Hello everyone, I'm looking for some advice because I'm experiencing an indexing issue that I haven't been able to solve. I launched a football news and match analysis website about 3 months ago. During the first few months, Google indexed many of my pages, and they appeared normally in Google Search. However, over the last several days, almost all of those pages have disappeared from Google's search results. Here is what I have already checked: Website age: about 3 months Original football articles published regularly Sitemap submitted in Google Search Console Robots.txt allows crawling No Manual Actions No Security Issues Canonical tags appear to be correct The website loads normally I continue publishing new original content every week I understand that indexing can fluctuate, but I'm surprised because the website was already indexed before and then suddenly disappeared. I'm wondering: Has anyone experienced something similar? Could this be related to a Google algorithm update? What would you check first before making major changes? Is it better to simply keep publishing quality content and wait? I appreciate any suggestions or experiences you can share. Thank you!
We have seen similar cases recently too. It could be related to Google updates or a small change in how they judge new pages, especially on newer sites.
This: All new sites and content tends to get an artificial boost in Google when first discovered. Following a subsequent analysis by the algorithm of multiple ranking and interaction factors, the content is re-ranked appropriately. You now rank where you rank naturally. If the content gets deindexed, then that is becasue there are already of plenty of other pages with the same or similar content, then there is no point google wasting resources to index it. If you want to go higher, you need to put the work in. "Football" is a very competitive niche with a zillion sites.
It was probably because of a Google update. Wait a little bit usually not more than 2 weeks, and if you're not ranking as you used to be, add more high quality content in your website in order to rank higher.
Thank you both for the helpful feedback. I’ll first use Google Search Console to confirm whether the affected URLs were actually deindexed or simply lost rankings. I’ll also review their canonical tags, content similarity, and indexing status before making any major changes. For now, I’ll focus on improving the originality and usefulness of the content and monitor the results over the next two weeks. I’ll update this thread when I have more data. Thank you for the advice. A Google update may be one possibility, so I’ll monitor the site in Search Console for another two weeks before making any major changes. In the meantime, I’ll focus on improving the existing pages and publishing genuinely useful, original content. I’ll update this thread if the pages return or Search Console shows a specific indexing reason. Thank you for sharing your experience. In the similar cases you observed, were the pages actually removed from Google’s index, or did they remain indexed but lose their rankings? Also, approximately how long did it take for their visibility to return? I’m checking the affected URLs individually in Search Console and avoiding major changes while monitoring the situation.
You can check the pages report, request reindexing for important pages, then keep publishing. If it's the update, waiting it out and improving content quality is usually the move.
Thanks for the advice. I’ve checked the Pages report in Google Search Console and will focus on requesting indexing only for the most important pages. I’ll also keep publishing useful content and improving existing pages rather than making too many changes at once. Hopefully the rankings stabilize after the update.
I’ve encountered a similar issue, though the circumstances might differ; in my case, some content uploaded to the site violated Google's policies, causing all previously indexed images to disappear. I’m also wondering how to resolve this situation.
Don't panic and start making drastic changes just yet. Core updates often cause temporary indexing drops for fresh domains. First thing I'd check: inspect a few dropped URLs directly in GSC and hit "Request Indexing." If they get picked back up in a few days, it's just normal index churn. Keep publishing, but focus heavily on getting a few solid backlinks to build domain trust.
Index first, then drop a few months in is a common pattern for new sites that publish a lot of similar pages quickly. In GSC's Pages report, check which reason the dropped URLs now show. "Crawled, currently not indexed" points to quality or duplication. Noindex, redirect or 404 reasons point to something technical. For a football site, match previews and reports that follow the same template across hundreds of matches can look like near-duplicates. Fewer, deeper pages with your own analysis usually recover better than publishing faster.
If your pages were in search and now they aren't the problem could be the report of your competitors. Or you were stroke using unfair strategy. They can use your domain to send spam or create bad content with your domain. Check internet for such cases.
Probably not a penalty. New sites often get a quick boost, then drop to their real spot. Normal around month three. Check GSC first. "Crawled - currently not indexed" means quality problems. "Discovered - currently not indexed" means Google just hasn't gotten to it yet. Ask Google to index your main pages. Then wait two weeks. Don't redesign in a panic.