De-indexing
De-indexing refers to the process of removing or excluding a website, webpage, or piece of content from the index of a search engine like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. This effectively hides the information from appearing in organic search results. This action can be performed intentionally by website owners or unintentionally due to technical issues or violations of search engine guidelines. It can be a temporary or permanent measure, impacting a website's visibility and online traffic. The purpose can vary from content removal to penalization for search engine violations.
De-indexing meaning with examples
- Following a major website redesign, the developers unintentionally de-indexed the staging site, leading to confusion as it wasn't accessible. Careful re-submission of a sitemap and proper crawl directives ensured Google re-indexed the content, restoring visibility and traffic from search engines, preventing user frustration.
- To comply with a privacy regulation, a news organization had to de-index specific articles containing sensitive personal data. This ensured that search engines would no longer display these articles in their search results, protecting the privacy of individuals mentioned in them.
- A website that used black-hat SEO techniques was penalized, resulting in Google de-indexing numerous pages. The site's owner worked to remove these violations, submit a reconsideration request, and, after manual review, slowly restore the pages' search rankings and traffic.
- After a site migration, the new site mistakenly contained a `noindex` meta tag, resulting in the de-indexing of all pages. The tag was subsequently removed and a sitemap submitted, followed by a crawl request to Google Search Console to rapidly return the pages to search results.
- A competitor tried to damage a company's online presence and caused de-indexing of all site content. Through legal action, the content was restored to search and visibility was restored.
