I haven't been able to figure out the right combination for deindexing spammy links from search results. On one hand, we have the Google URL remover which removes links temporarily (they may show up again after 90 days). On the other hand, there's no promise that Google would act on your disavow links request expeditiously. In such a scenario, how do I get a high number of URLs deindexed using Robots.txt or the meta robots tag? Besides, other than cleaning up malicious codes, should I be showing a 404 not found in every page?
4
-
Are these links to your site from other sites? Or pages on your site that were placed there by spammers that you have cleaned up? It isn't clear in your question.– John Conde ♦Feb 22, 2017 at 13:35
-
These were essentially links that were created by a hacker and being redirected to porn sites. For now, I have used the URL remover and the links have disappeared. But I am quite unsure what would happen if they are back? And I do not know whether I need to follow a different procedure.– Sanjeev StepsFeb 22, 2017 at 13:40
-
So they created pages on your site? Or hacked your pages to link to other sites?– John Conde ♦Feb 22, 2017 at 13:41
-
Yes. Some hacker did it and we couldn't figure out. We were successful in removing the malicious codes and putting up a no-results page on all the links.– Sanjeev StepsFeb 22, 2017 at 13:42
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
404 isn't ideal.
Serving 410 error code is better as it indicates permanent removal. Also Adding nofollow/noindex meta tags/robots.txt on those bad URL's is a good way to speed things up.
Serving correct error codes, meta data, redirecting, disavowing incoming links would all be viable process for different reasons.
Disvow will help google understand you don't want those links pointing to your site counted as a part of your backlink profile.
Yet while those links exist ( even under disavow ), you will get pages they are linking to trying to be indexed, hence why you need to serve the correct meta data, error codes and making appropriate redirects where it seems logical.
It's tough to give highly accurate advise without seeing the problem in first hand, but the above is where most should get the basics right.
Do a 301 redirection to some dummy page, It will not affect your SEO ranking. I had too many links in my website, It was difficult for me to maintain and keep the content updated. I did 301 redirection to the similar page,It was helpful.
