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- How to Remove Outdated URLs from Google: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide
Over time, your website may accumulate pages that are no longer relevant, outdated, or simply shouldn't appear in Google's search results anymore. In this guide, I’ll show you how to remove URLs both temporarily and permanently, in a clear and simple way.
Index
Why remove URLs from Google?
Removing outdated or unnecessary URLs helps to:
- Improve your site's reputation and quality.
- Prevent outdated content from being shown to users.
- Better control what gets indexed by Google.
Depending on your needs, you can:
- Temporarily remove a URL (to hide it for a while).
- Permanently remove a URL (to remove it from Google’s index for good).
Option 1: Temporarily remove URLs (hide from search)
When to use this option
- If the page still exists, but you want to hide it for a while.
- If you're updating content and don’t want it visible in the meantime.
Steps to temporarily remove a URL using Google Search Console
- Go to Google Search Console.
- Select your web property.
- In the left menu, click on "Index" and then on "Removals".
- Click "New Request".
- Paste the full URL you want to remove.
- Choose one of these options:
- "Temporarily remove": hides the URL from results for about 6 months.
- "Clear cached URL": removes the cached content and snippet, but the URL may still appear.
- Click "Submit Request".
Important: This does not permanently remove the URL. If the page still exists and is accessible, it may reappear later.
Option 2: Permanently remove URLs
When to use this option
- When a page no longer exists.
- When the content has been migrated, merged, or replaced.
- When you want to completely clean up Google’s index.
Method A: Delete the page and return a 404 or 410 error
- Delete the page from your server or CMS.
- Ensure the URL returns a 404 (not found) or 410 (permanently gone) status code.
- You can verify the URL status using tools like httpstatus.io.
- Optionally, request removal via Google Search Console (as explained in option 1) to speed up the process.
When a server responds with a 410 Gone, it clearly signals that the URL was intentionally and permanently deleted, and should no longer be accessed.
This is different from a 404 Not Found error, which simply means the page was not found, without indicating whether it’s temporary or permanent.
Google tends to remove 410 URLs from the index faster than those that return 404.
On Apache servers (.htaccess):
Redirect gone /path-to-remove
In PHP:
<?php
header("HTTP/1.1 410 Gone");
exit;
?>
Method B: Redirect the URL to a relevant one (301)
With this method, Google will crawl the new URL and eventually replace the old one in search results. Here’s how to do it depending on your server type or the CMS you use for your site.
If your site uses Apache
1. Access the .htaccess file located in your website's root.
2. Add this line at the end of the file:
Redirect 301 /old-service https://yoursite.com/solutions/old-serviceThis will automatically redirect both users and search engines from the old URL to the new one.
If your server uses Nginx
Add this directive inside the server block:
rewrite ^/old-service$ https://yoursite.com/solutions/old-service permanent;Then restart the server to apply the changes (sudo systemctl restart nginx).
If you use Joomla!
1. Make sure the redirect plugin is enabled (System - Redirect).
2. Go to Components > Redirect.
3. Create a new entry:
- Old URL:
/old-service - New URL:
/solutions/old-service - Status: Published
Note: You don't need to install plugins. This one is part of Joomla's Core.
If you use WordPress
1. Install a plugin like Redirection.
2. Check the documentation for the plugin you’ve installed.
Option 3: Prevent a URL from appearing in results without deleting it
If you want a page to remain accessible, but not show up in Google’s results, you can use the noindex tag.
- Open the HTML file of the page.
- Add this meta tag inside the
<head>section:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">Make sure not to block the URL in robots.txt, as Google needs to access the page to see the noindex.
Conclusion
Removing outdated URLs is key to keeping your site clean, professional, and well-ranked. Whether you need to temporarily hide content or permanently delete it, Google offers the right tools to do it properly. The key is knowing when and how to use each method.
Have questions or need help with a specific URL? Feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly.
