reading for more tips.
