Removing/ Redirecting bad URL's from main domain
-
Our users create content for which we host on a seperate URL for a web version. Originally this was hosted on our main domain.
This was causing problems because Google was seeing all these different types of content on our main domain. The page content was all over the place and (we think) may have harmed our main domain reputation.
About a month ago, we added a robots.txt to block those URL's in that particular folder, so that Google doesn't crawl those pages and ignores it in the SERP.
We now went a step further and are now redirecting (301 redirect) all those user created URL's to a totally brand new domain (not affiliated with our brand or main domain).
This should have been done from the beginning, but it wasn't.
Any suggestions on how can we remove all those original URL's and make Google see them as not affiliated with main domain?? or should we just give it the good ol' time recipe for it to fix itself??
-
Yes, that's correct Kurt. We want to disassociate our brand from those pages. Thanks for your FB!
-
Yes, very helpful... Thanks!
-
It sounds to me like you don't want the search engines to know that your moving the content, but rather have them think that you have dropped the pages from your site because you don't want the search engines associating those pages with your site, correct?
If that's the case, then you do want to keep the noindex on the old pages and setup 301 redirects as well. The redirects are for real users who happen to use any links/bookmarks to the old pages. By keeping the old pages noindexed, then hopefully the search engines won't crawl them and won't follow the redirects. I'd also remove the pages from the Google and Bing indexes in their webmaster tools for good measure.
If you are linking from your site to the new location of the user content, you may want to nofollow those links or, better yet, create the links in javascript or something to hide them. If all the links to the content just shift to the new location, Google and Bing may still associate it your site with the new site. Then again, if all the content from the old pages is all the new site, then they may figure it all out anyway.
-
You need to get rid of the robots.txt block on those URLs you want to redirect, Alec.
As it is now with the robots block in place, you've told the search engines NOT to crawl those URLs So it's going to be very difficult for them to discover the 301 redirects and learn that they should be dropping the old URLs form the index. After that, it is just a matter of time. (It can also help to leave those old URLs in the xml sitemap for a while to make it easier for the engines to crawl them and discover the 301s)
If none of those URLs were generating any substantial amount of traffic or incoming links, you could also use Google and Bing Webmaster Tools to request that the pages be removed from the index. This will only really work if the pages are organised in a specific directory, as it would likely take far too long to annotate each URL for removal otherwise.
Hope that helps?
Paul
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Infinite Scrolling on Publisher Sites - is VentureBeat's implementation really SEO-friendly?
I've just begun a new project auditing the site of a news publisher. In order to increase pageviews and thus increase advertising revenue, at some point in the past they implemented something so that as many as 5 different articles load per article page. All articles are loaded at the same time and from looking in Google's cache and the errors flagged up in Search Console, Google treats it as one big mass of content, not separate pages. Another thing to note is that when a user scrolls down, the URL does in fact change when you get to the next article. My initial thought was to remove this functionality and just load one article per page. However I happened to notice that VentureBeat.com uses something similar. They use infinite scrolling so that the other articles on the page (in a 'feed' style) only load when a user scrolls to the bottom of the first article. I checked Google's cached versions of the pages and it seems that Google also only reads the first article which seems like an ideal solution. This obviously has the benefit of additionally speeding up loading time of the page too. My question is, is VentureBeat's implementation actually that SEO-friendly or not. VentureBeat have 'sort of' followed Google's guidelines with regards to how to implement infinite scrolling https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2014/02/infinite-scroll-search-friendly.html by using prev and next tags for pagination https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1663744?hl=en. However isn't the point of pagination to list multiple pages in a series (i.e. page 2, page 3, page 4 etc.) rather than just other related articles? Here's an example - http://venturebeat.com/2016/11/11/facebooks-cto-explains-social-networks-10-year-mission-global-connectivity-ai-vr/ Would be interesting to know if someone has dealt with this first-hand or just has an opinion. Thanks in advance! Daniel
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Daniel_Morgan1 -
Penalty removing company recommendation?
We've got a manual penalty, not sitewide, that we've been trying to remove and keep getting our reconsideration request denied. We also do not have the manpower to manually check backlinks, contact domain owners, etc anymore. Does anyone have recommendations on a company to use?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | CFSSEO0 -
Do industry partner links violate Google's policies?
We're in the process of The Great _Inquisition_piecing together a reconsideration request. In doing so, we reached out to an agency to filter and flag our backlinks as safe, should be no-followed, or should be removed. The problem is, they flagged several of our earned, industry partner links (like those pointing to us, HireAHelper, from 1-800-Pack-Rat and PODS for example) as either should be no-followed or should be removed. I have a hard time believing Google would penalize such a natural source of earned links, but then again, this is our second attempt at a Reconsideration Request, and I want to cover all my bases. What say you Moz community? No-follow? Remove? Leave alone?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | DanielH0 -
Are multiple links on the same domain worth pursuing?
Let's say you get a guest post on a blog that links to your site for $100. How much is the link from another guest post on the same domain worth? $90? $50? Does each additional link from the same domain lose its SEO impact? What if one blogger loves your content and is willing to post 10+ of your blog posts with links to your site in each - is that worth pursuing just from an SEO standpoint (I know it can be a good branding opportunity if the readership is right)?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | pbhatt0 -
Where is the rule here that forces any home page URLs that include several versions of explicit page name references, such as default.htm or index.html, to redirect to the canonical homepage?
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9,-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)/(1)?$ /search/$1/sort-$2 [R=301]
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | esiow2013
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9,-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=search&q=$1&page=$5&sort=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9,-]+)/(1)?$ /search/$1 [R=301]
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9,-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=search&q=$1&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^([r|R])-([0-9]+)((-)([0-9a-zA-Z-]+))?$ index.php?cmd=propertyPage&id=$2&group=1 [L]
RewriteRule ^([s|S])-([0-9]+)((-)([0-9a-zA-Z-]+))?$ index.php?cmd=propertyPage&id=$2&group=2 [L]
RewriteRule ^reset-password$ index.php?cmd=retrievePassword [L]
RewriteRule ^reset-password/([0-9]+)/([a-zA-Z0-9]+)$ index.php?cmd=retrievePassword&act=retrievePasswordConfirm&code=$1&key=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^map-page.php$ index.php?cmd=mapPage [L]
RewriteRule ^advertise.php$ index.php?cmd=advertiseWithUs [L]
RewriteRule ^my-account.php$ index.php?cmd=protectedMyAccount [L]
RewriteRule ^bookmarked-properties(/((R|S)-([0-9]+)))?$ index.php?cmd=protectedBookmarkedProperties&id=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^bookmarked-properties/([0-9]+)$ index.php?cmd=protectedBookmarkedProperties&page=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^bookmarked-properties/delete/([0-9,]+)$ index.php?cmd=protectedBookmarkedProperties&act=protectedBookmarkedProperties_delete&id=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^register.php$ index.php?cmd=register [L]
RewriteRule ^about-us.php$ index.php?cmd=aboutUs [L]
RewriteRule ^news(/([0-9]+)(.*))?$ index.php?cmd=news&id=$2&title=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^registration/confirm/key=([a-zA-Z0-9]{150})/code=([a-zA-Z0-9]{5})$ index.php?cmd=register&act=registerConfirm&key=$1&code=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^terms-and-conditions.php$ index.php?cmd=termsAndConditions [L]
RewriteRule ^privacy-policy.php$ index.php?cmd=privacyPolicy [L]
RewriteRule ^contact-us.php$ index.php?cmd=contactUs [L]
RewriteRule ^sitemap.php$ index.php?cmd=siteMap [L]
RewriteRule ^members/login.php$ login.php [L]
RewriteRule ^rss$ index.php?cmd=rss [L]
RewriteRule ^resources.php$ index.php?cmd=links [L]
RewriteRule ^links.php$ /resources.php [R=301]
RewriteRule ^resources2.php$ index.php?cmd=links2 [L]
RewriteRule ^results.php$ index.php?cmd=results [L]
RewriteRule ^residential-properties((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsRoot&mainDivision=1&page=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^commercial-properties((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsRoot&mainDivision=2&page=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsRoot&mainDivision=1&str=1&page=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsRoot&group=2&page=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsRoot&group=1&page=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&str=1&sort=$2&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&str=1&sort=$4&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&str=1&sort=$5&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&str=1&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&str=1&page=$6 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&str=1&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&sort=$5&group=1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&sort=$5&group=2&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&sort=$5&group=1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&sort=$5&group=2&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&sort=$2&group=1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&sort=$2&group=2&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1&sort=$2&group=1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1&sort=$2&group=2&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&group=1&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&group=2&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&group=1&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&group=2&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&group=1&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&group=2&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1&group=1&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1&group=2&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&group=1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&group=2&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&group=1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&group=2&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$2&category=$1&group=1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$2&category=$1&group=2&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$2&category=$1&group=1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$2&category=$1&group=2&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()0-9_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&sort=$6&page=$9 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()0-9_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&sort=$6&page=$9 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&category=$1&sort=$5&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&category=$1&sort=$5&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&category=$1&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&category=$1&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2&category=$1&sort=$3&page=$6 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2&category=$1&sort=$3&page=$6 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2&category=$1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2&category=$1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain_categories&mainDivision=1&country=$1&group=1&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain_categories&mainDivision=1&country=$1&group=2&page=$4 [L]0 -
NoFollow tag for external links: Good or bad?
I have a few sites that have tens of thousands of links on them (most of them are sourcing images that happen to be external links). I know that it's a good thing to externally link to reputable sources, but is it smart to place the nofollow tag on ALL external links? I'm sure there is a good chance that external links from posts from years ago are pointing to sites that may now be penalized. I feel as though nofollowing all the external links could come off as unnatural. What are the pros and cons of placing the nofollow tag on ALL external links, and also if I leave it as is and don't put the nofollow tag on them. Thanks.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | WebServiceConsulting.com0 -
Cutting off the bad link juice
Hello, I have noticed that there is plenty of old low quality links linking to many of the landing pages. I would like to cut them off and start again. Would it be ok to do the following?: 1. create new URLs (domain is quite string and new pages are ranking good and better than the affected old landing pages) and add the old content there 2. 302 redirect old landing pages to the new ones 3. put "no index" tag on the old URLs (maybe even "no index no follow"?)or it wouldn't work? Thanks in advance
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | ThinkingJuice0 -
Stuffing keywords into URLs
The following site ranks #1 in Google for almost every key phrase in their URL path for almost every page on their site. Example: themarketinganalysts.com/en/pages/medical-translation-interpretation-pharmaceutical-equipment-specifications-medical-literature-hippa/ The last folder in this URL uses 9 keywords and I've seen as many as 18 on the same site. Curious: every page is a "default.html" under one of these kinds of folders (so much architecture?). Question: How much does stuffing keywords into URL paths affect ranking? If it has an effect, will Google eventually ferret it out and penalize it?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | PaulKMia0