Google has confirmed an issue with Google Alerts where Google's Danny Sullivan said "We've identified an issue that's prevented Google Alerts from operating properly. We're working to resolve the issue quickly." The issue was resolved several hours ago but Google Alerts was not functioning properly for about five to six days.
The issue started about six days ago and Google confirmed the issue yesterday. The reports first came via a Google Web Search Help thread where users said they are not getting Google Alerts. One user said "I have been using Google Alerts for some time. For the past 24 hours, my alerts are not returning any data. Is there an issue with alerts in general? If so, do you know how long it will be down? A news search using the same keyword shows data from about an hour or two ago. However, the alert shows no new data for two days."
There are several dozen complaints in that thread over the past several days.
Google fixed Google Alerts several hours ago, Aishwarya Tapadar from Google updated the thread and wrote "Thank you so much for your feedback. The Google Alerts issue is now resolved."
Personally, I believe I've been getting Google Alerts emailed to me over the past few days but I am not sure if I am missing anything, to be honest.
Google also posted about this on Twitter:
This is an alert about Google Alerts. We've identified an issue that's prevented Google Alerts from operating properly. Our apologies. We're working to resolve the issue quickly.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 19, 2021
Do any of you use Google Alerts? If so, did you notice this issue?
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.