Clear results for pages that no longer exist
The cleanest category there is. If the page is gone or the content has changed, Google has a tool whose entire purpose is catching the index up.
How do you remove outdated content from Google search?
Google’s Remove Outdated Content tool clears search results and cached snippets for pages that have been deleted or whose content has changed, for anyone who does not own the site. The page must already be gone, redirecting, returning an error, or no longer containing the text in question; the tool updates the index to match reality rather than hiding a live page. Site owners use Search Console removals instead, which is faster but temporary.
This is the first thing to try whenever a publisher has already agreed to remove something. The page is down, but the result and its snippet can linger for weeks, and people will keep finding it in the meantime.
When this works
- The page returns 404 or 410, or redirects elsewhere
- The page still loads but the offending text has been removed
- The cached snippet still shows content the live page no longer has
- The page is now behind a login or a paywall
- A site has been taken down but its results persist
How an outdated content case runs
- 1
Verify the page state
We confirm the URL is actually gone or changed. Filing against a live page wastes the request and trains the system to distrust the next one.
- 2
Confirm the stale element
Sometimes the result is stale, sometimes only the cached snippet is. They are different requests.
- 3
File
Through the outdated content tool, per URL.
- 4
Recrawl check
Re-checked until the result and snippet both clear, rather than filed and forgotten.
- 5
Proof
A dated search screenshot showing the result gone.
The specifics
- Priced
- Per URL; the cheapest removal category we run
- Typical timeline
- 1 day to 2 weeks
- Prerequisite
- The page must already be gone or changed at the source
- Counts as delivered
- The result and cached snippet no longer appear, evidenced by a dated screenshot
What we will not claim
- This tool cannot touch a page that is still live with the content intact. If the page is up, this is the wrong service and we will route you to the right one.
- De-indexing hides a page from search results; it does not delete the page. Where the source can be removed at origin, that is the better outcome and we say so even though it is the cheaper job.
- If the publisher restores the page, the result comes back. That is a source problem, not an index problem.
Questions
Terms on this page
Last reviewed . Platform policies change; we re-check every page quarterly.