Using the Google Search Status Dashboard
The Google Search Status Dashboard provides status information on the systems that power Google Search. The dashboard shows issues that affect many sites or users, so if you see an annotation in the dashboard, it may be related to the change in your site's performance.
The dashboard also shows the latest ranking updates made to Google Search that are relevant to website owners. To learn more about how Google makes improvements to Search and why we share updates, check out our blog post on How Google updates Search. You can also find more updates about Google Search on our blog.
To get notified about issues and updates, you can subscribe to our RSS feed.
Lifecycle of an issue
When an issue with Google Search is detected, the Search Relations team and Search engineering team work together to resolve the issue and communicate it to you:
Detection and initial response
The Search Relations team monitors the status of Google Search systems by looking at many different types of signals (including internal monitoring and feedback from the community). In the event of a widespread issue, the Search Relations team updates the dashboard. A widespread issue means there's something affecting a large number of sites or users.
The status dashboard may use the following statuses:
| Status definitions | |
|---|---|
| Available | The system is generally working and available. |
| System information | There's been an update or change to a system (for example, a ranking update started rolling out, or Googlebot started crawling over HTTP/2). |
| System disruption | Websites may experience degraded system performance due to a common third-party (for example, DNS servers). |
| System outage | The system isn't functioning to a large extent, and the issue is affecting a large number of sites or users. |
Investigation
Search engineering teams are responsible for investigating the root cause of issues. For more information, see Chapter 12 of the Site Reliability Engineering Book.
Follow up
While an issue is ongoing, the Search Relations team provides regular updates. Updates may include:
- Information about the issue, such as the scale of the issue or regions affected.
- Timeline for when you can expect the next update.
- Progress towards fixing the issue, such as when the root cause has been found, or if there are workarounds.
Mitigation or fix
An issue is considered fixed only when changes have been made that Google is confident will end the impact in the system. Sites may still experience effects until Google can reprocess sites again.
While an issue is in progress, the Site Reliability Engineering team attempts to mitigate the issue. Mitigation is when the impact or scope of an issue can be reduced, for example, by providing additional internal resources to affected Search systems or by providing workarounds for website owners.
When possible, the Search Relations team finds and communicates workarounds. Workarounds are steps that you can take to solve the underlying need despite the issue. For example, a workaround might be to use a different DNS server.
FAQs
What happens if an issue is noted?
When an issue with Google Search is detected, the Search Relations team and Search engineering team work together to resolve the issue and communicate it to you.
What happens if an update is noted?
When a ranking system update is noted, follow the link (when provided) to learn more about the update and any guidance to consider. Often, there's no action needed.
What ranking updates are listed?
The dashboard lists the latest ranking updates made to Google Search that are relevant to website owners. To learn more about how Google makes improvements to Search and why we share updates, check out our blog post on How Google updates Search. You can also find more updates about Google Search on our blog.
I'm experiencing an issue, but it's not listed in the dashboard.
The issue may be isolated to your web pages, or it may be impacting a limited number of searchers or websites. If you're a website owner, you can contact us in the Google Search Central help community about any issues you are experiencing that are not listed on the dashboard. If you're experiencing issues with your searches on Google, visit the Google Search help forum.
Where can I find information about past system statuses?
Issues and updates reported on the dashboard are available on the Summary and History page for 5 years. Click a summary row to review the posts about the annotation.