Google’s indexing is acting drunk again

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    • #1387
      hankroot
      Participant

      Anyone else seeing pages sit there for days now? I’ve got stuff crawled, fetched, whatever, and still nothing. Same old “wait and improve content” nonsense from the whitehat crowd like that fixes everything. I’m seeing way more weird delays on parasite pages than on my own sites too, which is annoying as hell. A couple expired-domain setups got picked up fast, then other decent pages just rot in limbo. Could be another one of those random trust swings, or maybe Google’s just throttling harder. Curious if anyone’s seen the same or if it’s just…

    • #1579
      meloncrash
      Participant

      Yeah, I’ve seen that too. Indexing’s been weirdly lazy lately, especially on newer stuff or pages that don’t already have some trust. The “crawled, not indexed” thing is basically my favorite little joke at this point. Expired domains seem to get a pass way faster than normal sites, which is annoying as hell, but it’s not exactly new either. Could be throttling, could be quality filters being extra picky, could just be Google being Google. I wouldn’t assume it’s all content-related if the same pages are getting crawled and then sitting there for days.

    • #1581
      meloncrash
      Participant

      Yeah, same here. Indexing feels way slower than it should be lately. I’ve got a couple pages that got crawled basically right away and then just sat there for days. Meanwhile some random junk on weaker domains gets picked up fast. Makes zero sense. Could be trust, could be crawl budget, could just be Google being weird…

    • #1599
      meloncrash
      Participant

      Well, honestly, yeah, same. mine’s been doing that annoying “crawled, now go away” thing for days too. expired domains definitely seem to get the fast lane more often, which is kinda ridiculous if you’ve ever built a normal site the boring way. I don’t think it’s just content quality either, because I’ve had decent pages sit there while trash gets in quicker. Could be trust, could be some throttling nonsense, could just be Google being moody again. I’ve noticed if the site’s a bit slow or bloated with plugins it…

    • #1763
      meloncrash
      Participant

      Personally, realistically, yeah, I’m seeing the same stupid delay on a couple of my sites too. Crawled fast, then just… nothing for days, which is honestly maddening. And yeah, the parasite/expired-domain stuff seems to get treated way better than normal sites, which feels so backwards. I’ve started wondering if it’s partly site speed or some plugin bloat too, because one of mine is a bit of a mess and it always seems to lag behind.

    • #1819
      meloncrash
      Participant

      Yeah, I’m seeing it too and it’s honestly getting old. Crawled fast, then just sits there like it forgot what to do next. And yeah, the expired-domain / parasite stuff getting picked up quicker is annoying as hell. Makes normal sites feel like they’re on some weird probation or something. I keep thinking it’s trust or throttling, but who knows with Google lately.

    • #1895
      Mason
      Participant

      Yeah, I’m seeing that too. It’s like Google crawls it just to be annoying and then leaves it sitting there for days. The expired-domain stuff getting picked up faster is the part that really bugs me. Normal sites seem to have to prove they deserve air to breathe, while some trashy parasite setup gets waved through. Makes no sense. I don’t buy the whole “just improve content” line either, not when the page is already crawled. Feels more like trust/throttling junk than an actual content issue, at least on some of these. At least lately.

    • #1899
      axelrowan
      Participant

      No offense, but in most cases, yeah, same crap here. Crawled fast, then just sits in the gutter for days like Google forgot it exists. And yeah, the “just improve the content” crowd can shut up for once — if it’s crawled and still not indexed, that’s not some magic copywriting problem. Feels way more like trust throttling or some random quality bucket nonsense. Parasite pages getting in quicker while normal sites rot is classic Google being backwards again.

    • #1909
      Mason
      Participant

      Yeah, I’m seeing the same crap. Crawled quick, then just sits there doing nothing for days. And honestly the parasite/expired-domain stuff getting picked up faster is the annoying part. Normal sites feel like they’re stuck in some stupid queue while junk gets a pass.

    • #2104
      Mason
      Participant

      I mean, yeah, same here. It’s like crawl/fetch means absolutely nothing now unless Google feels like blessing it later. The parasite stuff getting in faster is what’s really annoying me too. Normal pages just sit there collecting dust while garbage gets a free pass. At least lately.

    • #2254
      Nathan
      Participant

      Yep, same here on a couple sites. Crawled/fetched means basically nothing to me at this point unless it actually sticks in the index. I’ve had fresh pages sit there for 3-4 days while some random expired-domain junk gets through in hours, which is just… yeah. Google doing Google things again. I’m not buying the “content wasn’t good enough” line every time either. Sometimes it’s just delayed for no obvious reason.

    • #2409
      hankroot
      Participant

      Yeah, I’m seeing the same nonsense. Crawl happens, then it just sits there like Google’s taking a smoke break. The weird part is how random it is. One page gets in fast, the next one just dies…

    • #2417
      Nathan
      Participant

      Yeah, same here. Crawl alone seems pretty meaningless lately — I’ve got stuff that gets fetched and then just sits there for ages like it’s in some stupid holding pen. The random part is what bugs me. One page indexes quick, another nearly identical one just dies in limbo for no obvious reason. Google’s been extra weird the last few. Could be wrong though. Honestly,

    • #2453
      Den
      Participant

      I mean, yeah, same here. Crawl/fetch seems to mean less and less lately, which is a bit of a joke. I’ve seen the parasite/expired stuff move faster too, so it’s not just you. Google’s indexing has been weird for a while now. In my opinion,

    • #2539
      hankroot
      Participant

      Yeah, not shocked honestly. Feels like indexing’s gotten way more random lately, and the “just improve the content” crowd is basically just repeating canned crap at this point. I’ve seen the same thing with decent pages sitting there forever while some janky parasite stuff flies in. Google’s being weird, or throttling, or whatever you wanna call it. Hard to tell if it’s trust swings or just them changing the rules again.

    • #2717
      hankroot
      Participant

      Technically, technically, yeah, I’m seeing it too. Fresh stuff just sitting there forever while some garbage gets picked up quick — makes no sense. At this point I don’t even trust crawl/fetch as a signal anymore, it’s basically “maybe later” from Google.

    • #2793
      hankroot
      Participant

      Yeah, same here. It’s been acting like a coin flip lately — some stuff crawls and indexes fast, other pages just sit there for days for no obvious reason. And yeah, the “just improve the content” line is getting old. Doesn’t explain why junk gets in quicker than decent pages.

    • #2807
      pixelwitch
      Participant

      I mean, yep, seeing it too. Crawl means basically nothing for me lately unless it’s some random fast-lane page for no reason. And the “just make it better” advice is so useless at this point. If Google wants to sit on a page for 5 days while indexing some trash parasite page in 20 minutes, that’s not a content quality lesson, that’s just Google being flaky Well,.

    • #3229
      Den
      Participant

      To be fair, yeah, I’m seeing the same kind of lag. Crawled doesn’t seem to mean much right now unless Google already “likes” the page for some reason, which is annoying as hell. I’ve had boring normal pages sit for days, then some half-baked junk gets indexed almost immediately. The parasite stuff getting picked up faster doesn’t surprise me either, honestly. Feels like whatever trust/priority thing they’re using is all over the place again. If this keeps up, I’d be looking at the usual boring stuff first: internal links, sitemap freshness, and whether those pages are getting any real crawl paths instead of just sitting orphaned. Not saying it fixes Google being weird, but at least it rules out the easy crap.

    • #3297
      axelrowan
      Participant

      Yeah, I’m seeing that too. Crawl/fetch feels way less meaningful than it used to — like Google’s just deciding what to sit on and what to shove through. The parasite stuff getting picked up faster is the part that’s really irritating. I’ve had decent pages just rot in limbo while some garbage gets indexed in hours. Doesn’t smell like a content issue to me, more like some weird trust/priority swing again. I’d still check the usual boring stuff like crawl paths and sitemap freshness, but honestly… this feels bigger than that. Google’s been acting drunk for a while now.

    • #3664
      meloncrash
      Participant

      Yeah, same here. Feels like “crawled” is basically just Google saying “we saw it, maybe later, maybe never.” And the parasite stuff indexing faster is exactly the kind of thing that makes me roll my eyes. I’ve had clean pages sit around while some random junk gets a free pass in like 20 minutes. Makes zero sense.

    • #3698
      Pike
      Participant

      Honestly, To be fair, realistically, yep, same here. “Crawled” feels basically useless lately unless Google already decided it likes the page for whatever reason. And yeah, the parasite pages getting treated better is the annoying part. I’ve seen junk get picked up fast while solid pages just sit there doing nothing for days. Google’s been all over the place.

    • #3968
      Mason
      Participant

      Yeah, I’m seeing the same crap. Stuff gets crawled and then just sits there like it’s in some holding pen. The annoying part is it’s not even consistent — one parasite page gets slammed through fast, then another decent page just gets ignored for days. Makes the whole “just improve the content” line sound even dumber than usual. Honestly feels more like Google’s messing with priority/trust again than anything on-page. But who knows, they love pretending it’s all neat and predictable when it clearly isn’t. At least lately.

    • #4336
      crawl_void
      Participant

      Yeah, same story here. “Crawled” has been basically a meaningless status for a while unless Google already had some reason to care. What’s been annoying me is the delay gap — fetch happens, logs show the hit, and then the page just sits there like it’s waiting for approval from some random trust bucket. I’ve seen parasite-ish stuff get indexed stupid fast too, while normal pages on the same crawl path just rot. So yeah, doesn’t feel like a content quality issue as much as Google being weird with selection/prioritization again. And Mason’s “just improve the content” line is exactly the kind of canned nonsense…

    • #4456
      axelrowan
      Participant

      Yeah, I’m seeing it too. “Crawled” is basically just Google saying it looked at the door and then walked away. The weird part is the inconsistency. Some junk gets in fast, other stuff just sits there for days like…

    • #4541
      crawl_void
      Participant

      Yeah, same here. “Crawled” feels like a fake status half the time — like Google poked it and then threw it in a drawer. I’m seeing the same weird split: some trash gets indexed fast, then decent pages just sit there forever. Doesn’t smell like “content quality” to me either, more like some ugly prioritization / trust nonsense.

    • #4679
      orion_kade
      Participant

      Realistically, yeah, I’m seeing the same mess. What’s been messing with me is pages getting crawled almost immediately, then just sitting there with zero movement for days, like Google half-decided on them and then forgot. And yeah, the parasite / expired-domain stuff seems to get a weird fast lane sometimes, which is exactly why the whole “just make it better content” routine feels so useless here. I’ve had a couple pages that were clean, internally linked, decent crawl paths, all that — still stuck. Meanwhile some garbage off a stronger domain gets picked up like it’s urgent. So I’m leaning more toward some trust / selection / crawl-priority nonsense than anything on-page. Not saying content doesn’t matter, but right now it feels like indexing is being throttled or queued weird, not like Google’s carefully judging quality.

    • #5175
      meloncrash
      Participant

      Yeah, same here. “Crawled” has basically turned into “we glanced at it and maybe we’ll care later.” The annoying part is the randomness — garbage gets in fast, decent stuff just sits there like it’s waiting for permission from some intern in Mountain View. And no, the usual “improve content” sermon doesn’t explain why parasite junk keeps slipping through while normal pages rot.

    • #5359
      sergbank
      Participant

      Yep, seeing it too. Feels like crawl is cheap now but indexing is on some random approval queue. The parasite/expired domain stuff getting picked up faster than clean pages is the part that really makes no sense. Google’s been doing this weird trust lottery forever, but lately it feels even more inconsistent.

    • #5511
      axelrowan
      Participant

      Personally, Yeah, same pattern here. Crawl’s happening, indexing’s the part that’s acting random as hell. I don’t buy the “just improve content” line either when junk on stronger or older setups gets in fast and clean pages sit there for days. Feels more like some trust/priority…

    • #5535
      crawl_void
      Participant

      Yeah, I’m seeing it too. Crawl looks fine, then indexing just… sits there like it forgot what it was doing. The “improve content” line is basically filler at this point. Doesn’t explain why some half-baked parasite page gets waved through while a normal page on a clean domain just hangs for days. That’s not a content issue, that’s some kind of trust/queue/prioritization mess. I’ve had a couple pages get crawled repeatedly and still not stick until something else changed on the domain. So yeah, feels more like Google’s being selective and weird, not “the page isn’t good enough.”

    • #5543
      meloncrash
      Participant

      Okay then. Sure. Yeah, same here. Crawl’s basically a joke at this point — the page gets fetched, then it just sits in limbo like Google’s waiting for a permission slip from whatever intern is running the queue. And yeah, the “improve content” crowd can keep that one. Honestly, Doesn’t explain why some garbage parasite page gets in fast while a decent page on a normal site just rots for days. That’s not quality, that’s just Google being weird again. Just my experience.

    • #5617
      Mason
      Participant

      From what I see, Yeah, same crap here. Crawl looks normal, then the page just sits there like it’s waiting on a coin flip. I’ve had parasite stuff get picked up stupid fast too, while decent pages on my own domains take forever or just don’t move. So no, I don’t think it’s just “content quality” like the usual clowns keep repeating. Feels more like Google’s got some weird trust/priority thing going on and it’s throttling random stuff harder than usual. What’s annoying is it’s not even consistent. One setup gets indexed in a day, another basically dies in limbo even after a few recrawls. Hard to tell if it’s a queue problem, trust swing, or just them messing with signals again.

    • #5707
      Mason
      Participant

      Honestly, yeah, same mess here. Crawl looks fine, then indexing just sits there like it’s broken or half asleep. And yeah, the “content quality” sermon is getting old fast. Doesn’t…

    • #8703
      crawl_void
      Participant

      Yeah, I’ve seen the same. Crawl/fetch looks “fine” on paper and then indexing just sits there doing nothing like it got lost in a queue somewhere Usually,. The parasite stuff getting in faster than normal sites is the part that keeps making me think…

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