Google Search Console seems to have a bug with its Google Discover performance report. Since June 5th, the clicks and impressions data have gone to zero or significantly dropped for many news publishers.
After I reported about it on the Search Engine Roundtable, Google added an annotation to the chart to note that there is an issue with June 5th forward.
What it looks like: When you look at the chart, you will see a huge drop in clicks and impressions. Here is a sample report showing this drop:
I have more examples in my original report, but they all show the same thing, across all news publishers, in the Discover performance report in Google Search Console.
The annotation. As you can see, Google added a little 1 label in a circle, that links to this document which currently has no information about the issue. I assume Google will add more details soon.
When I first reported on it, the annotation was not there, here is my earlier screenshot:
Why we care. The big thing is that you are not alone, it seems like this is a Google bug impacting all publishers who have the Google Discover report in Search Console.
It is unclear if the data is lost or if Google will be able to restore the data and backfill it.
For now, just know, this is a Google reporting bug and your Discover traffic, despite it being super volatile in general, did not just jump off a cliff.
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