URL removal for pages
How to submit a page removal request for pages via the url removal tool and also details regarding the difference between what is known as the ‘public’ url removal tool and the function found in the Search Console (a.k.a. Webmaster Tools) account is detailed here.
Submitting a page removal request
To request a page be removed, you do not need to be the site owner, but you do have to ensure the page meets the requirements and is blocked in some way to ensure that your request will succeed.
Pages can cause problems if they redirect elsewhere and or they no longer hold the content but fail to respond with the correct http response needed to indicate to Google and other search engines that the url is no longer valid.
In the following video, a url is seen in the index. Clicking on it, you can see it is an invalid page. The url is double-checked to ensure that the http response is correct and then the request for removal is submitted via the URL removal tool.
Video Instructions
(You can watch this in full screen mode)
Other information regarding the URL removal Tool
Different URL Removal Tools
There are two different removal tools which, at first glance may look the same. There is the one which you find in your Search Console (a.k.a. Webmaster Tools) account under Site Configuration > Crawler Access > Remove Url and there is the other which is sometimes called the public removal tool found here. Whilst is it a ‘public removal tool’ you do need to be logged into a google user account to be able to submit requests.
Requests which you make under one removal tool will show up under another if you are logged in with the same user account, hence why many users see them as the same tool.
Search Console (a.k.a. Webmaster Tools) Removal Tool
Removing via Search Console (a.k.a. Webmaster Tools) means you can remove more
than defunct urls. You can remove whole sites, directories and cache removals
without submitting any amended page content, but only for the verified site
which you are logged into at the time.
Public Removal Tool
With the public removal tool, you can remove pages from any site as well as
your own, as long as they meet the requirements for removal.
Important General Usage
- • If you are looking to remove your cache from the root of your site, then you can't remove it with the tool in your webmasters account as the option does not appear. To remove a cache from your home page – use the public removal tool.
- • If you request any removals from a third party site then the details of the request is logged within that third-parties Search Console (a.k.a. Webmaster Tools) account.
- • It is also possible that your request could be cancelled by the site owner if they happen to see the request. Third party sites though cannot see who made the request.
- • All requests are logged under the site owner’s verified Search Console (a.k.a. Webmaster Tools) accounts and your own Google account. Keep that in mind when submitting amended text information for snippet removals. Try and find generic, non-identifying information.
- • There is no option to delete the evidence body of any request having been made, even if it did not succeed. Consider carefully the implications of this.
