Google Calendar is down. As in inaccessible using a web browser. This is actually the first time I’ve personally seen Google Calendar down, at least since I’ve been relying on it more and more–over the past few years.
As you might recall, a few weeks ago Google had a bug (or their system wasn’t configured properly) and a series of events caused Google Cloud to be down. This time it appears to be only the web-based access for Google Calendar, and if you have the app then you should be able to see all of your appointments today.
Don’t Rely On Google
I’ve pretty much known this for years now, and have made it my standard operating procedure to not rely on anything–always have backups and always have backups of backups. For example, if you’re using Google Cloud or Google Docs, Google Drive (or even Google Calendar), have a backup somewhere. I have a few Google spreadsheets that I rely on, and they’re only on Google Drive because they have to be accessed by more than one person. In that case, I do regular backups by downloading the sheets, saving them in Microsoft Excel, which then are saved on my laptop, a backup of my laptop, and then another service that’s not connected to Google.
As an SEO and online marketer, though, it’s worth noting that I also don’t want to necessarily rely on one source of traffic or leads, for example. So, I learned back in the early 2000s that you shouldn’t rely your whole business on Google organic search. Google can make an update, you lose rankings and traffic, and then you’d have to lay off employees because of it. That’s what happened with the Google Florida update years ago. So many companies went under because they were relying solely on having good rankings in Google.
As for Google Calendar, you can actually download and export all of your items (events, etc.) and make a backup. Here’s how to do that: https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37111?hl=en