Google Index Status Report Updated Weekly

Feb 12, 2013 • 8:52 am | comments (4) by | Filed Under Google Search Engine Optimization
 

Google Webmaster ToolsThe other day someone shared an interesting site with me on Google Webmaster Tools. It was intriguing, so I dug into it. In short, the site had 33,000 pages indexed according to the sitemap report within Google Webmaster Tools but only 3 pages indexed according to the Index Status report within Google Webmaster Tools.

I decided to ask others in the Google Webmaster Help forums if they have ever seen anything like it because I clearly never covered this case at this site.

The answer was no.

Some history about the site:

  • The site is a few weeks old.
  • The site has a sitemap file a couple days after it went live.
  • The site command seems to have about thousands of pages being returned.

Google Webmaster Tools Shows:

  • 33,000 of 33,000 pages submitted and indexed via the Sitemap report.
  • 3 pages indexed according to the Index Status report

sitemap-count

index-status-count

Why wouldn't the Index Status and Sitemap index counts match up?

I asked Google's John Mueller on a Google Hangout yesterday and he said:

  • Typically the Index Status report is a weekly snap shot, so it is delayed
  • Sitemap numbers are updated daily
  • Index Status and Sitemap report on different index types
  • Since this site is new, do not worry

I ask the question right at the beginning of the hangout, so just start the video and you can watch his response.

In this business, you see something new every day. I am glad I dug into this example, but this is not an open invitation to send me your issues. I probably respond to 1% of them because I am not a nice person. ;-)

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Update: A few days later the Index Status report updated to show 33,000+ pages. So this was just a delay. Nice to see.

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