Google Search Console Loses Data from April 9 to April 25

April was definitely a rough month for Google Search Console.

First, there was the Google de-indexing bug that delayed user reports and now, after coming to a resolution, it has been confirmed that all data between April 9th and April 25th is completely lost.

Yes, you read right.

On top of that, Google’s John Mueller confirmed a new bug affecting manual action notifications, which has since been resolved...at least we hope!

What You Should Know

As marketers, it is important to note that any data from Google Search Console reports, (excluding Performance reports) during this time period is not reliable and because the data loss overlaps with the de-indexing bug, there is no way to tell if your site was affected.

That means coverage reports which include pages with errors and valid page reports during this date range, for instance, should be ignored.

If you’re an agency, this should be explained to clients so that they are not surprised by any data they see within their account and the same goes for your own marketing team.

Earlier this week, I was going through a technical SEO audit with a client and had to make this really clear to them. Luckily the audit provided an abundance of other great information that they could rely on to improve their website efforts but Google Search Console was not one of them.

Have Back-ups!

I know that reporting bugs can be extremely frustrating.

How can you improve your marketing and website efforts if you do not have reliable data?

Unfortunately, bugs are common so you should make sure you have other analytic efforts to fall back on. Some great options are Google Analytics, Lucky Orange and HubSpot tracking. You can also check out this article to find out the Top 20 KPIs that marketers are tracking.

Google has reported the bugs are fixed but, unfortunately, there will be no way to get back the lost data.

For now, let’s all cross our fingers, hold our breath, and make a little wish that the Google Search Console bugs are coming to an end. Us digital marketers are counting on you Google!