With all the new buzz around Ask.com and their campaigns, TV commercials and new user interface, a WebmasterWorld thread and Search Engine Roundtable Forums thread decided to take a look at a fundamental issue with their indexer.

Robert Charlton, WebmasterWorld moderator, noted that Ask.com is still indexing pages that have been 301 redirected (permanent redirect) over three years ago.

They are still indexing pages that were 301 redirected three years ago, redirects which have been followed by every other search engine in the known universe.

He is not the only person noticing this. I personally see it on several sites. But let's pull some more feedback from the forum thread.

Yes, I see this on a site that I 301'd over a year ago.. They still have about 1,700 pages from it actually. I'm concerned about this possibly causing duplicate content penalties with the site that it 301s to, which is currently delisted.

Yes. I can confirm more than a few instances of old URIs still appearing in the Ask index. Stuff from more than a year ago. I don't want to dig any further for fear of what I may find. ;)

Same for me, ask.com still shows (and ranks well) an address I 301'd more than FIVE years ago. I still have the 301 in place, for this reason (and for other old links).

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Roundtable Forums.

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