One of the new Google snippet controls, the new meta tags, recently launched, had a bug where it can trigger Google to deindex the specific page. If you used max-image-preview tag and set the value to none, it would result in Google removing the page from the index. Google confirmed the issue and said a fix is rolling out and the affected pages will be reprocessed.
Dan Nutter I believe was the first to notice this, posted about it on his web site and on Twitter.
In short, if you used this meta tag in this format, Google would take it as a sign that the page should not be indexed. So max-image-preview:none was treated as a nonindex meta tag.
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter " I (coincidentally) noticed this as well recently, and the team has made some changes to fix that. I'm guessing it'll be live soon! We plan to reprocess all of the affected URLs to be able to take it into account a bit faster."
So it looks like it is resolved now and those pages impacted will be reindexed soon.
Here are the tweets:
We reached out to @JohnMu but he is probably flooded here on Twitter. Maybe we should have tagged @searchliaison / @dannysullivan. It isn't super clear where to report these types of search issues, other than feedback button. https://t.co/Sqsdpe0SYv
— Pierre LeBaux 🇪🇺 (@lebaux) November 21, 2019
Thanks! I (coincidentally) noticed this as well recently, and the team has made some changes to fix that. I'm guessing it'll be live soon! We plan to reprocess all of the affected URLs to be able to take it into account a bit faster.
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) November 21, 2019
Forum discussion at Twitter.
