GOOGLE

Google Explains Why Index Coverage Report is Slow

Published

2 years ago

October 13, 2021

Google clarified that the Search Console that the Index Coverage Report does not report the up to the minute coverage data. Google recommends using the URL Inspection Tool for those who need the most up to date confirmation of whether a URL is indexed or not.

Google Clarifies Index Coverage Report Data

There have been a number of tweets noticing what seemed like an error in the Index Coverage Report that was causing it to report that a URL was crawled but not indexed.

Turns out that this isn’t a bug but rather a limitation of the Index Coverage report.

Google explained it in a series of tweets.

Reports of Search Console Report Bug

“A few Google Search Console users reported that they saw URLs in the Index Coverage report marked as “Crawled – currently not indexed” that, when inspected with the URL Inspection tool, were listed as “Submitted and indexed” or some other status.”

Google Explains the Index Coverage Report

Google then shared in a series of tweets how the Index Coverage report works.

“This is because the Index Coverage report data is refreshed at a different (and slower) rate than the URL Inspection.

The results shown in URL Inspection are more recent, and should be taken as authoritative when they conflict with the Index Coverage report. (2/4)

Data shown in Index Coverage should reflect the accurate status of a page within a few days, when the status changes. (3/4)

As always, thanks for the feedback 🙏, we’ll look for ways to decrease this discrepancy so our reports and tools are always aligned and fresh! (4/4)”

John Mueller Answers Question About Index Coverage Report

Google’s John Mueller had answered a question about this issue on October 8, 2021. This was before it was understood that there wasn’t an error in the Index Coverage Report but rather a difference in the expectation of data freshness of the the Index Coverage Report and the reality that the data is refreshed at a slower pace.

The person asking the question related that in July 2021 they noticed that URLs submitted through Google Search Console reported the error of submitted but not indexed, even though the pages didn’t have a noindex tag.

Thereafter Google would return to the website, crawl the page and index it normally.

“The problem is we get 300 errors/no index and then on subsequent crawls only five get crawled before they re-crawl so many more.

So, given that that they are noindexed and granted if things can’t render or they can’t find the page, they’re directed to our page not found, which does have a no-index.

And so I know somehow they’re getting directed there.

Is this just a memory issue or since they’re subsequently crawled fine, is it just a…”

John Mueller answered:

“It’s hard to say without looking at the pages.

So I would really try to double-check if this was a problem then and is not a problem anymore or if it’s still something that kind of intermittently happens.
Because if it doesn’t matter, if it doesn’t kind of take place now anymore then like whatever…”

The person asking the question responded by insisting that it still takes place and that it continues to be an ongoing problem.

John Mueller responded by saying that his hunch is that something with the rendering might be going wrong.

“And if that’s something that still takes place, I would try to figure out what might be causing that.

And it might be that when you test the page in Search Console, nine times out of ten it works well. But kind of that one time out of ten when it doesn’t work well and redirects to the error page or we think it redirects to the error page.

That’s kind of the case I would try to drill down into and try to figure out is it that there are too many requests to render this page or there’s something complicated with the JavaScript that sometimes takes too long and sometimes works well and then try to narrow things down from that point of view.”

Mueller next explained how the crawling and rendering part happens from Google’s side of crawling.

He makes reference to a “Chrome-type” browser which might be a reference to Google’s headless Chrome bot which is essentially a Chrome browser that is missing the front end user interface.

“What happens on our side is we crawl the HTML page and then we try to process the HTML page in kind of the Chromium kind of Chrome-type browser.

And for that we try to pull in all of the resources that are mentioned on there.

So if you go to the Developer Console in Chrome and you look at the network section, it shows you a waterfall diagram of everything that it loads to render the page.

And if there are lots of things that need to be loaded, then it can happen that things time out and then we might run into that error situation.”

Mueller next suggested reducing the amount of resource requests being made for JavaScript and CSS files and try to combine or reduce them, and minimize images, which is always a good thing to do.

Mueller’s suggestion is related to Rendering SEO which was discussed by Google’s Martin Splitt, where the technical aspects of how a web page is downloaded and rendered in a browser is optimized for fast and efficient performance.

Some Crawl Errors Are Server Related

Mueller’s answer was not entirely precisely relevant for this specific situation because the problem was one of expectation of freshness and not an indexing.

However his advice is still accurate for the many times that there is a server-related issue that is causing resource serving timeouts that block the proper rendering of a web page.

This can happen at night in the early morning hours when rogue bots swarm a website and slow down the site.

A site that doesn’t have optimized resources, particularly one on a shared server, can experience dramatic slowdowns where the server begins showing 500 error response codes.

Speaking from experience in maintaining a dedicated server, misconfiguration in Nginx, Apache or PHP at the server level or a failing hard drive can also contribute to the website failing to show requested pages to Google or to website visitors.

Some of these issues can creep in unnoticed when the various software are updated to less than optimal settings, requiring troubleshooting to identify errors.

Fortunately server software like Plesk have diagnostic and repair tools that can help fix these problems when they arise.

This time the problem was that Google hadn’t adequately set the correct expectation for the Index Coverage Report.

But next time it could be a server or rendering issue.

Citations

Google Search Central Tweets Explanation of Index Coverage Report

Google Index Coverage Report and Reported Indexing Errors

Watch at the 6:00 Minute Mark

Searchenginejournal.com

GOOGLE

Google’s Next-Gen AI Chatbot, Gemini, Faces Delays: What to Expect When It Finally Launches

Published

5 days ago

December 4, 2023

Max

In an unexpected turn of events, Google has chosen to postpone the much-anticipated debut of its revolutionary generative AI model, Gemini. Initially poised to make waves this week, the unveiling has now been rescheduled for early next year, specifically in January.

Gemini is set to redefine the landscape of conversational AI, representing Google’s most potent endeavor in this domain to date. Positioned as a multimodal AI chatbot, Gemini boasts the capability to process diverse data types. This includes a unique proficiency in comprehending and generating text, images, and various content formats, even going so far as to create an entire website based on a combination of sketches and written descriptions.

Originally, Google had planned an elaborate series of launch events spanning California, New York, and Washington. Regrettably, these events have been canceled due to concerns about Gemini’s responsiveness to non-English prompts. According to anonymous sources cited by The Information, Google’s Chief Executive, Sundar Pichai, personally decided to postpone the launch, acknowledging the importance of global support as a key feature of Gemini’s capabilities.

Gemini is expected to surpass the renowned ChatGPT, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 model, and preliminary private tests have shown promising results. Fueled by significantly enhanced computing power, Gemini has outperformed GPT-4, particularly in FLOPS (Floating Point Operations Per Second), owing to its access to a multitude of high-end AI accelerators through the Google Cloud platform.

SemiAnalysis, a research firm affiliated with Substack Inc., expressed in an August blog post that Gemini appears poised to “blow OpenAI’s model out of the water.” The extensive compute power at Google’s disposal has evidently contributed to Gemini’s superior performance.

Google’s Vice President and Manager of Bard and Google Assistant, Sissie Hsiao, offered insights into Gemini’s capabilities, citing examples like generating novel images in response to specific requests, such as illustrating the steps to ice a three-layer cake.

While Google’s current generative AI offering, Bard, has showcased noteworthy accomplishments, it has struggled to achieve the same level of consumer awareness as ChatGPT. Gemini, with its unparalleled capabilities, is expected to be a game-changer, demonstrating impressive multimodal functionalities never seen before.

During the initial announcement at Google’s I/O developer conference in May, the company emphasized Gemini’s multimodal prowess and its developer-friendly nature. An application programming interface (API) is under development, allowing developers to seamlessly integrate Gemini into third-party applications.

As the world awaits the delayed unveiling of Gemini, the stakes are high, with Google aiming to revolutionize the AI landscape and solidify its position as a leader in generative artificial intelligence. The postponed launch only adds to the anticipation surrounding Gemini’s eventual debut in the coming year.

GOOGLE

Google Brings Bard Students Math and Coding Education in the Summer

Published

6 months ago

June 8, 2023

Entireweb News Bot

$Google Brings Bard Students Math and Coding Education in the Summer$

Google is stepping up its AI efforts this summer by sending Bard, its high-profile chatbot, to summer school. The aim? To boost the bot’s math and coding smarts. These developments are excellent news— when Bard first debuted, it was admittedly not a finished product. But Google is steadily plugging away at it, and have now implemented implicit code execution for logical prompts, and handy Google Sheets’ integration to take it to the next level.

Thanks to implicit code execution, Bard can respond to inquiries requiring calculation or computation with Python code snippets running in the background. What’s even more amazing is that coders can take this generated code and modify it for their projects. Though Google is still apprehensive about guaranteeing the accuracy of Bard’s answers, this feature is said to improve the accuracy of math and word problems by an impressive 30%.

In addition to this, Bard can now export directly to Sheets when asked about tables. So, you don’t need to worry about copying and pasting, which comes with the risk of losing formatting or data.

From the company’s I/O keynote address, it is clear that they are focused on making the most of what Bard can offer. As they continue to speak highly of the chatbot, we’re sure to expect more features and capabilities when the summer comes around.

GOOGLE

Google Bard vs. ChatGPT: which is the better AI chatbot?

Published

10 months ago

February 20, 2023

Entireweb News Bot

Google Bard vs. ChatGPT: which is the better AI chatbot?

Google Bard and ChatGPT are two of the most prominent artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots available in 2023. But which is better? Both offer natural language responses to natural language inputs, using machine learning and millions of data points to craft useful, informative responses. Most of the time. These AI tools aren’t perfect yet, but they point to an exciting future of AI assistant search and learning tools that will make information all the more readily available.

As similar as these chatbots are, they also have some distinct differences. Here’s how ChatGPT and Google Bard measure up against one another.

Which is better, Google Bard or ChatGPT?

This is a tricky question to answer, as at the time of writing, you can only use Google Bard if you’re part of a select group of early beta testers. As for its competition, you can use ChatGPT right now, completely for free. You may have to contend with a waitlist, but if you want to skip that, there’s a paid-for Plus version offering those interested in a more complete tool the option of paying for the privilege.

Still, when Google Bard becomes more widely available, it should offer credible competition for ChatGPT. Both use natural language models — Google Bard uses Google’s internal LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), whereas ChatGPT uses an older GPT-3 language model. Google Bard bases its responses to questions on more recent data, with ChatGPT mainly trained on data that was available prior to 2021. This is similar to how Microsoft’s Bing Chat works.

We’ll have to reserve judgment on which is the more capable AI chatbot until we get time to play with Google Bard ourselves, but it looks set to be a close contest when it is more readily available.

Are Google Bard and ChatGPT available yet?

As mentioned, ChatGPT is available in free and paid-for tiers. You might have to sit in a queue for the free version for a while, but anyone can play around with its capabilities.

Google Bard is currently only available to limited beta testers and is not available to the wider public.

Banner of Google Bard intro from February 6.

What’s the difference between Google Bard and ChatGPT?

ChatGPT and Google Bard are very similar natural language AI chatbots, but they have some differences, and are designed to be used in slightly different ways — at least for now. ChatGPT has been used for answering direct questions with direct answers, mostly correctly, but it’s caused a lot of consternation among white collar workers, like writers, SEO advisors, and copy editors, since it has also demonstrated an impressive ability to write creatively — even if it has faced a few problems with accuracy and plagiarism.

Still, Microsoft has integrated ChatGPT into its Bing search engine to give users the ability to ask direct questions of the search engine, rather than searching for terms of keywords to find the best results. It has also built it into its Teams communications tool, and it’s coming to the Edge browser in a limited form. The Opera browser has also pledged to integrate ChatGPT in the future.

ChatGPT	Google Bard
Accessible through ChatGPT site. Only text responses are returned via queries.	Integrated with Google Search. You only need to change a Google setting to get your regular search results when using Google Bard AI, and vice versa.
ChatGPT produces answers from its trained database from 2021 and before.	Google Apprentice Bard AI will be able to answer real-time questions.
Based on GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer).	Based on LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications).
Service has a free and paid plan option (called ChatGPT Plus).	Service is free.
Has built-in plagiarism tool called GPT-2 Output Detector.	No built-in plagiarism detection tool.
Available now	Still in beta test phase

Google Bard was mainly designed around augmenting Google’s own search tool, however it is also destined to become an automated support tool for businesses without the funds to pay for human support teams. It will be offered to customers through a trained AI responder. It is likely to be integrated into the Chrome browser and its Chromium derivatives before long. Google is also expected to open up Google Bard to third-party developers in the future.

Under the hood, Google Bard uses Google’s LaMDA language model, while ChatGPT uses its own GPT3 model. ChatGPT is based on slightly older data, restricted in its current GPT3 model to data collected prior to 2022, while Google Bard is built on data provided on recent years too. However, that doesn’t necessarily make it more accurate, as Google Bard has faced problems with incorrect answers to questions, even in its initial unveiling.

ChatGPT also has a built-in plagiarism checker, while Google Bard does not, but Google Bard doesn’t have the creative applications of ChatGPT just yet.