Time to deindexing: WMT Request vs. Server not found
-
Google indexed some subdomains (13!) that were never supposed to exist, but apparently returned a 200 code when Google somehow crawled them. I can get these subdomains to return a "server not found" error by turning off wildcard subdomains at my DNS. I've been told that these subdomains will be deindexed just from this server not found error.
I was going to use Webmaster Tools and verify each domain, but I'm on an economy goDaddy server and apparently subdomains just get forwarded to a directory, so subdomain.domain.com gets redirected to domain.com/subdomain. I'm not even sure with this being the case, if I can get WMT to recognize and remove these subdomains like that.
Should I fret about this, or will the "server not found" message get Google to remove these soon enough?
-
Unfortunately, Google may continue to keep those pages in its index for months, even if they return a 404. The 2 best options in these cases is usually:
- Claim the profile in GWT - which would probably be possible but requires a lot of work with Godaddy configuring the subdomains just so you could claim the profile and de-index.
- I haven't tried it, but Google introduced a URL removal tools for URLs you don't controll. Might be a good use case here. Here's some info: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2013/12/improving-url-removals-on-third-party.html
-
Ive seen this a couple times
It does go away eventually.
-
No they were not duplicates. They all just showed a soft 404 provided by goDaddy. We had wildcards turned on, but even so I don't understand how Google found these. They were just not used for anything ever i.e. vww.example.com
People have pointed to them as something wonky, so I'm trying to get rid of them in case they are hurting our site's overall performance in the SERP.
-
This will eventually stop the pages being indexed yes. It may take several days in some cases but they will go.
Were these subdomains duplicates of your main domain? If so you could try 301 redirecting them as this could speed the process up.
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
-
Does having a sub-domain on a different server affect SEO?
I'm working with a company that has a hard-coded website on the root domain, and then a WordPress blog on a subdomain on a separate server. We're planning on implementing a hub and spoke model for their content, hosting the main hubs on the root domain and the linked articles on the blog. Is having the blog on a different server going to hinder our SEO efforts?
Technical SEO | | KaraParlin0 -
Homepage is deindexed in Google
Happened sometime on the 12th or 13th of Feb (is there a way to tell exactly besides referring to GA?).
Technical SEO | | Shinosky
I've been on the Google Webmasters Tools forums trying to nail this down - https://productforums.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!msg/webmasters/OgpmNCc3IFA/mmtgUilyXUUJ I can only think that Google is viewing this as duplicate content from an internal page for example: http://mudlifeled.com/shop Very frustrating because we were moving up on the first page for some good brand key words and traffic was climbing. Now I've got my hands up and am at a loss to what I can do.0 -
WMT "Index Status" vs Google search site:mydomain.com
Hi - I'm working for a client with a manual penalty. In their WMT account they have 2 pages indexed.If I search for "site:myclientsdomain.com" I get 175 results which is about right. I'm not sure what to make of the 2 indexed pages - any thoughts would be very appreciated. google-1.png google-2.png
Technical SEO | | JohnBolyard0 -
When to file a Reconsideration Request
Hi all, I don't have any manual penalties from Google but do have a unnatural links message from them back in 2012. We have removed some of the spammy links over the last 2 years but we're now making a further effort and will use the disavow tool once we've done this. Will this be enough once I submit the file or should I / can I submit a Reconsideration Request as well? Do I have to have a manual penalty item in my webmaster account to be able to submit a request? Thanks everyone!
Technical SEO | | KerryK0 -
Secure Vs Non-Secure Redirects
I have a client who has a lot of duplicate pages on their site. The pages are secure and then non secure counterparts. Not sure why they have this in place but i recomended that they redirect on to the other or vice versa using 301 redirects. I am getting some questions as to why they should do this. Does anyone have a good document outlining the reasoning behind this? For me its just a matter of cleaning up duplicate content but wondering if there is any technical data out there.
Technical SEO | | gkellyiii0 -
Moving a blog from unique domain to root /blog/ but on 2 different servers? HELP!
I have a main site hosted on one server, I have the blog hosted on another server - BOTH of which my team has FULL control over. I ultimately want the blog to reside on the root domain: www.mysite.com/blog/ My network team is saying "DNS will not allow this to happen, the resolution will ultimately have to be on blog.website.com" Has anyone out there done this? Is it even possible? HELP!
Technical SEO | | BCA0 -
Blog on a subdomain vs subfolder?
Hi, Does anyone have data to show that a subfolder is better than a subdomain for a blog? From what I've read, it sounds like both are a viable option but you choose subdomain if you want to build your blog as a distinct entity. Do you get ranked more quickly with a subfolder? Do you see X% more lift? Has anyone tested or seen tests around this subject? Any input is appreciated! Thanks in advance.
Technical SEO | | sportstvjobs0 -
Subdirectories vs subdomains
Hi SEO gurus 🙂 Anyone has input on what's better? blog.domain.com vs domain.com/blog store.domain.com vs domain.com/store etc I think the subdir (/xyz) will concentrate authority on the same subdomain so should be better? However sometimes it is tidier on the server to maintain online stores or blogs in a separate strucutre so subdomains work better in that sense. I just want to make sure that doesn't affect SEO? Cheers!
Technical SEO | | hectorpn0