Google requires a 404 error on a page before you can request it be moved out of their index. My problem is that I am using a system that dynamically generates the path to a page. Google has indexed all my pages with underscores in the names (my mistake) - now I want to change everything to hyphens. BUT - the old underscore pages are still "valid" because of the dynamic system I am using - so Google will have a duplicate content issue for each of these pages (basically the entire site will be duplicated). I cannot make them "invalid".
How to Get a Page OUT of Google without a 404
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Google requires a 404 error on a page before you can request it be moved out of their index.
My problem is that I am using a system that dynamically generates the path to a page. Google has indexed all my pages with underscores in the names (my mistake) - now I want to change everything to hyphens. BUT - the old underscore pages are still "valid" because of the dynamic system I am using - so Google will have a duplicate content issue for each of these pages (basically the entire site will be duplicated). I cannot make them "invalid".
I have NO way to throw a 404 (or a 302 / 301) with URL rewriting because of this system. It is out of my control (spent 3 hours with tech support last night).
SO: How can I get Google to drop the pages with underscores from their index without them returning a 404? I know that using hyphens is MUCH better for SEO - and I want to make the switch before I launch a huge link building campaign.
Any advice?
My problem is that I am using a system that dynamically generates the path to a page. Google has indexed all my pages with underscores in the names (my mistake) - now I want to change everything to hyphens. BUT - the old underscore pages are still "valid" because of the dynamic system I am using - so Google will have a duplicate content issue for each of these pages (basically the entire site will be duplicated). I cannot make them "invalid".
I have NO way to throw a 404 (or a 302 / 301) with URL rewriting because of this system. It is out of my control (spent 3 hours with tech support last night).
SO: How can I get Google to drop the pages with underscores from their index without them returning a 404? I know that using hyphens is MUCH better for SEO - and I want to make the switch before I launch a huge link building campaign.
Any advice?
- JJOrana
- NickL
- [1] reply
- dburk
- NickL
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