How to Find Host Problems in Google Search Console & How to Resolve it? Real Case Study

It was a regular week—until I noticed something alarming: my website’s organic traffic was nosediving, and many of my pages suddenly disappeared from Google’s index. This isn't a hypothetical scenario; it's a real-life wake-up call for anyone using JavaScript-heavy platforms like Drupal with pre-rendering solutions.

What Host Problems Look Like in Google Search Console

Google Search Console’s Crawl Stats report highlights host status categories: robots.txt fetch, DNS resolution, and Server connectivity. If your site is unreachable, you’ll see alerts like “Host had problems last week” and spikes in failed crawl requests.

1. Green status: No recent crawl issues—your site is accessible.
   

2. Yellow/Red status: Google detected connection, DNS, or file fetch failures. High percentages of failed requests signal serious availability issues.

   
   

   1. Tip: Check the “Server connectivity” section for spikes (e.g., 85% failed crawl requests), which directly impact indexing and traffic.

How to Resolve Host Problems Fast

• Fix Payment and Service Interruptions: Resolve failed payments for any critical hosting or pre-rendering services immediately.

• Address Server/DNS Issues: Contact your host or DNS provider if connection spikes or unresolved domains are detected—Google will not index inaccessible sites.

• Restore Robots.txt and Resource Access: Ensure robots.txt, CSS, JS, and images are accessible to Googlebot.

• Use URL Inspection and Request Indexing: After recovery, use Search Console’s URL Inspection tool to prompt Google to recrawl affected pages.

• Monitor and Validate: Confirm that failed crawl rates drop back to zero and indexed page counts begin to recover.

The Calm Before the Storm

My Drupal site is dynamic and heavily reliant on JavaScript. To ensure that Googlebot effectively crawls and indexes my content, I use a pre-rendering tool that serves search engines a fully-rendered HTML snapshot. Everything was smooth—until my pre-rendering service subscription failed to auto-renew, and my hosting encountered issues.

The Traffic Crash & The Investigation

Within days, my traffic dropped drastically: a 50% decline in just two days, deepening to a 70% fall in less than a week, as confirmed by my GA-4 and Search Console statistics. Panicked, I checked Google Search Console and used the site:sitename operator. Out of 2,110 pages, only 310 were still indexed—a catastrophic drop for any business or publisher.

The Root Cause: Server Connectivity and Pre-rendering Outage

Deeper investigation in Search Console’s crawl stats revealed the real culprit: a spike in failed crawl requests, with host status warning that Google could not reach my website for several days. Server connectivity issues, coupled with an expired pre-rendering subscription, meant Googlebot was neither able to load nor render my site’s content properly, triggering massive de-indexing.

how to check host problems in gsc

Step-by-Step: Detecting and Diagnosing Host Issues

Visit Crawl Stats in Google Search Console:

• Go to “Settings” > Crawl stats

• Review host status visuals and the graph of crawl requests and failures.

• Drill Down into Host Status:

• Click host status for detailed diagnostics: robots.txt, DNS, and server connectivity.

• Look for failure rates above the “issue” threshold (dotted red line).

• Map Traffic Drops to Crawl Failures:

• If you notice a traffic drop in Google Analytics, correlate it with crawl failures during the same timeframe.

• Index Coverage Check:

• Use the “site:” query (site:yourdomain.com) and Indexing > Pages report to compare total indexed pages with your actual page count.

Key Lessons from the Ordeal

1. Continuity of Critical Services

   Never let your pre-rendering tool subscription lapse. Set up renewal reminders and have a payment backup to avoid service interruptions. Remember, Googlebot relies on properly rendered content—especially for JavaScript-heavy sites.
   

2. Monitor Hosting & Pre-rendering Health

   Monitor your site’s host connectivity using Search Console’s Crawl Stats and host status. Downtime, even for a few days, can lead to significant SEO and traffic loss. Regularly test that Googlebot is receiving the expected HTML snapshot and not default JavaScript, especially after any updates or renewals.
   

3. Regular Indexing Checks

   Frequently use tools like the site: search and Google’s URL inspection tool to monitor which pages are indexed and if Googlebot can crawl your most important URLs.

   
   

4. Compare Traffic With Crawl Stats

   Correlate analytics data with server connectivity and crawl data. A steep traffic drop often reflects crawling or indexing troubles—not just algorithm updates or keyword ranking changes.

Dos and Dont's When Facing Similar Situations

Dos	Dont's
Enable auto-renewal and monitor status for both hosting and pre-rendering services	Assume short outages won’t impact SEO
Set up notifications for failed payments, downtime, and service expiry alerts	Ignore server and DNS errors in Search Console
Regularly test site accessibility as Googlebot (use Fetch/Render tools)	Rely blindly on uptime monitors (they don’t see what Googlebot sees)
Check Crawl Stats weekly and after any traffic/indexing anomaly	Delay in resolving crawl issues or failed rendering
Re-request indexing in GSC after resolving issues	Wait for Google to “magically” recover

Special Considerations for Pre-rendering Tools

• Compatibility: Ensure your pre-rendering tool is compatible with Googlebot’s crawling methods and is configured properly for every part of your site, not just the homepage.

• Critical Resource Access: Configure robots.txt to allow Googlebot to access essential CSS, JS, and images needed for full rendering of your pages.

• Immediate Remediation: If your site is de-indexed, resolve technical issues immediately and then request re-crawling and re-indexing in Google Search Console.

• Monitor Edge Cases: Some URLs or patterns may not pre-render correctly; test edge cases (URLs with dots, query strings, etc.) regularly to avoid invisible failures.

If you're experiencing sudden drops in Google rankings or traffic? Maybe you should check for Host problems because when Googlebot can’t reach your content, it won't crawl your site, leading to de-indexing and sharp declines in organic traffic.

Regularly review Search Console, test your rendering, and never risk lapses in critical site infrastructure.