Sometimes you’ve been working on a page, published it only to find out it got indexed by Google while it shouldn’t have been. Maybe because the information on the page wasn’t meant to be public (yet), or there are some issues with the page you first want to resolve before sharing it with the search engine.
If you submitted your website to Google Search Console (GSC), which we recommend every website owner to do, you can remove the URL through the URL Removal Tool in Google Search Console. Here’s how;
Remove a URL Using Google Search Console
- In Google Search Console, Go to the Property on Which the URL Lives
After logging in, in the left hand top corner click the hamburger menu, and from the drop down select the web property on which the URL you want to remove lives.
- In the Navigation Pane on the Left, Select the Menu ‘Removals’
If you don’t see the the navigation page click the hamburger menu in the top left corner to make it visible again.
- Choose the ‘New Request’ Option and Enter the URL You Want to be Removed
After you entered the URL you want to be removed, click next.
- Confirm Removal Request
Make sure you submitted the correct URL and select ‘submit request’.
- Review Request Status
After you submitted the removal request, you can review the status of your previous requests in the Removals menu found in the left navigation pane you selected in Step 2.
If you submitted many removal request in the past you can use the filter option to quickly filter the specific page or page type you want to review. You can also filter by ‘requested’ and ‘status’.
Removal Through GSC is Only Temporary
Please note that the removal of a URL through the Removal Tool is only a temporary solution. If the page is linked, either internally or externally, at some point the page will be re-indexed again and start showing up in the search results. Google says the removal through GSC will last around 6 months.
If you want to remove the URL permanently you can either remove the page completely, add a redirect to the page, or use the noindex meta tag on the page.
Get Support
If you don’t feel comfortable using Google Search Console, or you just don’t have the time to work on these type of tasks you can always consider opting in into our SEO Support service and we will do this for you. Contact us to learn more.
image credits
All screenshots by taken by author, June 2020
