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I was wondering if someone knows how many days or months does it take for Google to remove the dead sites from their index?

I've made test websites with tags for hosting images and texts, let it stay for a month and then deleted them quite after. I tried searching them and they still appear there.

Any idea how many days does it take before they completely remove the dead sites?

unor
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Matt
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    Does the domain name still exist?? If so, it can take months. Make sure you allow the web server to present 404 errors; not not mark them as fixed in Google Search Console or redirect anything on your site. Just let the web do what it is supposed to do. If the domain name does not exist, then it should be a matter of days or weeks. Cheers!! – closetnoc Dec 07 '16 at 16:08
  • It uses a free domain, such as wordpress. It was deleted months ago, but while after searching it on weeks passed, it seems to be still there. I did google search console and had them removed by google but some of them are still there, so I was wondering when it would be removed. – Matt Dec 07 '16 at 16:21
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    Unfortunately, it takes time. There is nothing you or 1 can to about it. If the domain name cannot be resolved, then Google will demote the site in the SERPs for a while. This includes sub-domains. This of course is under the assumption that the domain name or sub-domain name is temporarily unavailable. Depending on how you are searching, you may be getting results that do not reflect where domain name would normally appear in the SERPs. Using the site: directive will do this. Otherwise, it is likely that the site really will not appear for search under normal circumstances. – closetnoc Dec 07 '16 at 16:26

2 Answers2

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Deleting or blocking the images is a necessary step, but only the first step to get your images de-indexed. Especially if you want the images to be removed quickly.

I would recommend you sign up for a google webmasters account and then report that the images no longer exist and that they should be taken off the index. Google has put up a form where you can report images and URLs – but it can be a bit hard to find: Webmasters > Tools > Removal.

In my experience the images should disappear within 24–48 hours. Some time ago I have written a short beginners guide about the process with some more details over here.

tillinberlin
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  • Thanks for your advice. I tried this before and the others got removed. However when I search specifically, say with the title of my old site, some of them are still existing. I wonder why they were there as I've seen on my console that they have been removed. What does expired mean though? – Matt Dec 07 '16 at 16:22
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If they return the proper 404 headers, they will be removed relatively fast, depending on how high your rank was. Higher ranked sites get checked more often. There isn't really a set timeframe for this.

If you still have access to these domain, add a hard 404 error. No nice messages (unless you get some visitors here).

For future sites I suggest a change in tactics:
We have a simple php file, that if included checks if $_SESSION['exampleKey'] has a value. If it does not, it'll show a form with a password input in it where the user can submit a password. If the proper password is entered, set $_SESSION['exampleKey'] = true; and show the actual page.
When you're done, stop including that file.

This way Google (and other sites) will not see anything worth while. Also, you have some protection against nosy visitors.

Martijn
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