Google Search Console logging issue may cause drop in image search performance data

The issue started on January 24 and is still ongoing, so please note this in your reports.

Chat with SearchBot

Starting on January 24, 2022 and currently still ongoing, Google said there was a “logging issue” with Google “Search data for images” which may result in a drop in the number of clicks and impressions you see in your Google Search Console Performance reports for images. This is just a reporting issue and has no impact on actual rankings or Google Search traffic.

The issue. Google wrote “Search data for images is affected by a logging issue that might cause you to see a drop in clicks and impressions for images on your site in the Performance report.” This issue started on Monday, January 24, 2022 and is still ongoing.

Working on a fix. Google said the the search company is “working on resolving this issue.” Google has resolved the issue and the data between January 24th and January 27th was impacted, data before or after this time frame should be fine.

No impact in Google Search. Google confirmed that this “issue is a logging issue only.” Google added that “it does not reflect a drop in either user behavior or search results on Google.”

Why we care. If you see a drop in clicks and impressions for your image searches in the performance reports, this is a logging bug and not likely a ranking issue. Please annotate your reports and communicate these issues to your stakeholders.


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

Get the must-read newsletter for search marketers.