Having trouble removing homepage from google
-
For various reasons my client wants their homepage removed from google, no just the content of the page off but the page not to be indexed (yep strange request but we are mere service providers) today I requested in webmaster tool that default.asp was removed. Wht says done but the sites homepage is still listed. The page also has a no index tag on but 24 hours and 18k Google bot hits later it still remains.
Anyone got any other suggestions to deindex just the homepage asap please
-
yes, we have resorted to this. We have a canonical tag to the blocked .com version of the site so hopefully that gets rid of the page. The client want's it removed 'yesterday' but only so much I can do when I don't control Google personally!
Thanks again for the advice
-
Unfortunately, GWT removal is one of the fastest ways I know of. If Google isn't honoring that, they're probably trying (in their minds) to protect you from de-indexing your home-page. I think the next most extreme step would be to rel-canonical your home-page to another page (possibly even another site) - that's going to be hard to undo later, though.
-
Very true, I agree with you fully on this. However the client is very much in a 'get it out of the engine and we will worry about the traffic 'tomorrow'' frame of mind.
To be honest as long as the page still works for direct traffic we could seo a replacement homepage /welcome.asp to rank for the company name easily enough but for now it's the hassle of trying to get the page out
-
I agree. You never want to de-index your homepage as (in my opinion) the heart of your website. You're showing willing to co-operate by removing references of the trademark throughout your site and personally I would think that would be sufficient.
If you have pages within your site then I would use a .htaccess 301 redirect for the pages in question and redirect users to the homepage instead, that way you attribute the page rank (link juice) from the removed pages back to the homepage.
If the client has suggested you remove the index from the homepage I would cover your back and write a letter informing them of the negative issues of de-indexing the homepage and just say that it can be done but you hold no responsibility for loss of search engine traffic as a result. It might also be worth adding an annotation within Google Analytics noting the date the homepage was de-indexed so the client (and you) can see the impact it has on the site.
-
I fully agree with you about the trademark but you know clients can be when they hear the words 'legal action. Hopefully we can get the page out and appease the trademark owner.
Thanks for your advice on this matter
-
I'm not a legal expert, but are they still using the trademark on the home-page? If they're not using it at all, but are only ranking on it from past efforts, there's not much of a case. They can't control the algorithm - they can only remove references on the site. Of course, it depends on how pervasive those references are and how much you want to fight it.
I just worry that de-indexing the home-page is going to have much broader, long-term consequences.
If you want to make the party threatening action happy at any cost to your site, you could rel-canonical your home-page to their home-page. I wouldn't do it, but it's another possibility.
Ultimately, though, all these things take time to process. If you, in good faith, have removed all trademark references and have requested removal with Google, you can't control the rest and I doubt you're liable for it.
-
It's a very strange situation I admit. The main reason is that they used to have a contract to supply certain services on behalf on a third party. They seoed for the company name but have since lost the contract and now being threatened with legal action for ranking for the trade mark because they no longer have permission to use it. We plan on creating a new homepage at welcome.asp which would be seoed as the site homepage for both branded and non branded terms. However we need to get the trademark issue out the way asap
-
Typically, for a regular NOINDEX situation, you wouldn't want to use Robots.txt (you're right, it could prevent the page-level signal), but in this extreme of a situation and to really get the GWT signal to work, you may need the Robots.txt directive in place.
I'm confused, though, they want the home-page out of Google but NOT the rest of the site? By blocking the home-page, they'll kill the link-juice to other pages, and do massive SEO damage. I have to think there's another alternative.
For example, could they canonical the home-page to another, Google-safe page (let users see the original but send SERPs elsewhere)? Another alternative would be to move the current home-page content to a deeper page, 302-redirect to that page for visitors, and leave Google on the Google-safe home-page.
My gut reaction is that this sounds like a very dangerous maneuver, but it's really tough to say without understanding the logic behind it.
-
The best way to do this would be at page level. For the pages you don't want indexed, add
This will tell the search engines not to index that page, but to follow and index the other pages.
But I do have to say, I have never heard of anyone trying to not index the home page. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.
-
Thanks for the reply.
You're correct that they still want the homepage working but not indexed. They wish for sections to remain indexed. I will try the robots idea but it I block the site there would it still crawl the page to pick up the no index tag?
-
Just the home-page, or the entire site? GWT is usually the fastest and most reliable way. I'd block the entire site in Robots.txt, too - sometimes, Google wants to see that prior to a GWT removal (although, usually, NOINDEX Is enough).
I assume they still want the page active for visitors (and just want it off of Google)?
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
-
After you remove a 301 redirect that Google has processed, will the new URL retain any of the link equity from the old URL?
Lets say you 301 redirect URL A to URL B, and URL A has some backlinks from other sites. Say you left the 301 redirect in place for a year, and Google had already replaced the old URL with the new URL in the SERPs, would the new URL (B) retain some of the link equity from URL A after the 301 redirect was removed, or does the redirect have to remain in place forever?
Technical SEO | | johnwalkersmith0 -
Google not index main keyword on homepage in 2 countries same language, rest of pages no problem
Hello, Two the same websites, two countries, same language http://www.lavistarelatiegeschenken.nl / http://www.lavistarelatiegeschenken.be The main keyword "relatiegeschenken" in top 10 of netherlands (steady position for 2 years) and in ** belgium** not in top 15****0 the main keyword "relatiegeschenken| but other keywords good positions, thats so strange I didn't understand and now every thing turned around suddenly: Now the main keyword "relatiegeschenken suddenly " not anymore in top 10 in the netherslandsits gone and other kewyords still good positions , now **main keyword suddenly in top 10 of belgium 2 years was not **other pages still ok. It are exactly the same websites and the same language. So double content But my programmer told me in google webmaster tools settings are right, so no problem with double content ? I really dont understand first main keyword in netherland in top 10 and in belgium not, now changed, now in belgium top 10 and not findable in the netherland on the main keyword. Maybe problem in code ? Maybe problems in code because websites are identical and active in two different countries wit same language ? No message about a penalty message in WMT, no spam links week i delete two strong but according to Linkdetox a bad links. I can not find a solution but its really important keyword that my customer want back in top 10 in netherland, like it was. All other positions and visitors are the same. Befor i have had this with belgium site, also main keyword google not index homepage. But suddenly no google show in belgium in top 10 Its turned around Kind regards, Marcel
Technical SEO | | Bossie720 -
When will all of Google Maps be the same again?
As many of you are aware that the pigeon update was only applied to the new Google maps resulting in very different search results for Google local business. When you search for a business on old Google maps then you get totally different results vs the new Google maps. Some businesses totally disappeared completely from the search results. I have done my research and found out that it's because the new Algo was only applied to the new maps. Also new algo does not apply to other countries. Well the reason I posted this topic is because I have noticed that all the new Google Business listings I am verifying for my clients are all being put under the old Google maps and not the new ones. They come up fine when searching from old maps but not the new ones. I understand Google has not rolled out the pigeon on all data centers but why? Will Google eventually roll out the update to old maps? Since Google is adding businesses to old google maps then what's the point of even adding new listings?
Technical SEO | | bajaseo0 -
Google webmaster showing 0 indexed, yet I can see them all them Google search?
I can see them all the pages showing up in Google when i search for my site. But in webmaster tools under the sitemaps section in the indexed pages - the red bar is showing 0 indexed pages, even though they seem to be indexed. Any idea why is this showing like this? I don’t really think it’s that important as the pages are still indexed, but it just seems odd. Please see in the image.
Technical SEO | | Perfect0070 -
Websites not being included on google from mobiles?
Hi, Just had a call from a guy saying that google have made a statement saying that it will be stopping people finding websites from mobule devices if they dont have a mobile domain name. Doesn anyone know anything about any Google statements or is this just rubbish?
Technical SEO | | Ant710 -
Google SERPs and NoIndex directives.
We have pages that have been added to robots.txt as url patterns in DisAllow. Also, we have the meta noindex tags on the pages themselves. But we are finding the pages in index. I don't think they are higher up in the rankings and they don't have any descriptions, any previews or any cached pages. Why does Google show these pages? Could it be due to internal or external linking?
Technical SEO | | gaganc0 -
Google Plus 1
How google plus 1 votes can affect your position in google search engine? On my website i have a google plus button, i have just 3 votes, if i buy lets say 100 votes, but slowly, in a month, will this affect my ranking positively?
Technical SEO | | prunarevic0 -
Duplicate homepage content
Hi, I recently did a site crawl using seomoz crawl test My homepage seems to have 3 cases of duplicate content.. These are the urls www.example.ie/ www.example..ie/%5B%7E19%7E%5D www.example..ie/index.htm Does anyone have any advise on this? What impact does this have on my seo?
Technical SEO | | Socialdude0