As you know, Google Search Console’s performance reports were significantly delayed this week. But as of this morning, the reports are beginning to catch up. Google said last night it would take them “at least 2-3 days to fully catch up” and reprocess the data. So if you are seeing weird data, look away and come back on Monday.

Google posted last night on X, “The fresh data for this report is currently being reprocessed, and is likely to take at least 2-3 days to catch up fully. We’ll let you know here when it’s fully resolved. Thanks for your patience.”

Google specifically mentioned the “fresh data for this report” is “being reprocessed” and that will take time. So if you see the fresh data or even older data from this week, being wonky – it is related to this.

Update at 7:45pm ET: We may be back, I see last updated 3 hours ago now:

Here are those posts:

The fresh data for this report is currently being reprocessed, and is likely to take at least 2-3 days to fully catch up. We’ll let you know here when it’s fully resolved. Thanks for your patience.

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) July 3, 2024

As of this morning, it looks like the reporting began to catch up a lot – but it is far from done. I am seeing about 28 hours, the worst it got was 96 or 97 hours delayed but now we are at about 28-29 hours, so it is catching up but it is not done yet.

I think we got to about 96 hours and now it is starting to get lower and catch up https://t.co/8F5p9IenvL pic.twitter.com/li1XzG9cku

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) July 4, 2024

Many are noticing that the “Fresh data” part is showing a huge decline in data, which is worrying some. Here are some examples:

Google Search Console > Performance Report updated but seems like a data issue – that decline shouldn’t be there. pic.twitter.com/hWpzUOYHEu

— Gagan Ghotra (@gaganghotra_) July 4, 2024

Now the Google Search Console shows that it was updated 28 hours ago BUT *ALL* the properties, across all industries I have access to, show a big drop in the “Fresh Data” from Monday 👀 this can’t reflect the accurate evolution of their clicks (!) @googlesearchc can you please… pic.twitter.com/Kbhhv2WpAC

— Aleyda Solis 🕊️ (@aleyda) July 4, 2024

This seems to be directly related to Google Search Console reprocessing the data.

John Mueller of Google said on LinkedIn about the fresh data, “I’d check the posts at Google Search Central :-)” That is the post I embedded above about it going to take 2-3 days to fully catch up.

I know many of you are eager to see your data for the week, but looking at it now, when it might change in a day or two, will cause even more work for you.

So I guess wait until Monday to do any reporting…

Update: Google posted this a few hours later, “The data for this report is still catching up and being reprocessed. In the meantime, you might see a fresh data point with partial data. This is expected with data recoveries, and the partial data will be replaced with final data. Thanks for your patience.”

The data for this report is still catching up and being reprocessed. In the meantime, you might see a fresh data point with partial data. This is expected with data recoveries, and the partial data will be replaced with final data. Thanks for your patience.

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) July 4, 2024

Forum discussion at X.

Update at 7:45pm ET: We may be back, I see last updated 3 hours ago now:

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

The Google Search Console delays do not mean there is an unconfirmed core update rolling out, Google said. Google does not show those reporting delays in the Google Search Status Dashboard. There is an update zero click study from Rand Fishkin. Google is testing current styles carousel in Google Search. And Google Ads brand exclusions won’t prevent your ad from showing random firms, yet.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  Google Search Console Delays Is Not A Google Core Update
  
  
  Another rumor coming out of the Google Search Console reporting delays is that this is some sort of unconfirmed update is rolling out. Well, that is not the case at all. John Mueller of Google said this is not a core update or even an unconfirmed core update.
• 
  Google Zero Click Study Now At 58.5% In 2024
  
  
  Rand Fishkin has come out with his 2024 edition of the Google zero click study and it shows that in the US, zero clicks are now at 58.5%, which is down from 65% in 2021. The study says about 37% of Google searches lead to no action, 21.4% lead to another Google search and 41.5% lead to a click.
• 
  Google Explains Why Search Console Reporting Delays Are Not In Search Status Dashboard
  
  
  As of right now, Google Search Console is having a significant delay with its Performance reports and some are wondering why the status of the delay is not in the Google Search Status Dashboard like other search related issues.
• 
  Google Ads New Brand Exclusion Won’t Prevent Your Ads For Showing For Random Firms
  
  
  The other day we reported about the new Google Ads brand controls. But as we gain more and more clarity, it seems it does not give advertisers all the controls they need.
• 
  Current Styles Google Search Carousel
  
  
  Google Search has a new shopping-related carousel named “current styles.” This shows up for some shopping-related queries, and if you search for a product, it might show you style variations that may be trending.
• 
  2024 Google Product Expert Summit Photos
  
  
  Google held a large Google Product Expert Summit in Zurich a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share some, not all, some of the photos from the event.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

After the Google June spam update completed, we had even more Google Search ranking volatility over the weekend. Bing has a new Bing Webmaster Guideline for prompt injection. Some are seeing small increases for sites hit by the Google helpful content update. Google explained why soft 404s are bad. Google Maps added troubleshooting and FAQs for missing and removing reviews. Google Search is testing a top quality store badge near the site name.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  Google Search Ranking Volatility Over June 28th & 29th Weekend
  
  
  On the heels of the completion of the June 2024 spam update this Thursday, June 27th, I am now seeing signs of an unconfirmed Google Search ranking algorithm update and volatility. It seems more heated than the week of this spam update rollout but less weak than you’d see with a Google core update.
• 
  Some Sites Hit By Google Helpful Content Update Seeing Small Lifts
  
  
  There are reports that some sites hit by the Google September 2023 Helpful Content Update are seeing small, somewhat tiny, lifts over the past week or so. Again, based on what we’ve been tracking, we have yet to see any recoveries but we are all hopeful we will see significant recoveries for some of those sites with the next core update.
• 
  Prompt Injection Added To Bing Webmaster Guidelines
  
  
  Bing added a new guideline to its Bing Webmaster Guidelines named Prompt Injection. A prompt injection is a type of cyberattack against large language models (LLMs). Hackers disguise malicious inputs as legitimate prompts, manipulating generative AI systems (GenAI) into leaking sensitive data, spreading misinformation, or worse, according to IBM.
• 
  Google Explains Why Soft 404s Are Bad
  
  
  Gary Illyes from Google explained two reasons why soft 404 errors are bad. Soft 404s are when a page returns a 200 status okay, but Google thinks that page should return a 404 page not found error. According to Gary, soft 404s are bad because they (1) limit crawl budget and (2) the pages won’t likely show up in Google Search.
• 
  Google Posts Reviews Troubleshooting & FAQs For Missing and Remove Reviews
  
  
  A Google community manager, Alistair D., posted a Reviews troubleshooting and FAQs document in the Google Business Profiles forums. It goes through why reviews go missing, why reviews are removed and how to troubleshoot those issues with the Google Business Profiles tools.
• 
  Google Search Tests Top Quality Store Badge Near Site Name
  
  
  Google is testing placing the top quality store badge and icon next to the site name area in the Google mobile search results. This brings up that icon from the bottom portion of the snippet to the very top of the snippet.




• 
  Mechanical Bull Riding At Google
  
  
  Google had an employee appreciation day event of some sort and here is a photo of one Googler riding a mechanical bull. I posted the embed of the video he posted on Instagram of the event.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.