Site being indexed by Google before it has launched
-
We are currently coming towards the end of migrating one of our retail sites over to magento. To our horror, we find out today that some pages are already being indexed by Google, and we have started receiving orders through new site. Do you have any suggestions for what may have caused this? Or similarly, what the best solution would be to de-index ourselves? We most recently excluded anything with a certain parameter from robots.txt - could this being implemented incorrectly have caused this issue?
Thanks
-
Google has ignored a robots.txt for my site because it thought we were "hiding" important content.
Depending on your site structure, putting a "no index" tag on your page is also a good idea. Doing that as pages are built can prevent it (better) from being indexed in the first place. Then you remove the tag when you are ready to go live. And, submit your updated sitemap via GWT when you finish your move so Google will know what pages to index.
-
I would be very careful on how you manage this right now. It all depends on the old and new urls. If this is something in Dev staging, like http://dev.examplesite.com, then it is alright to do everything possible to clean them up. But if the new urls are going to be the new final urls, then you have to be careful.
The best thing you could do right now would be to password protect the new site. That way there isn't a chance of anything getting to it.
All it takes is Google finding one link to the site then it will crawl from there.
-
Exclude the whole new site using robots.txt, and remove the current new site-indexed URL's within Webmaster Tools: Optimization > Remove URL's.
When the new site is ready to launch, undo these removed URL's using the "Reinclude" button, also found within the Remove URL's section of Webmaster Tools. Do this prior to 301'ing the old site pages to the new, and you will probably wish to announce the new site launch via social media as well to encourage indexation. +1'ing a page is considered the fastest way to get it indexed.
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
-
Google only indexed 19/94 images
I'm using Yoast SEO and have images (attachments) excluded from sitemaps, which is the recommended method (but could this be wrong?). Most of my images are in my posts; here's the sitemap for posts: https://edwardsturm.com/post-sitemap.xml I also appear on p1 for some good keywords, and my site is getting organic traffic, so I'm not sure why the images aren't being indexed. Here's an example of a well performing article: https://edwardsturm.com/best-games-youtube-2016/ Thanks!
Technical SEO | | Edward_Sturm0 -
Google + and Google Knoladge Graph
I am trying to get things to match up for the company brand websearch and the Google + page and we have had it for years now The knowledge graph on Google is showing the map, address and name (shown in attached image), but is not linked to a G+ page, as when i click the "Are you the business owner?" its is trying to make me create a new G+ business page. Anyone have any ideas on this? Also does the wiki name have to be exact for it to show? As for phone number would that be coming from the DNS record as that is nowhere in the markup rich snippet or normal markup Thanks in advance LC9cWdG
Technical SEO | | David-McGawn0 -
When i type site:jamalon.com to discover number of pages indexed it gives me different result from google web master tools
when i type site:jamalon.com to discover number of pages indexed it gives me different result from google web master tools
Technical SEO | | Jamalon0 -
Does Google differentiate between a site with spammy link building practices from a victim of a negative SEO attack?
I've be tasked with figuring out how to recover our rankings as we are likely being hurt by an algorithmic penalty. I have no idea if this was the workings of a previously hired SEO or the result of negative SEO, **how does Google differentiate between a site with bad/spammy link building practices from a victim of a negative SEO attack? **
Technical SEO | | Syed_Raza0 -
My beta site (beta.website.com) has been inadvertently indexed. Its cached pages are taking traffic away from our real website (website.com). Should I just "NO INDEX" the entire beta site and if so, what's the best way to do this? Please advise.
My beta site (beta.website.com) has been inadvertently indexed. Its cached pages are taking traffic away from our real website (website.com). Should I just "NO INDEX" the entire beta site and if so, what's the best way to do this? Are there any other precautions I should be taking? Please advise.
Technical SEO | | BVREID0 -
Can view pages of site, but Google & SEOmoz return 404
I can visit and view every page of a site (can also see source code), but Google, SEOmoz and others say anything other than home page is a 404 and Google won't index the sub-pages. I have check robots.txt and HTAccess and can't find anything wrong. Is this a DNS or server setting problem? Any ideas? Thanks, Fitz
Technical SEO | | FitzSWC0 -
I am Posting an article on my site and another site has asked to use the same article - Is this a duplicate content issue with google if i am the creator of the content and will it penalize our sites - or one more than the other??
I operate an ecommerce site for outdoor gear and was invited to guest post on a popular blog (not my site) for a trip i had been on. I wrote the aritcle for them and i also will post this same article on my website. Is this a dup content problem with google? and or the other site? Any Help. Also if i wanted to post this same article to 1 or 2 other blogs as long as they link back to me as the author of the article
Technical SEO | | isle_surf0 -
Does Google take user site blockings from Chrome as a spam signal?
When you perform a search in Chrome, click through to a result, then hit "back", you get a nice little option to "Block all example.com results" listed next to the result from which you backed out. I am assuming Google collects this information from Chrome users whose settings allow them to? I am assuming this is a spam signal (in aggregate)? Anyone know? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | TheEspresseo0