Has Google hired some of the Redmond IE7, or Vista crew?
We know that with Microsoft we can expect stupid traps, deadends, unreported errors and things that go crash in the night... but Google?
Any Website operator with a Webmaster Account at Google is being exposed to some really obtuse programming. In order to access your crawl and search stats, you must demonstrate you actually control the website. A "simple" verification process. You either add a meta tag to your home page or you upload an HTML file to the home directory of your site.
Now it looks like thing have been screwed up:
- Log into the Webmaster Account
- Access the site by selecting it for management
- Response page Says:
- Site must be verified(it has been verified for 6 months)
- Googlebot last successfully accessed your home page on Nov 24, 2006(The googlebots were all over the site on Dec 18, 2006
- No pages from your site are currently included in Google's index.(Then how am I getting 600+ visits a day off of the Google SERPs?)
- Okay, I'll play along and re-verify... click the "verify site".
- I'll use the meta tag method... The tag has been there for six months, but I will check first to make sure it is identical to what they tell me it is supposed to be. It's the same as always. Away we go... click, buzz, beep...
- Response: "Verification status: NOT VERIFIED
Our system has experienced a temporary problem." - Well it's a link, so let's see if there is an explanation ...click...
- AHA! here is the answer:
"The system is currently busy. We will process this verification as soon as possible. Please check back later for an updated status.
We are experiencing a large number of requests for verification. We'll process your verification request as soon as possible. Check back later for the status of the request."
[okay not problem I will be back tomorrow and all will be well. Of course they would not have such a load if they were not "unverifying" sites] - Return the next day... still not verified; I still can't look at my stats
- Maybe I botched the verification. I do it again, and I will use both methods to make sure.
- Same result... Looks like Google has a problem
- Okay time to contact Google and get this straightened out
- Hmmm... no contact information
- Ah! A search box: "contact Google" that should do it ... click, buzz, beep ===> A list of links of help topics and no place where I can contact them. Maybe they don't have a Gmail account.
- Well, let's try the Discussion Group for Webmasters. The description seems to indicate that Google staff respond there.
- Let's see if there is already a discussion of the problem. This looks about right: "Verified sites lost Verification"
- According to the discussion I am not the only one with the problem, and it has been going on for several weeks.
- No one from Google has responded
So:
A DB glitch causes the user (me, in this case) to run through a procedure that fails, and let's me know everything will be run later; but it does not appear to run it later. There is no way to get any help with it because there is no contact information and the only access is through a discussion forum on their site, where they don't respond; and the problem drags on for weeks without resolution, announcement or even acknowledgment.
Did Bill Gates buy Google?
Did Google hire the IE7 programmers, and Microsoft help desk
Is one of the best, and most important sites on the web becoming another load of crap and scrap like MSN and Yahoo?
