Google experienced a significant disruption with Google Search last night, which is still ongoing this morning. There are numerous reports about indexing problems, pages going out of the index, and really subpar and out-of-date search results being displayed in Google this morning, so it seems to be more extensive than just an outage.
Barry Schwartz: Earlier yesterday night, around 9:30 p.m. ET, 9to5Google published the first news I noticed of the outage.
These problems appeared to be brought on by a fire that occurred in a Google data center. a Google representative stated "We are aware of an electrical incident that occurred today at Google's Council Bluffs, Iowa, data center, hurting three people who are currently receiving medical attention. We are actively collaborating with partners and local authorities to completely evaluate the situation and provide help as necessary. The health and safety of all workers is our utmost priority."
We should all remember the injured and wish for their quick recovery.
WebmasterWorld and Black Hat World forum discussions.
At 9:20 ET today, there have been some reports that some of the problems have been resolved. Remember that this could take a while, and even if you notice that things are back to normal, the next individual might still experience some very negative effects. But things will work itself out, and I sincerely hope those hurt heal quickly.
At 2 p.m. ET, there are reports that things are largely returning to normal.
The following day's update: It appears that life has returned to normal for most of us.
According to Cnet, the fire was also probably unrelated to the outage.
