Google Has a More Efficient Way to Report Urgent Bugs

Google is piloting a new system for site owners to report bugs and security issues in a timely manner.

The news process for sending in reports is first being rolled out for security issues, with support for other types of bugs to follow.

Google provides many support mechanisms, but we recognize there can be situations where site owners may wish to report urgent bugs or other issues in a timely manner. To help, we’re piloting a new reporting system beginning with security issues.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) August 26, 2020

Google’s new method for reporting security issues, and getting them resolved, begins with consulting Search Console’s help pages.

At the bottom of the page there is a “Report a Security Issue” button which site owners can use to report potential false positives or to request a re-review.

Site owners must be signed-in to Search Console to use the “Report a Security Issue” button.

The new reporting process can only be utilized when sites have been flagged with a security issue in Search Console.

If the issue cannot be resolved with Google’s existing support mechanisms then the new reporting method can be used.

Site owners should not use this new reporting tool as their first option.

If you immediately jump to using the “Report a Security Issue” button, without using any of the existing methods, Google will redirect you to the public resources.

This reporting tool is currently only available on English-language help pages. More languages may be supported in the future, if this tool proves to be successful.

Other bugs, beyond security issues, may be supported in the future as well. Again, that depends on how successful the pilot program is.

Google’s Search Console help pages, where the new “Report a Security Issue” button can be found, are located here.