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The bad news, as you know, is that Google will drop you if it can't get through. The good news is that if this happens, Google is much quicker to follow DNS changes nowadays so once your host re-routes your domains they'll probably not take too long to come back. Assuming that the sites linking to you didn't also go up in smoke, your rankings should not suffer once they return.
I had a site wich was down for 3 days; on day 2 Google started to drop me in the results (site was crawled very often!)
Day 3 was even a further drop.
Day 4 the site was back up and Google crawled it again.
I was back in the original position on day 6.
I think Google anticipates that a site can be down for technical reasons; it may hurt you initially, but you will be back fairly quickly.
Just don't go down to often, as that will probably result in a little lower ranking (site isn't allways reachable; so not a good result to show simply because of that).
Google should have the expertise to deal with this.
My host has said that they'll be fully reconnected by 3.00pm - fingers crossed. The notice says nothing about IP addresses so I assume there will be no changes.
Kaled.
1) Google keeps coming back for a long time, and
2) as CIML has pointed out, if the inbound links are still there, Google will find you the same way it always did.
I used to really panic about Google when sites went down. Believe me, I'd rather they didn't, but it never caused me any serious problems :)
Google should have the expertise to deal with this.
I was wrong. One page, was #4 in SERPS now vanished - not indexed even as an url.
Google continues to impress, but not in a good way.
Kaled.
I was wrong. One page, was #4 in SERPS now vanished - not indexed even as an url.
In your previous post posted on march 31 you say you are hoping it to be back on 3 pm....
It may be a little to short to be back in the SERPS.
That the url is no longer in the SERPS may indicate that Google found you downtime to be too long and they removed you as a result; my guess is they will keep trying and you should be back in soon.
If there are links to your site it will find them (it probably allready has...) and give your site an appropiate position.
they did say 3pm yesterday..now they say afternoon today.....
That's what I meant when I said Google should have the expertise to deal with this - but I was wrong.
Right now my site is still down and, I'm guessing, will not be back up until the Weekend. However, being dropped by Google could well increase the loss of traffic significantly.
Kaled.
There is still much to do but we estimate that service will be fully restored by 0700 on Saturday 3rd April.
I wonder how many pages/sites will have vanished from Google altogether by then?
Kaled.
My site is back. Just have to wait and see how long it takes for Google to reinclude missing pages. I bet more will go MIA before reinclusion begins.
Kaled.
phew!
I'm not sure how many sites went down as a result of the Manchester fire, but I'm guessing thousands rather than hundreds. Presumably many of these are now (partially) missing from Google's index.
The world's leading search engine should be better than this.
Kaled.
Thanks GG. So far so good.
Well, since my site was first indexed ~18 months ago, no pages have been dropped by Google - until now.
Coincidence?.... I think not.
I'm not one for breathing a huge sigh of relief when Googlebot comes visiting because I know that such a visit does not necessarily mean inclusion is imminent.
QUESTION
Should a site be (partially) dropped because it (and many others) are down for a few days due to a freak and well publicised accident?
ANSWER
NO
Google continue to disappoint. I wonder if I have the Everflux rollercoaster to look forward to for the next three months.
Kaled.
QUESTION
Should a site be (partially) dropped because it (and many others) are down for a few days due to a freak and well publicised accident?
How is Google to find out that the site simply wasn't taken offline?
Simple: Google can't! there are millions of site's out there!
You say there was a fire in Manchester? And Google should take that into account?
How is Google to know about the fire?
I'm located in the netherlands and didn't hear a thing about it; Google is in Googleplex somewhere in the US; you really think they hear about a little fire in Manchester?
Google doesn't owe you anything; Google has NO obligation to you to keep your site listed.
They list your site for free and you have to do nothing for it! If they decide to remove you from their index; you can't do a thing!
I would find it quite normal that your site has dropped because you where down 4 days. It could be offline forever.
If you didn't change your site at all; it will be back soon!
A related question is:
When you search at Google, and it gives you a results of a site that isn't available. Do you get mad at Google because it serves you results that are faulty?
My best guess for an answer on this question: you are...
Google drops site's from the SERPS (to a lower ranking) when they are offline for several days, why? because it hasn't been reliable for the last couple of days.
I'm sure that if your site comes back up all will return to normal. May take some time, but your ranking should be the same.
Also keep in mind that it's not Google's fault that your site is offline.
How is Google to find out that the site simply wasn't taken offline?
Simple: Google can't! there are millions of site's out there!
Perhaps, before ranting on a subject you admittedly know nothing about (the fire in Manchester) you should have done your research. The fire cut the phone service of 130,000 people, and brought down many other services - emergency system had to be rerouted, credit-card clearing systems, allsorts of telecoms were affected.
At least one major UK host lost all their services. It was days before they could even post an emergency home page. This was not a little house fire that cut a few phone lines.
As for how Google could know about it - well the answer to that is in my post above (msg #11).
As for my site being listed free - gosh, you are clearly an exceptionally clever and original thinker - I haven't heard that before.
If Google drop sites for perhaps weeks that were down for only a few days then users are not getting the best possible service. You may think differently, or perhaps you just don't think - I guess that's a coin toss.
Kaled.
