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How NZSearch took a webpage out of Google
301 Permanent redirects v 302 Temporary redirects
NZSearch has been told of how they are removing peoples websites/pages from Google (25/1/05), and NZSearch's reaction has been to thankfully remove my clients website from their directory.
However, over 2 months later (15 March 2005), Google still has the Taggs-r-us website as a
cache on an NZSearch url. This proves that the effect of a 302 takes a while to wear off. I
am trying a number of ways to get the Google cache removed and have been unsuccessful to
date.
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It is great that NZSearch have removed the Taggs-r-us advert from their directory. However,
there remains many websites listed on NZSearch that have the potential to have their
websites/pages removed from Googles cache. NZSearch at this moment are not willing to change
the way they link on their website. In fact as at the 15 March 2005, over 2 months later, they have still not changed the links.
Please note the comments of NZSearch as at January 2005:
"we will continue to research the possible impact of 302 and 301 redirects and we have a rewrite into .NET for NZSearch coming up and will consider your suggestions then."
This must be read in the context of earlier communication:
"however it is unreasonable for you to assume that we will not be changing the working of our directory (which has been the same for many years) on your say so when the outcome is undefined."
NZSearch uses what has been a very standard clickcounter on their NZSearch.com directory links. NZSearch uses links in the form of www.nzsearch.com/wl.asp?38781 so that when you click on it, it actually redirects you through to a external website - in this case it was www.Taggs-R-Us.com.
Behind the NZSearch url wl.asp?38781, it counts that you have clicked on that link. On standard links, it is not possible to count how many times someone has clicked on them. Now there is nothing wrong with counting links like this. What is wrong, is the technical way that the link is structured.
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Update 18 May 2005
The index page has still not been cached by Google.
Steps I have taken to get back from the dead (per advice from Webmasterworld).
- Instructions in part per Google remove url tool
- On the 6 May, I contacted NZSearch and had them reinstate the 302 link to Taggs-r-us.com
- I added <META NAME="GOOGLEBOT" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW"> to the index page of www.taggs-r-us.com/index.php (being the one that the 302 was coming in on)
- I then used the Google Remove URL tool on the 302 link www.nzsearch.com/wl.asp?38781.
- The link was accepted by Google as a valid request
- I immediately got NZSearch to remove their link to TRU
- I then immediately took the noindex, nofollow robots instruction off the index page.
- Around 2 days later, the request had been actioned and the NZSearch site no longer showed up for the search. Yeah, the offending cache had been removed.
- However, by 18 May the index page had still not been cached by Google. Another search on Webmasterworld uncovered advice that a reinclusion request using the following url was a good idea Reinclusion request
- So we now continue to wait. September 2004 to May 2005 - quite a while. Boy I hate 302 links!!!
Please look through the following screen dumps that are evidence of what has happened.
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About the screen dumps...
Note the cache of the NZSearch page, and how the Taggs-R-Us page is not cached. Note also how the Taggs-R-Us (TRU) page is not listed at the top of Google for its domain name. In fact, my advertising of his page is top. It is also not because the TRU site has few links - in fact Google mentions 8340 instances of the rather unique phrase "Taggs-R-Us"
Also note how the TRU site ranks on Yahoo.
301 Permanent Redirects v 302 Temporary Redirects
There has been a lot of comment in the last month about 302 Permanent verses 301 Temporary redirects. Specifically, Google has started to remove pages from its cache when it has found a page to be duplicate.
In PHP, the following is a 302 redirect:
Header ( "Location: http://www.awebsite.com" );
And the following is a 301 permanent redirect:
header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
Header ( "Location: http://www.awebsite.com" );
For some background reading have a look at The rundown on 301 and 302 redirects (21 Dec 2004).
Page Hijack Exploit
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Defamation???
NZSearch have raised the issue that some of my statements may be defamatory, so I decided to do a little Googling
What are defamatory words "It is merely to say that the words carry a meaning which would in the eyes of the ordinary man, reduce the standing or reputation of the person to whom the words are applied."
However, there is very good defence to it if the statements are held to be true:
Defences to defamation In some jurisdictions, it is held that:
truth is a complete defence regardless of the intent of the publisher.
Moral of the story
Be very careful where you get links from. If you get links from directories that use the wrong sort of links to you, your website may not be able to be found in its own right.
I am hopeful that NZSearch after due analysis will find the truth of what their redirects can do to a website, and change the way they do their redirects. I am hopeful that not too many websites around New Zealand have been affected by the NZSearch links.
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Auckland Central,
Parnell Restaurants,
Ponsonby Restaurants,
Mission Bay Restaurants,
Mount Eden,
Mt Eden,
Newmarket Restaurants,
Palmerston North DVD Rentals,
Palmerston North Restaurants,
NZ Restaurants,
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