In late August, we reported about a large drop in the Index Status report within the Google Search Console across all accounts. Google at first told us this was not a bug, but the new more accurate estimate, but then I noticed the numbers jumped back up and stayed up.

So I asked John Mueller about this in yesterday’s Google+ hangout at the 5:35 minute mark and he answered that both answers are correct.

That (1) this was a reporting glitch and (2) Google did make an adjustment to the index counts of web sites.

John said:

I then asked him to clarify, that “both (answers Google has given me) were correct?” John replied, “yes.”

Here is the original statement Google sent me:

So even with the bug, Google did make an adjustment, that you may or may not notice, with showing the number of indexed pages in Google.

Forum discussion at Google+.