Google has formally responded to the wave of cross-domain canonical de-indexing that has wiped pages from search results across India. The Search Central team confirmed that cross-domain canonicals, where site A points to a canonical on site B, are now being evaluated strictly, and mismatched hreflang or CDN configs are the leading triggers. Agencies running multiple domains, separate blog subdomains, or regional ccTLD setups have started reporting dropped pages since last week.
⚡ Fast Takeaways:
- Core Update: Google says cross-domain canonicals are valid only when both domains are owned by the same entity and signals match exactly. Conflicting hreflang, mixed protocols, and CDN edge rewrites now get treated as soft errors, not hints.
- Key Impact: Pages drop from the index within 3 to 14 days once the canonical chain breaks. Recovery timelines stretch to 4 to 6 weeks after a corrected recrawl.
- What To Fix First: Audit canonical targets, verify same-owner declarations, strip duplicate rel=canonical tags, and check that your CDN is not rewriting canonical URLs at the edge.
- Access & Timing: Guidance is live on Google Search Central. Fixes via Search Console already accept urgent recrawl requests.