How to Recover from Google Deindexing Problems and Regain Your Rankings.
For website owners and online businesses, Google’s search engine is a vital channel for attracting organic traffic and potential customers. However, facing the nightmare of Google deindexing can be a devastating blow to your online presence. When Google deindexes your website or a significant portion of its pages, your organic traffic can plummet, resulting in a severe loss of visibility and potential revenue. In this blog post, we will explore the reasons behind Google’s deindexing issues, how to identify them, and most importantly, how to recover from them effectively.
Understanding Google Deindexing:
Google deindexing occurs when the search engine removes your web pages from its index, rendering them inaccessible to users searching for relevant content. The primary reasons for deindexing include:
Violation of Webmaster Guidelines: Websites that engage in spammy practices, use black-hat SEO techniques or host malicious content risk being deindexed by Google.
Duplicate Content: Having identical or substantially similar content on multiple pages of your website or across different domains can lead to deindexing.
Server or Technical Issues: Problems with your website’s server or other technical errors can hinder Google’s ability to index your pages correctly.
Manual Actions: Google’s manual review team may take action against your site if they identify violations of their guidelines.
Hacked or Malware-Infected Site: If your website is compromised and becomes a source of malware or phishing attacks, Google may remove it from its index.
Identifying Deindexing Issues:
To determine whether your website has been deindexed or if specific pages are not being indexed, follow these steps:
Check Google Search Console: Log in to Google Search Console and review the “Index Coverage” report. It will highlight any indexing errors or issues Google has detected.
Use Site: Search Operator: Conduct a simple search on Google using “site:yourwebsite.com” to see if any pages from your site are still indexed.
Monitor Organic Traffic: A significant drop in organic traffic can be a strong indicator of deindexing problems.
Monitor Keyword Rankings: If your previously ranked keywords are no longer showing up in search results, it could be a sign of deindexing.
Steps to Recover from Google Deindexing:
If you’ve confirmed that your website or certain pages are deindexed, don’t panic. Follow these steps to recover your lost rankings and organic traffic:
Rectify Violations: If your site was deindexed due to violating Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, identify and fix the issues immediately. This may include removing spammy content, eliminating unnatural backlinks, and adhering to quality guidelines.
Remove Duplicate Content: If duplicate content is the culprit, identify the duplicate pages and decide which one should be canonical. You can use 301 redirects or rel=”canonical” tags to consolidate the content.
Resolve Technical Issues: Ensure that your website is free from server errors, crawl errors, or any other technical issues that could prevent proper indexing. Use tools like Google Search Console and third-party website audit tools to identify and address these problems.
Request a Review: If you believe that a manual action caused the deindexing, address the issues and submit a reconsideration request via Google Search Console, explaining the steps you’ve taken to rectify the problem.
Scan for Malware: If your website was deindexed due to security issues, scan your site for malware and clean up any infected files. Then, submit a reconsideration request to Google once you’re sure the issue is resolved.
Generate Fresh Content: Create high-quality, original, and valuable content to replace any previously flagged spammy or low-quality content. This will help rebuild your site’s credibility with Google.
Ensure Your Website’s Survival on Google Search: 20 Best Practices to Avoid Deindexing.
- Crawl Blocking Through robots.txt File
If you encounter a crawl block in your robots.txt file, you may find yourself responsible for removing your URL from Google’s search result pages (SERPs).
robots.txt Blocking and its Impact on Crawling
A common error message, “Page cannot be crawled or displayed due to robots.txt,” may appear when your web pages become uncrawlable.
To rectify this issue and allow Google crawlers to index the page, consider updating your robots.txt file. Follow these steps:
- Navigate to the root directory of your website to locate the robots.txt file: yoursite.com/robots.txt.
- Ensure that your robots.txt file contains the following lines:
User-agent: Googlebot Disallow:
Avoid using: User-agent: Googlebot Disallow: /”
- Spammy Pages:Unbelievably, Google uncovers a staggering 25 billion spammy pages daily!Diverse spam mechanisms plague websites across the web, as highlighted in Google’s 2019 Webspam report. The top three spam trends include link spam, user-generated spam, and spam on hacked websites.
Be wary of resorting to creating dubious pages to deceive both users and search engines or failing to protect your comment section from user-generated spam. Such practices can result in the removal of your URL from Google search results, jeopardizing your online visibility.
- Keyword Stuffing: Keyword stuffing is the practice of excessively and irrelevantly placing a particular keyword throughout a content piece.Although it might seem like a quick method to boost your rankings, engaging in keyword stuffing can lead to Google penalizing your website and removing it from search results.
Instead, it is essential to incorporate your keywords naturally in various strategic locations, such as your page URL, post title, metadata, introduction, subheadings, and conclusion, and sparingly within the body of the content.
Ultimately, every placement of a keyword should be relevant to the surrounding context.
- Duplicate Content: Google strictly discourages the use of duplicate content, be it copying from other websites or reusing your own web pages.In cases where plagiarized content is identified, Google takes necessary actions to remove it from the SERPs.
To prevent such issues, it is crucial to develop original and pertinent content that adheres to search engine guidelines.
In situations where incorporating duplicate content pages on your website is unavoidable, make use of the x-robot tag along with the no-index and no-follow HTML meta tags to instruct search engines not to index or follow those particular pages.
- Auto-Generated Content: Auto-generated content presents a significant challenge for many website owners who often juggle multiple roles within their businesses, leaving little room for content creation. While article spinners might seem like a tempting shortcut, using them can lead to the removal of your content from search results by Google.This is because auto-generated content typically follows certain patterns:
- It relies on replacing keywords with synonyms, lacking originality and genuine insights.
- It fails to provide substantial value to readers, resulting in a lack of engagement.
- It frequently contains errors and lacks proper contextual understanding.
As a result, Google actively removes such content from its search results to maintain the quality and relevance of the content displayed to users.
- Cloaking: Cloaking stands as a direct violation of Google’s rules, leading to the removal of your website from its search results.Cloaking involves delivering content based on the identification of the user agent accessing the website. To illustrate, a webpage might present text exclusively to a search engine bot, whereas images are shown solely to human users.In essence, this means that website visitors may view images or potentially encounter malicious content, while search engines such as Google and Bing will be presented with content optimized for search rankings.
- Sneaky Redirects: Sneaky redirects, similar to cloaking, result in Google penalties due to their practice of presenting different content to human users compared to what is shown to search engines. Engaging in manipulative redirects puts your URL at risk of being removed from Google’s index altogether. However, it’s important to note that redirects can be utilized for legitimate purposes, such as directing users to:
- An updated website address.
- A URL containing merged pages.
- Phishing and Malware Setup: Google strictly prohibits any form of cybercrime, encompassing phishing attempts and the installation of harmful software, such as trojans and computer viruses. Google actively enforces content removal policies against those engaged in the creation of malicious web pages with the following intentions:
- Obtaining unauthorized access to users’ sensitive information.
- Hijacking user system functions.
- Corrupting or deleting critical data.
- Monitoring users’ computer activity.
- User-Generated Spam: User-generated spam, which may surface even on reputable websites, carries the risk of Google taking action against your URL by excluding it from search results. This phenomenon is prevalent on platforms that grant users access to various tools and plugins for account creation or comment posting. Typically encountered instances of such spam involve comment spam on blogs and forum spam, where malevolent bots inundate forums with links leading to viruses and malware.
- Link Schemes: Link Schemes refer to tactics employed to artificially boost backlinks and improve search rankings. These deceptive link-building practices encompass activities like soliciting link exchanges, utilizing link farms, private blog networks, and link directories, all of which contravene Google’s SEO guidelines. Google explicitly disapproves of the following practices:
- Utilizing paid links to manipulate search results.
- Engaging in low-quality link directories.
- Concealing invisible links in footers.
- Posting comments and signatures on forums with keyword-stuffed links.
- Steer clear of Low-Quality Content: Underestimating the impact of low-quality content on your Google Search presence can lead to swift removal from search results. Posting irrelevant, meaningless, or plagiarized content solely for the purpose of improving keyword rankings or maintaining consistency is ill-advised. Instead, invest your time in crafting high-quality, original posts that offer genuine value to your audience.
- Hidden Text or Links: Avoid employing hidden text or links as a means to enhance your rankings, as this practice breaches Google’s guidelines and could result in the removal of your URL from their search index. Google takes action against content that includes text or links which:
- Appears invisible or indiscernible to users.
- Is obscured behind an image, making it invisible to human eyes.
- Blends with the website’s background color, rendering it effectively hidden from users.
- Doorway Pages: Doorway Pages, also referred to as portal or bridge pages, are interconnected websites or web pages designed to rank highly for specific search terms, yet ultimately direct users to the same destination upon clicking. Google takes a strong stance against doorway pages due to their primary purpose of driving substantial traffic to a single webpage while misleading users with diverse search results.
- Content Scraping: Content scraping is a practice where certain website owners copy content directly from high-authority websites and publish it on their own sites without significant modifications. In some cases, they may try to alter the content by merely replacing words with synonyms. Despite attempts to present scraped content as curated material, this approach goes against Google’s Webmaster guidelines and can lead to severe consequences, including the removal of your website from Google search. This is primarily because scraped content lacks originality and often results in copyright infringement.
- Subpar Affiliate Programs with Limited Value: If you have a WordPress website, you might be engaged in affiliate programs where you post product descriptions from other platforms. However, Google views this as a substandard content marketing strategy and may penalize your website by excluding it from Google search results. Typically, Google takes action against low-quality content and eliminates thin affiliate pages from its search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Quality of Guest Posts Matters: Guest posting can be a valuable SEO practice when executed properly. However, failing to establish clear guidelines and accepting low-quality guest posts with links to spammy blogs may lead Google to deindex and eliminate your website from search results.
- Spammy Structured Data Markup: According to Google’s structured data guidelines, it is crucial to refrain from using misleading or spammy markups to prevent penalties. The visibility of a URL in search results and rich snippets relies on data markup as assessed by Google. Should Google come across irrelevant, manipulative, hidden, or potentially harmful content on its website, it reserves the right to exclude such content from its index.
- Caution Against Automated Queries: Engaging in automated queries directed at Google from your website can result in penalties. To maintain compliance with Webmaster Guidelines and preserve your website’s standing, refrain from utilizing bots or automated services to check your Google search rankings. Google may take severe action, including deindexing and removing your URL from its search results.
- Optimizing Your Sitemap: Excluding Webpages for Better Search Engine Visibility: When it comes to search engine bots, sitemaps act like magnets, drawing their attention to your website’s structure and content. A well-designed sitemap plays a crucial role in helping Google comprehend your website efficiently. It accomplishes this by providing a concise overview of your pages’ significance, presenting details about images, videos, and news, and demonstrating how your content is interconnected. However, there might be instances where you don’t want certain pages to appear in Google’s search results. In such cases, you can exclude specific web pages from your sitemap, preventing Google from indexing them. This exclusion will keep those pages out of the search engine’s view. However, if you truly want to ensure that Google doesn’t find and index a particular page, it’s advisable to employ the “robots.txt” file to block access. As part of your website maintenance, it’s a good practice to regularly monitor how your sitemap performs. To keep track of its effectiveness and address any potential issues, you can make use of the invaluable insights provided by your Google Search Console account. By optimizing your sitemap and thoughtfully excluding certain web pages, you can enhance your website’s visibility on search engines and ensure that the right content is appropriately indexed and displayed to your audience.
- Safeguarding Cybersecurity: Addressing the Menace of Hacked Content: Cybersecurity remains a paramount concern, with one of its primary threats being hacked content. This term pertains to unauthorized content found on a website, surreptitiously inserted through security vulnerabilities, intending to compromise users’ privacy or exploit their resources. Much akin to website malware, hacked content poses significant risks, including the potential removal of a website from Google searches. Google takes decisive action by eliminating such content from search results to prioritize user safety during browsing activities.
Conclusion:
Experiencing Google deindexing problems can be a challenging time for any website owner or online business. However, by understanding the reasons behind deindexing, promptly identifying the issues, and taking appropriate actions to recover, you can regain your lost rankings and organic traffic. Remember to prioritize user experience, adhere to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, and regularly monitor your website’s health to stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
Frequently Asked Questions about How to Recover from Google Deindexing Problems
What is Google deindexing, and how does it happen?
Ans: Google deindexing refers to the removal of web pages or entire websites from Google’s search index, which prevents them from appearing in search results. This can occur due to various reasons, such as server errors, website changes, penalties from Google, or violations of Google’s guidelines.
How do I know if my website has been deindexed by Google?
Ans: You can check if your website is deindexed by performing a simple Google search using the “site:” operator. Type “site:yourdomain.com” in the search bar, and if no results are returned or only a few unrelated pages appear, it’s an indication of deindexing.
What are some common reasons for Google deindexing my website?
Ans: Google may deindex your website for reasons like violating their webmaster guidelines (e.g., using spammy techniques), malware infection, thin or duplicate content, server issues, manual actions, or being flagged for unnatural backlinking.
How can I recover from Google deindexing?
Ans: Recovery from Google deindexing depends on the specific reason for the deindexing. Generally, you should:
- Check for manual actions in Google Search Console and follow the guidelines to rectify issues.
- Review and fix any content violations or spammy practices.
- Remove malware and secure your website.
- Resolve server issues and ensure proper indexing access.
- Disavow harmful backlinks if they caused the deindexing.
- Request a reconsideration through Google Search Console, if applicable.
How long does it take to recover from Google deindexing?
Ans: The recovery time varies depending on the issue and how quickly you address it. In some cases, the recovery process can take a few days, while others may require weeks or even months.
Can I speed up the recovery process?
Ans: While some factors are beyond your control, you can speed up the recovery process by:
- Promptly addressing the issue that caused deindexing.
- Submitting a reconsideration request if you received a manual action.
- Updating your website with fresh, valuable content regularly.
- Building high-quality backlinks from reputable sources.
How can I prevent future deindexing problems?
Ans: To avoid future deindexing issues:
- Follow Google’s webmaster guidelines and best practices.
- Regularly monitor your website’s performance and index status in Google Search Console.
- Implement proper security measures to prevent malware infections.
- Avoid using spammy SEO practices and focus on providing value to users.
- Keep your website up-to-date and maintain a healthy link profile.
Is it possible to recover from permanent deindexing?
Ans: In some cases, if the violations are severe or if Google perceives your website as a repeated offender, recovery may be difficult. However, if you address the issues diligently, you might still have a chance to recover.
Can hiring an SEO expert help with recovery?
Ans: Yes, hiring an experienced SEO expert can be beneficial, especially if you’re unsure about the cause of deindexing or need assistance in fixing technical issues and adhering to Google’s guidelines.
Where can I get further support for Google deindexing recovery?
Ans: You can seek help from Google’s official support forums and community, consult SEO experts, or reach out to Google’s support team through Google Search Console for specific recovery advice.
Remember that each deindexing case is unique, and the recovery process might require different strategies. It’s essential to diagnose the specific issue correctly and take appropriate actions to regain your website’s indexation on Google.