Hello Maroon!
Typically, outdated page listings disappear from the Google index
during the next index update. How soon this happens depends largely
on when you've updated in relation to when the Googlebot is crawling
the web - if you updated just after the last crawl, it can take up to
a month or more for the old listings to disappear and the new ones to
take its place.
"When you update information on your site it does not automatically
update instantly in Google's index. Rather, Google's index is updated
approximately once a month after our robots have crawled more than 3
billion web pages. This process is totally automated, so updated or
outdated link submissions are not necessary. Changes to your site's
content will be noted by the next crawl. Due to the volume of sites in
our index, we cannot manually update pages on an individual basis."
Google Help - My information is outdated.
://www.google.com/webmasters/3.html#A1
"Google updates its entire index automatically on a regular basis.
When we crawl the web, we find new pages, discard dead links, and
update links automatically. Links that are outdated now will most
likely "fade out" of our index during our next crawl.
Note: If you believe your request is urgent and cannot wait until the
next time Google crawls your site, use our automatic URL removal
system. We will accept your removal request only if the page no longer
exists on the web."
Remove Content From Google's Index - Remove an outdated ("dead") link
://www.google.com/remove.html#outdated
You can find the automatic removal tool here:
Remove your URL or Google Groups Post
http://services.google.com:8882/urlconsole/controller?cmd=reload&lastcmd=login
Like Google, AltaVista regularly crawls the web and updates its index,
so any changes are picked up in the crawl following your site update.
If for some reason the changes aren't registered in the next crawl
(which occurs every 4 - 6 weeks), you can request a removal of the
outdated links:
"To remove a URL from the AltaVista index, submit each URL for removal
to the Adding and Removing Pages form on our Basic Submit page. All
URLs that return a 404 error will be removed from the AltaVista search
results. URLs are evaluated for removal from the index within 4-6
weeks of submission.
Our crawler also frequently revisits the pages in our index. If it
comes across your page and finds a 404 error, we will automatically
remove your URL from our index.
AltaVista Help - How do I remove a URL from the AltaVista index?
http://www.altavista.com/help/search/faq_web?avkw=rftc#6
"If you have recently updated your Web pages, you should resubmit your
URLs to AltaVista. There are two ways to submit your URLs to
AltaVista:
* Express Inclusion: Automatic daily refreshes (weekdays only) of your
URLs guarantees that your most up-to-date content is reflected in the
AltaVista search results.
* Basic Submit: Your URLs will be evaluated for updating within 4-6
weeks.
Our crawler also frequently revisits the pages in our index. If it
comes across your pages and finds changes, we will automatically
update your Web pages in our index."
AltaVista Help - How can I let AltaVista know about changes I've made
to my Web pages?
http://www.altavista.com/help/search/faq_web?avkw=rftc#7
AltaVista's Basic Submit is here:
Basic Submit - Adding and Removing Pages
http://addurl.altavista.com/addurl/new
Most search engines re-spider frequently, so changes to your pages are
picked up automatically with each crawl. Listings changes may be
spotty, however, as each search engine keeps its own crawl schedule -
anywhere from every three to every six weeks or longer for a full
update.
The last "Google Dance", the affectionate name for Google's regular
index update, began on March 6th, according to Brett Tabke at
WebmasterWorld. Expect the new one to begin 4 weeks after that, and
your updated results should appear shortly after.
Google Update History
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2657.htm
I hope this answers your question! If I can be of further assistance,
please ask for clarification. I'll be glad to help.
--Missy
Search terms: [ "remove URL" ] and bookmarked help pages |
Request for Answer Clarification by
maroon-ga
on
19 Mar 2003 13:46 PST
Hi Missy: Great on Google and Alta Vista. Any info on AllTheWeb?
Any hints on how to deal with the smaller search engines?
Beth
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Clarification of Answer by
missy-ga
on
19 Mar 2003 14:06 PST
Hi Beth!
AllTheWeb seems to have a much quicker update cycle. Like Google and
AltaVista, it re-spiders sites regularly and automatically discards
dead links, making note of changes as it finds them, but it does so
every two weeks.
"AlltheWeb crawls the entire Web continuously and a new index is
currently built about every two weeks."
How often does AlltheWeb refresh its database or crawl the Web?
http://www.alltheweb.com/help/webmaster/faq.html#3
No action on your part is necessary:
"AlltheWeb crawls the entire Web continuously and tries to adapt to
various pages' updating cycle. When the crawler revisits your web site
it will detect possible changes, and whether pages have been removed.
Please note that resubmitting your site will not affect this update
time."
How does AlltheWeb know when I change or remove my web site?
http://www.alltheweb.com/help/webmaster/faq.html#6
If you've paid for inclusion in an engine such as LookSmart, Teoma, or
Overture, you can expect your changes to show up in about a week,
sometimes sooner, as they automatically re-spider at least once a
week. As with non-paid engines, there is no action necessary on your
part.
With respect to smaller search engines, each search engine has its own
policies. There are more than a hundred different search engines
available. Most operate automatically - they send their spiders out
to index the web at varying intervals, automatically making note of
any changes, dead links or new links. It might also help you to know
that sites such as Yahoo, AOL and Netscape actually use Google search
results, so once the Google Dance is completed, your listings will be
updated there, too.
If there is a specific small search engine you have in mind, please
let me know which, and I'll be happy to give it a look. Typically,
however, you don't need to do anything special. Every search engine
is trying to be the best, and the operators know that to be the best,
you have to keep current. Most crawl aggressively, and weed out dead
links in short order.
--Missy
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Request for Answer Clarification by
maroon-ga
on
19 Mar 2003 14:34 PST
Hello Missy: Just one more question--related to search engines. I've
heard that meta tags no longer do the trick and that major search
engines don't use them. What is your take on this? And if search
engines don't use meta tags, what do they use. That will be it and
I'll post the rating.
Beth
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Clarification of Answer by
missy-ga
on
19 Mar 2003 17:28 PST
Hello again!
It's true, most search engines do not support certain meta tags,
thanks to "search engine optimization" techniques such as keyword
stuffing, in which the webmaster fills the <meta name="keywords"> tag
with all manner of junk - multiple repetitions of certain keywords or
groups of keywords, and dozens of keywords that have nothing to do
with the content of the site, but are included in popular sites.
Once it became apparent that keyword stuffing had made meta tags
irrelevant, the major engines stopped paying attention to them. In
fact, as of October, 2002, only one major search engine, Inktomi,
still supports the meta keywords tag.
Andrew Goodman discusses the "Death of a Meta Tag" phenomenon
eloquently and in depth here:
An End to Metatags (Enough Already, Part 1) By Andrew Goodman -
9/2/2002
http://www.traffick.com/article.asp?aID=102
...and here:
Google Uses Meta Tags Sparingly, But Should You? (Enough Already, Part
2)
By Andrew Goodman - 9/16/2002
http://www.traffick.com/article.asp?aID=105
...and you can find more information at SearchEngine Watch:
Death Of A Meta Tag
http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/02/10-meta.html
That's not to say that all meta tags are equally useless, only that
the meta keywords tag doesn't do anything to boost your site rankings.
It's too easy to manipulate that tag to produce false relvancy -
terrific for the webmaster seeking hits, but utterly useless to the
consumer seeking particular goods, services, or just information.
Some meta tags, such as <meta NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOARCHIVE"> and
<meta NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOFOLLOW"> are still useful.
Google itself is quite clear on how pages are ranked within its index.
Content is king - not just your content, but the content of the pages
that link to you:
"In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote,
by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume
of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that
casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important"
weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important".
Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google
remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages
mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google
combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find
pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes
far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines
all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages
linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query."
Our Search: Google Technology
://www.google.com/technology/index.html
[ Personally, I appreciate this approach. It's very helpful when
researching, and is the primary reason I use Google before any other
search engine. Because substance is more important to Google,
searchers can be assured of finding more grain and less chaff when
looking for information. ]
Other free search engines aren't clear on how they rank a site's
popularity or relevance. As noted previously, commonly used searches
such as Yahoo, AOL and Netscape all use Google search results, so the
rankings there are the same as Google's. AltaVista doesn't explain
its methods, saying only that they work hard to filter out the spam.
Paid search engines are, as far as I'm concerned, completely useless
for consumers seeking to find specific information. Buying your rank
might very well assure that you make the top ten or fifteen results
for particular keyword searches, but with the ability to purchase your
rank comes the ability to abuse the system. Searchers looking for
"sex, drugs, rock & roll" while looking for the source of that quote
wouldn't be too happy to find your site (just as an example - I'm not
picking on your site!!) at the top of that listing page.
One can buy a ranking in those engines, but it doesn't have to be
relevant to what the consumer is looking for, and that's a terrible
disservice.
Bottom line: Don't ditch all of your meta tags entirely. They can
help you control whether or not you are indexed or archived, and they
can help you keep track of your page content as you update, especially
if you update several at once. Just don't count on them to help you
with your page rank. It's your content that really matters there. As
long as your content is solid and descriptive and your links are
relevant, you'll do just fine.
--Missy
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