Removing a Page From Google index
-
We accidentally generated some pages on our site that ended up getting indexed by google. We have corrected the issue on the site and we 404 all of those pages. Should we manually delete the extra pages from Google's index or should we just let Google figure out that they are 404'd? What the best practice here?
-
Thanks Ryan. I fully understand what you are saying and will be careful while making the change.
-
Hi Atul,
Generally speaking I am uncomfortable advising others on specific changes to the .htaccess file. If you make even a slight error while working with the file, your site security can be compromised, not to mention your SEO. There are also many factors to consider such as which mods are enabled on your particular server along with other configuration issues. Lastly, the order in which your code is placed in the file can effect it's operation so it's not like adding a meta tag to the section of an html document.
If you are on managed hosting, my recommendation is to ask your web host to make the change. If you are not on managed hosting, I recommend asking the developer who manages the site to make the change.
If you still insist on making the change yourself, try
Redirect gone /ABC/xyz.html
-
After reading your answer, i searched for methods on how to generate 410 error.
Lets say i want to remove a page named xyz.html.
Which of the following entry in .htaccess is correct
Redirect gone xyz.html
or
Redirect gone /xyz/
If xyz were in a folder named ABC,
would it be correct
Redirect gone /ABC/xyz.html
Thaks
-
Thanks everyone! We are just going to leave it as is. Google will eventually flush it out. Ryan - because of the 90 days we can't remove the URL's. I will need them back sooner than that when we actually put products in those states. Thanks again! helpful....as usual!
-
Remove URL tool will just expedite the inevitable. There is no downside in doing so.
I agree with everything you shared Esko up to this point. Aside from the time spent to remove the page, there is another downside. The URL you remove will not appear in SERPs again for 90 days after being manually removed.
If your URL was mysite.com/blue-widgets then your site will not have another /blue-widgets page listed again for 90 days. I can share it is a headache as an SEO trying to figure out why a page is not being indexed, and later learning I did not ask all the right questions i.e. "Prior to hiring my services, have you or anyone with access to your WMT account used the URL Removal tool within the past 90 days?". That otherwise obscure question now is asked regularly of my clients. Painful lesson.
Also, I wanted to share another helpful link I located from Google: When NOT to use the URL Removal tool.
-
Google will completely drop the page from the index after the next time they crawl it. Using the Remove URLs tool in Google Webmaster Tools will only expedite removal.
Best practice is to 404 (Not Found) or 410 (Gone) the page first of all.
Remove URL tool will just expedite the inevitable. There is no downside in doing so.
-
Should we manually delete the extra pages from Google's index or should we just let Google figure out that they are 404'd? What the best practice here?
The best practice would be to generate a 410 error (GONE) for the pages and Google will remove them from their index fairly quickly.
The next best practice would be to leave the pages as 404s and Google will still remove them from their index but it will take a bit longer.
A 410 is used to inform Google and others the page is definitely gone. A 404 merely states the page is unavailable now. It could be available later.
The removal tool should only be used if it is a major concern for the search result to appear in SERPs. An example would be if confidential information was leaked.
-
I think it's always good to let Google know as they might remove it sooner. But there's no guarantee either way. Though if you can, you should 301 your content to a new/similar page rather than just let it 404.
-
I understand HOW to remove a page. I want to know whether it's better for me to manually remove it or let Google remove it on its own.
-
Remove a page from Google's Index
Use Google Webmaster Tools www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=1663419
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
-
My url disappeared from Google but Search Console shows indexed. This url has been indexed for more than a year. Please help!
Super weird problem that I can't solve for last 5 hours. One of my urls: https://www.dcacar.com/lax-car-service.html Has been indexed for more than a year and also has an AMP version, few hours ago I realized that it had disappeared from serps. We were ranking on page 1 for several key terms. When I perform a search "site:dcacar.com " the url is no where to be found on all 5 pages. But when I check my Google Console it shows as indexed I requested to index again but nothing changed. All other 50 or so urls are not effected at all, this is the only url that has gone missing can someone solve this mystery for me please. Thanks a lot in advance.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Davit19850 -
HTTP Pages Indexed as HTTPS
My site used to be entirely HTTPS. I switched months ago so that all links in the pages that the public has access to are now http only. But I see now that when I do a site:www.qjamba.com, the results include many pages with https in the beginning (including the home page!), which is not what I want. I can redirect to http but that doesn't remove https from the indexing, right? How do I solve this problem? sample of results: Qjamba: Free Local and Online Coupons, coupon codes ... **<cite class="_Rm">https://www.qjamba.com/</cite>**One and Done savings. Printable coupons and coupon codes for thousands of local and online merchants. No signups, just click and save. Chicnova online coupons and shopping - Qjamba **<cite class="_Rm">https://www.qjamba.com/online-savings/Chicnova</cite>**Online Coupons and Shopping Savings for Chicnova. Coupon codes for online discounts on Apparel & Accessories products. Singlehop online coupons and shopping - Qjamba <cite class="_Rm">https://www.qjamba.com/online-savings/singlehop</cite>Online Coupons and Shopping Savings for Singlehop. Coupon codes for online discounts on Business & Industrial, Service products. Automotix online coupons and shopping - Qjamba <cite class="_Rm">https://www.qjamba.com/online-savings/automotix</cite>Online Coupons and Shopping Savings for Automotix. Coupon codes for online discounts on Vehicles & Parts products. Online Hockey Savings: Free Local Fast | Qjamba **<cite class="_Rm">www.qjamba.com/online-shopping/hockey</cite>**Find big online savings at popular and specialty stores on Hockey, and more. Hitcase online coupons and shopping - Qjamba **<cite class="_Rm">www.qjamba.com/online-savings/hitcase</cite>**Online Coupons and Shopping Savings for Hitcase. Coupon codes for online discounts on Electronics, Cameras & Optics products. Avanquest online coupons and shopping - Qjamba <cite class="_Rm">https://www.qjamba.com/online-savings/avanquest</cite>Online Coupons and Shopping Savings for Avanquest. Coupon codes for online discounts on Software products.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | friendoffood0 -
How do I know what pages of my site is not inedexed by google ?
Hi I my Google webmaster tools under Crawl->sitemaps it shows 1117 pages submitted but 619 has been indexed. Is there any way I can fined which pages are not indexed and why? it has been like this for a while. I also have a manual action (partial) message. "Unnatural links to your site--impacts links" and under affects says "Some incoming links" is that the reason Google does not index some of my pages? Thank you Sina
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SinaKashani0 -
Google+ Local pages under review. How long does this take?
I have a couple Google+ local pages that have been placed under review. Does anyone have experience regarding the time frame of this reveiw process. Google says to give it a few weeks, but one page has been under review for four weeks now. How long should I wait for Google to review them before I delete the page and start over?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | VentaMarketing0 -
Can you appear in both Google local and universal results on the page?
I have a client that ranks 2nd for a google local result, and the local results are the first set of results being displayed, making it in fact the 2nd result on the page for the keyword. There aren't any blended results on this page, it's straightforward local results, then universal results directly after. They are concerned that they are not appearing in the universal results high enough (they're on page 5 with a different url than the homepage). I'm not sure why their #2 local ranking isn't good enough since those are consistently the same results, but I have to ask; Can you appear in both local and universal results on the same page?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MichaelWeisbaum0 -
Why my own page is not indexed for that keyword?
hi, I recently recreated the page www.zenucchi.it /ITA/poltrona-frau-brescia.html on the third level domain poltronafraubrescia.zenucchi.it by putting it on the home page. The first page is still indexed for the keyword poltrona frau brescia . But the new page is no indexed for that keyword and i don't know why ( even if the page is indexed in google ) .. I state that the new domain has the same autorithy and that i put a 301 redirect to pass his authority to the new one that has many more incoming links that did not have previous .. i hope you'll help me thanks a lot
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | guidoboem0 -
Google is indexing wordpress attachment pages
Hey, I have a bit of a problem/issue what is freaking me out a bit. I hope you can help me. If i do site:www.somesitename.com search in Google i see that Google is indexing my attachment pages. I want to redirect attachment URL's to parent post and stop google from indexing them. I have used different redirect plugins in hope that i can fix it myself but plugins don't work. I get a error:"too many redirects occurred trying to open www.somesitename.com/?attachment_id=1982 ". Do i need to change something in my attachment.php fail? Any idea what is causing this problem? get_header(); ?> /* Run the loop to output the attachment. * If you want to overload this in a child theme then include a file * called loop-attachment.php and that will be used instead. */ get_template_part( 'loop', 'attachment' ); ?>
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TauriU0 -
Best practice for removing pages
I've got some crappy pages that I want to delete from a site. I've removed all the internal links to those pages and resubmitted new site maps that don't show the pages anymore, however the pages still index in search (as you would expect). My question is, what's the best practice for removing these pages? Should I just delete them and be done with it or make them 301 re-direct to a nicer generic page until they are removed from the search results?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PeterAlexLeigh0