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Well, I hired a vendor to develop an interactive page a few months ago.

However, yesterday I got an email from the Google search team that my page should be removed and has already been removed because it's a copy of another web page. I opened that webpage and confirmed the situation.

I will surely go for the vendor but what's my best practice for now?

Do I have to remove the page asap, or can I have a chance to replace it with a new design?

I don't want to change the URL link slug name because it's quite good. But if I keep it, will Google still punish me even if I update it to a new version?

Any suggestions for this?

BTW, I have more than 5000 pages, and this bad-page has already brought down my overall search ranks. Any suggestions for me?

Thanks

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Sorry this happened. If you have been issued a DMCA, the URL is likely already removed from the Google index; you can check by googling site:<-the-full-URL>. You can try to fix the content, file a counter-notice (which is done via a form that is linked to from the DMCA email), and explain the situation after selecting "Other" under the given responses. However, since you are admitting here that it was an instance of copyright infringement, your chances of getting the URL back in good graces is slim. Note that fixing the content but then NOT admitting to the infringement in the counter-notice (as you already have in the above Question) is unlawful and trying to game the service may result in a justifiable lawsuit from the party that issued the claim in the first place. Moz did an post about DMCA notices back in the day and it goes into how crazy the situation can get: https://moz.com/blog/what-to-do-when-google-bans-your-site-because-of-a-bogus-dmca-takedown-notice.

In all honesty, I would skip the counter-notice, put a new, non-infringing version of the content on a new URL, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new URL so as to capture all remaining inbound traffic to the old URL, and then submit the new URL for index inclusion.

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  • Thanks for the answer. Do you suggest that I 301-direct the URL asap to avoid further loss?
    – AGamePlayer
    Aug 24, 2020 at 5:17
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    That would be my recommendation, yes.
    – I Capulet
    Aug 24, 2020 at 10:33
  • Is there any way that I can contact Console Team for further updates? Do you have any information on this? I am still "dreaming" of getting the URL slug back to live because it's really good.
    – AGamePlayer
    Aug 27, 2020 at 3:55
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    There are some googlers that patrol support.google.com/webmasters/community - but I wouldn't bother honestly.
    – I Capulet
    Aug 27, 2020 at 6:06

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