Google’s Gary Illyes presented timing ranges for search processes at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe in Barcelona on October 2. John Campbell’s firsthand recap for ROAST reports the figures, based on Google’s internal analysis.
The table separates processes that site owners often lump together when asking how long Google takes to pick up a page or a change.
| Process | Typical timing reported | Slowest timing reported |
|---|---|---|
| New URL discovery | About 20 hours | Weeks, or never |
| Known URL refresh | About 30 days | Weeks, or never |
| Sitemap processing | About 24 hours | Up to 14 days, or never |
| End-to-end indexing | About 1.5 hours | Months, or never |
| Canonical change | 1–3 weeks | Months with conflicting signals |
| Site move | 1–3 months | 6 months to a year or more |
| Core update recovery | 3–6 months | 6 months to a year |
The clocks do not start together
The 1.5-hour indexing figure is easy to misread. It does not promise that a new page will appear in search 90 minutes after publication. Illyes cautioned that the processes depend on one another, so delays accumulate.
Treat the figures as reference points, not deadlines. They do not establish a guaranteed timetable for your site.
Google’s published recrawl guidance says crawling can take days to weeks, inclusion in search is not guaranteed, and repeated requests for the same URL will not speed things up.
Ranking recovery also needs separate treatment. Google’s core update guidance says some improvements can show effects within days, while broader reassessment can take months. Improvements do not always require another major core update, and recovery is not guaranteed.
Before changing a page again, check its reported crawl date against the date of your fix. Keep a record of what changed and watch subsequent inspections. An unchanged status deserves investigation, but it is not proof that Google has already assessed your latest version.
For status-specific next steps, see our guides to Discovered – currently not indexed and Crawled – currently not indexed.