Switching Design Companies, Remember To Remove Their Webmaster Tools Access

Feb 2, 2009 - 7:41 am 3 by

A site owner has confirmed reports from a Google Webmaster Help discussion thread that his site was completely removed from the Google index by his previous webmaster.

It seems like this previous webmaster was upset with the site owner and when they parted ways, the site owner forgot to remove the previous webmaster's access to Google Webmaster Tools. Then the previous webmaster decided to use the Google removal tool to drop the site out of Google's index.

Googler, JohnMu, confirmed this indeed took place:

It does look like a previous webmaster removed your sites using the removal tool. I've passed a note on to the team so that they can look into what we can do now. Thanks for posting!

I suspect the site will be returned shortly, but let this be a lessoned learned for all webmasters and site owners. Make sure to remove the Google Webmaster Tools (and Yahoo Site Explorer and Live Search Webmaster Tools) access as soon as you remove their FTP access.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: September 15, 2025

Sep 15, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Search Console Reporting Change Since 100 Results Broke

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:51 am
Bing Search

Bing Places Update Coming Soon: Navigation, Experience & More

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

PSA: Most Third Party Google Search Tracking Tools Are Broken

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:31 am
Search Engine Optimization

Structured Data Does Not Help With Visibility In AI Search

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google News

FTC Investigating Google Over Ad Pricing & Terms On Websites

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:11 am
 
Previous Story: Google Labeled My Site: "This site may harm your computer"