Status
✅ Shipped to prod
Worker 25dc937b
Root cause
/api/contact 405 on GET
+ stale GSC report
Fix
Disallow: /api/
in public/robots.txt
Validation
GSC submitted
Results in 2–14 days
Client memo — ready to forward
Copy-paste into any Aspire client email where you want to heads-up on Core Update + indexing posture.
Re: May 2026 Google Core Update + what we're doing about indexing for you
Google is mid-rollout on its May 2026 Core Update (Day 6 of a ~14-day window — expect ranking volatility through roughly June 1–4). This is the period where Google re-scores sites, and any technical handicap during the window gets amplified.
Two GSC alerts to translate from Google-speak: "Blocked by robots.txt" means we told search engines not to crawl a URL (sometimes a stale rule, sometimes a sitemap reference Google couldn't fetch). "Blocked due to other 4xx" means Google tried to crawl a URL and got an error code other than 404 — usually a form-submission endpoint Google shouldn't be crawling in the first place.
We caught both on madebyaspire.com this week, diagnosed the root causes, and codified the response as a runbook every Concierge client will be scanned against monthly going forward. Forward to any client showing similar GSC noise.
Forward-looking: OpenAI just expanded its Ads Manager Beta with geo-targeting and budget controls (Search Engine Land, 2026-05-25). For SMBs whose buyers already use ChatGPT for shortlist research, this is an early-mover wedge — happy to scope a test for any client interested in being on it before the bulk of agencies catch up.
— Aspire Digital (Vegas build · Aria coordination)
Today's timeline
| Time | Who | What |
|---|---|---|
| ~10:00 | Aria | Greeter morning brief surfaces new GSC 5/25 4xx alert + Day-6 robots.txt slip + Core Update Day 6 |
| ~10:15 | Aria → Vegas | Canonical brief generated (vegas · madebyaspire-com · general). Includes runbook + memo deliverables. |
| ~10:30 | Vegas | Diagnoses: /api/contact returns 405 on GET (confirmed by Aria via independent curl). Stops at 10-min non-obvious threshold on robots.txt — flap theory. |
| ~10:45 | Aria | Pulls GSC alert thread — discovers third (5/14 noindex) alert. Vegas grep confirms 5 intentional noindex paths, 0 unintentional. |
| ~11:00 | Vegas | First deploy attempt blocked: CF_LINQ_TOKEN missing Workers KV Storage Write (token bound a new KV namespace). Switches to writeup mode. |
| ~11:15 | Aria | Discovers Vegas's deploy attempt would have shipped 5-day-old uncommitted XEvil spam hardening. Surfaces decision to Topher. |
| ~11:25 | Topher → Aria | Path A: stash XEvil, ship robots.txt alone. |
| ~11:30 | Aria | Studio deployed (Worker 902f196f) via aria-deploy-v2 token. Verified. |
| ~11:32 | Vegas | Launch deployed (Worker 8acddfbf). Commit 8d75ef5 pushed to origin/main. Runbook + memo finalized. |
| ~11:33 | Aria | Production deployed (Worker 25dc937b). Verified on apex + www. |
| ~11:35 | Topher | GSC validations submitted on 2 of 3 buckets (noindex bucket already auto-cleared). |
Carries — open from this session
XEvil spam hardening — 3 files still uncommitted
src/worker.js + wrangler.toml + src/pages/contact.astro. 7-layer spam hardening from 2026-05-21 "after XEvil bot attack." Author unknown — no Aria session journal records it. Decision matrix in the chat — circle back when bandwidth allows.
GSC validation watch — 7-day window
Aria checks each morning cron for validation result emails. Surfaces in brief on resolution OR day 7 if not yet.
CF_LINQ_TOKEN scope gap — FIXED 2026-05-26 15:46Z
Token 94d9840b ("aspire-linq-stream-v2") now includes Workers KV Storage Write. Vegas's next KV-binding deploy works without rotation.
Artifacts
Runbook: aspire-digital/playbook/src/pages/runbooks/indexing-fault-triage.md
Memo source: /tmp/madebyaspire-indexing-memo-2026-05-26.md
Vegas commit: 8d75ef5 on origin/main
Worker versions: studio 902f196f · launch 8acddfbf · prod 25dc937b
Live robots: madebyaspire.com/robots.txt