Google: Sometimes Swapping 404 URLs Out To Get Indexed Faster May Help

Aug 21, 2020 - 7:21 am 0 by

Swap

Google's John Mueller said that sometimes "swapping out the URL can certainly help" when that URL has been 404ed or noindexed for a while. He said "sometimes our systems are so used to a URL not "working" (noindex, 404, etc) that it can take a bit of time to get back."

John added that "in most cases you wouldn't need to though."

But I guess if you are having huge difficulty getting content that was previously 404ed or noindexed back into Google's index, making a new URL for that content and 301ing that old URL to it, might be the answer.

Here is the context of that tweet:

You can also try to force Google to recrawl it via the URL Inspection tool, submit to index or XML Sitemaps.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

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: May 8, 2025

May 8, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Updates

Google Search Ranking Volatility Spiked Thursday - May 8th

May 8, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Launches New Charts: Bar, Column and Time-Series

May 8, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Tests Read Reviews Button & Appointment Tags On Local Listings

May 8, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

Apple Says Google Searches Down On Safari & Google Says Searches Are Up

May 8, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Tests Alignment Changes To Search Result Snippets

May 8, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Poll: Most SEOs Consider Accessibility When Working On Websites