Google zombie links!!

zom · 18-11-2015 7:35pm #1

Apologies if this is not good place to ask - appreciate any direction in that matter.

I am adding / removing pages on my website (+ sitemaps update etc) - Google follows these changes and it always worked fine. But recently few of my dead links did not disappeared from Google - they started to point into someone's else website!! I removed them from all sitemaps, I checked my Google webmaster settings and there is nothing there? I temporary recreated these pages just to keep links on my website, but so far cant find any solution for that?

Any advice appreciate.

Giblet · 18-11-2015 8:02pm

zom wrote: »

Apologies if this is not good place to ask - appreciate any direction in that matter.

I am adding / removing pages on my website (+ sitemaps update etc) - Google follows these changes and it always worked fine. But recently few of my dead links did not disappeared from Google - they started to point into someone's else website!! I removed them from all sitemaps, I checked my Google webmaster settings and there is nothing there? I temporary recreated these pages just to keep links on my website, but so far cant find any solution for that?

Any advice appreciate.

301 them to somewhere relevant on your site.

zom · 19-11-2015 12:42am

Do they have to stay 301 forever? According to Google Help it seems premanent for them.

And one more - why it happpen? Is it something natural (someone's else domain directed by my google links?), should I expect it happen again?

Talisman · 21-11-2015 12:51pm

It sounds like a website hack, the website may be infected with some conditional malware. Sucuri SiteCheck is a free service that will scan your website remotely.

Understanding conditional malware

zom · 22-11-2015 12:30am

What if it is all clean, safe covered and no issues so far? Can it be Google error or hijack?

zom · 03-01-2016 2:01am

Back to topic (bit bored this post-New Year off work). I got you one nice example similar to mine. Lets have link as below (giving 404 not found error):
http://www.pifpaf.com.br/aripiprazole-prescribing-information-pdf-architect.pptx

Why if I google that link, I am redirected to some malicious pharmacy page? Is that page still hacked or it is just Google fetching not correct way?? I spent 2 hours trying to find anything about it on internet but I coudnt??

Talisman · 04-01-2016 5:29am

Are you still having the issue with your site? Post the link or PM it to me and I'll take a look at it.

zom · 04-01-2016 10:34pm

I blocked it all in htaccess and it just works fine now. But I am curious if this is issue on my side or on google. Example as above shows clearly that any way I try access http://www.pifpaf.com.br/aripiprazole-prescribing-information-pdf-architect.pptx i get 404 error. How is it possible that google is fetching that link not the same way?

Talisman · 05-01-2016 4:24pm

Google: "site:pifpaf.com.br prescribing"

I see 467 results. Bing reports 13,000 results for the same search term so clearly there was a serious issue.

The search results are cached in the search engine index and you will need to get the website re-indexed to update the index.

Follow these steps:

1 - Create a XML Sitemap file using a plugin such as Yoast SEO.
https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/

2 - Update the robots.txt file for the website to include the location of the XML Sitemap, you need to use the full URL. This will help the search engine bots to find it. e.g.

sitemap: http://your.domain.com/sitemap_file.xml

3 - Setup Webmaster Tools for the website.
https://www.google.com/webmasters/
http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster/

4 - Submit the sitemap to each of the search engines using the Webmaster Tools. The search engines will re-index the website more quickly if you manually submit the sitemap.

Use the fetch as Googlebot facility to retrieve the hacked pages as Google sees them. It's the best way to check the hack is gone.

zom · 05-01-2016 7:56pm

Thanks Talisman for long explanation but unfortunately it is not working with this issue. I know google tools and used them but still get wrong redirections as example above. I issued new sitemap WITHOUT malicious links I want google to forget and they are still there?

And it wouldn't be really good if any change on the website would need reissuing sitemap to google - it is not working this way. I can change content or completely remove the page and it is shown straight away on google search results (you can try it on any of your links ans you probably get the same). But for some reason these few malicious links wont get off?

Talisman · 05-01-2016 10:37pm

If you've gone through the process and the links are still in the search index then the only logical explanation is that they have been indexed on other websites, i.e. you have a dodgy backlink profile.

Google "url:http://www.pifpaf.com.br/aripiprazole-prescribing-information-pdf-architect.pptx" and you will find all the pages linking to the page on your website. All of those links will have to be disavowed.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/disavow-links-main

How to Remove Spam Backlinks Using Google’s Disavow Links Tool

Talisman · 05-01-2016 10:56pm

zom wrote: »

And it wouldn't be really good if any change on the website would need reissuing sitemap to google - it is not working this way. I can change content or completely remove the page and it is shown straight away on google search results (you can try it on any of your links ans you probably get the same). But for some reason these few malicious links wont get off?

The purpose of the sitemap is to give the search engines an outline of the structure of the website. If you read the fine print they make no guarantees about using the sitemap as the crawlers prefer to follow natural links. However the benefit of having a sitemap that is automatically updated and synced to the webmaster tools is that the search engine can inform you when you have an issue with the links on the website.

For example, suppose you have 200 pages on your website. There should be 200 links listed in the XML sitemap. There should also at most be only 200 pages listed in the search index. If there are more than 200 results in the search index then the webmaster tools can highlight the issue - let's say the search index has 1,000 results - you have duplicate content on your website. Google/Bing isn't happy when there are more than one url to the same content and the webmaster tools are a polite way of highlighting such issues.

zom · 07-01-2016 2:31pm

Talisman wrote: »

All of those links will have to be disavowed.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/disavow-links-main

I disavowed banch of links already, but google crawl errors are still growing and I presume I can't do much about it if some crazy Asians are producing false links to my website.

My point is about links on google search. Why google fetch different address than actually address itself (presuming that there is no malicious redirection)? If I make that address live (like put there some harmless content), google is imminently recognising it correctly. But if I remove content (make it 404) google is back with wrong link??

Talisman · 07-01-2016 3:25pm

You're in the realm of Search Engine Optimization/Marketing and I'm merely a developer so I can't really help you further but have you considered raising the issue with Google? You can perform the search and then click the "Send Feedback" link at the bottom of the results page.

Google zombie links!!

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