Given that Google now seems to think that this site has something to say about uncaching content I thought I would actually write a blog post about managing your index in Google. If you wonder how it is possible to update or to remove content, how to ensure pages are uncached and updated, then hopefully after reading this article you will be a little bit wiser.
Webmaster Tools + Finding Your Pages
Before you do anything, if you do not have the site verified in Google Webmaster Tools and setup accordingly, then you need to start by doing that. Verification is a simply 2-3 step process, and you can either upload a file they provide to your web root or paste a custom meta tag into the HTML of your index page.
In addition to being a member of Webmaster Tools you may like to see what your site looks like in Google. To do this you can search on the following “site:www.domain.com“. This will return a result set of all the indexed pages from that domain in Google. You may find there are discrepancies between www.domain.com and domain.com.
Removing Pages from Google
To remove pages from Google you need to start by adding the specific directories or files to your robots.txt file. If you do not have a robots.txt file in place already then shame on you! If you do then GREAT. Ok so, here goes:
To add a directory to your robots.txt simply past the following line in “Disallow: /directory-name/sub-directory/” and to add a file, the following “Disallow: /page-name.html“. Pretty simple right?
Ok, so now you have done that, go into your Webmaster Tools account and select the web site you want pages or directoies removed from. Once in there, click “Crawler Access” under “Site Configuration“. Having done this, click on the “Remove URL” tab and proceed by click the “New Removal Request” button. This will then take you through the process. so simply read them. As I said, unless you have the content marked as DISALLOWED in your robots file, the removal process will NOT work.
The removal process will let you take out the following:
- Individual URLs
- Directory or Sub-Directories
- Your entire site
- Cached copy of a Google search result
Now that we have looked at removing pages, let’s see about updating and adding pages.
Adding or Updating Pages in Google
To ensure your site is updated in Google, and any changes picked up, you should make sure you have set up a sitemap in Google Webmaster Tools. Down the road, when you have updated the file to reflect changes on the site, you will want to go into the Webmaster Tools control panel and from the “Sitemap” section under “Site Configuration” simply click “Resubmit” for the sitemap you wish to be updated in Google’s index.
The turn around time for any changes in the index is not quantifiable. It could be quick, it could also be very slow. I often anticipate a minimum of a week for changes to filter through. You could of course start by making a removal request for specific pages to help force an update, but this is merely a suggestion and will of course cause traffic to drop for an unspecified amount of time.
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I am, for want of a better word, a web developer. Practising since '96 and
focused on front and back-end work with a slant for optimisation.
I love music, art, and helping people, traits which I hope are borne out here.
Read more about me and this blog on the 
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