Given all the ways your connection to Google can fail, it can be difficult to determine the exact reason that Google isn’t working for you. Here’s how to check if Google is actually down for everyone, if there’s a problem with your internet service provider, or if it’s a problem on your end.

Causes of Google Being Down

Google itself rarely goes down, but rarely isn’t never. More often, disruptions of some sort on your end, including network interruptions, glitch your connection to Google.

When you aren’t able to access Google or one of Google’s services, you will sometimes see an error message in your browser:

  • 500 error: The server encountered an unexpected condition.The server encountered an error and could not complete your request.Server is not responding.We’re sorry, a server error occurred. Please wait a bit and try again.Backend error.

In some cases, you’ll see an HTTP status code error instead of a Google error message. When you encounter HTTP errors, verify whether you can load websites other than Google.

How to Fix Google Being Down

Try these steps in order to determine why Google appears to be down, and then take steps to try to resolve problems on your end.

  • Check the Google Workspace Status Dashboard. The Google Workspace Status Dashboard is a good place to check for information about downtime and connectivity problems with Google or any Google services. If you see a green dot next to Google’s services, it means everything is working fine.
  • If a lot of Google services show orange or red, that’s a good indication that Google is actually down for everyone and not just you. Wait until Google resolves the problem.
  • The Google Workspace Dashboard doesn’t include an entry for Google.com, so it won’t actually show you if the search engine itself is down. If most or all of Google’s servers are down, however, that’s a good indication that search is disrupted, too.
  • Search Twitter for #googledown. Social media is a great place to look for information about an outage since there’s a good chance that people will want to talk about the problems that they’re having.
  • While you can also check out Facebook and other social media platforms, the immediacy of Twitter and the use of hashtags makes it a good first stop. If you see a lot of people complaining about Google, there’s a good chance it’s down for everyone, and not just you.
  • Check an independent status-checker website. Here are some good places to check: Down For Everyone or Just Me, Down Detector, Is it Down Right Now?, and Outage.
  • Try the Google app on your phone or tablet. In some cases, Google web search will go down, but the app continues to work.
  • Shut down your web browser, re-launch it, then attempt to access Google again. If you have another browser on your computer, check to see if you can access Google with it. If you can, that means there’s a problem with your original browser.
  • Clear your browser cache and then try to open Google again. Clearing the cache is an easy step that can fix a lot of problems, and it won’t log you out of any websites that store your login information.
  • Clear your browser’s cookies. This fix takes care of many browser-related problems. However, clearing cookies can have additional, unwanted effects, such as removing customized settings on some websites and removing stored login information.
  • Scan your computer for malware. One of the ways malware can dig in and prevent you from removing it is to cut off your access to help. In some cases, this problem manifests by preventing you from accessing search engines like Google. If you are infected, and you remove the malware, that cleansing should restore your access to Google.
  • Restart your computer if you haven’t already done so. Restarting a computer fixes a lot of weird problems related to errant memory leaks or corrupted temporary files. If you normally leave your computer on for very long periods of time, this step is more likely to help.
  • Reboot your router to clear caches and re-establish a connection with your devices and the ISP. This reboot could clear any errors that are preventing you from connecting with the site.
  • Finally, if a router reboot doesn’t fix it and the problem still appears to be yours alone, contacting your ISP is the last thing you can do.

Check the Google Workspace Status Dashboard. The Google Workspace Status Dashboard is a good place to check for information about downtime and connectivity problems with Google or any Google services. If you see a green dot next to Google’s services, it means everything is working fine.

If a lot of Google services show orange or red, that’s a good indication that Google is actually down for everyone and not just you. Wait until Google resolves the problem.

The Google Workspace Dashboard doesn’t include an entry for Google.com, so it won’t actually show you if the search engine itself is down. If most or all of Google’s servers are down, however, that’s a good indication that search is disrupted, too.

Search Twitter for #googledown. Social media is a great place to look for information about an outage since there’s a good chance that people will want to talk about the problems that they’re having.

While you can also check out Facebook and other social media platforms, the immediacy of Twitter and the use of hashtags makes it a good first stop. If you see a lot of people complaining about Google, there’s a good chance it’s down for everyone, and not just you.

Check an independent status-checker website. Here are some good places to check: Down For Everyone or Just Me, Down Detector, Is it Down Right Now?, and Outage.

Try the Google app on your phone or tablet. In some cases, Google web search will go down, but the app continues to work.

Shut down your web browser, re-launch it, then attempt to access Google again. If you have another browser on your computer, check to see if you can access Google with it. If you can, that means there’s a problem with your original browser.

Clear your browser cache and then try to open Google again. Clearing the cache is an easy step that can fix a lot of problems, and it won’t log you out of any websites that store your login information.

Clear your browser’s cookies. This fix takes care of many browser-related problems. However, clearing cookies can have additional, unwanted effects, such as removing customized settings on some websites and removing stored login information.

Scan your computer for malware. One of the ways malware can dig in and prevent you from removing it is to cut off your access to help. In some cases, this problem manifests by preventing you from accessing search engines like Google. If you are infected, and you remove the malware, that cleansing should restore your access to Google.

Restart your computer if you haven’t already done so. Restarting a computer fixes a lot of weird problems related to errant memory leaks or corrupted temporary files. If you normally leave your computer on for very long periods of time, this step is more likely to help.

Reboot your router to clear caches and re-establish a connection with your devices and the ISP. This reboot could clear any errors that are preventing you from connecting with the site.

Finally, if a router reboot doesn’t fix it and the problem still appears to be yours alone, contacting your ISP is the last thing you can do.

Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day