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Removing post or site from google

  1. alazyknitter
    Member

    folks are getting to my site, through google, using search terms about a locally publicized thing that happened to my family that I happened to blog about. These are people I know, but I don't know exactly who. Anyway, I took down the content that seems to be drawing them, and changed my privacy settings, but google is still listing it in searches. I can't add the robot.txt tag or whatever google says to do to stop it from coming up on their searches. Help!

    Can I temporarily take my blog down? I'll do that if it's easier.

  2. dashboardspy
    Member

    Once cached, search engines will serve your data even if you take the blog down (try this in google by clicking on someone's cached link). Also, there's the wayback machine (do a search on it). Once it's on the web...

  3. drmike
    Member

    Another thing for you to do is Dashboard -> Options -> General -> Uncheck the box in front of "I would like my blog to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati, and in public listings around WordPress.com."

    Google themselves used to have a method of removing websites from their database but I do not see it listed anymore.

    -drmike

  4. alazyknitter
    Member

    I did that... but then I thought, if I do that (since I've removed the content of my concern) they won't be able to crawl my site and refresh their "terms" or whatever to reflect that it's not there. Whoa, I feel like I I just typed around in a big circle there.

    Google does have a way for you to remove your site, or some of your sites content, from their index. Took me a while to dig it up (apparently they don't want you to find it so easily). But, it involves putting a tag on your site but since I can't access and change the html, I can't add it (I don't have wordpress on my server, it's on wordpress.com). I guess I could plug it in to the posts in question. Hmm... just thought I'd post here and see if anyone has dealt with this before... guess not :-/

  5. drmike
    Member

    Most people are writing stuff in a blog because they want to be seen and read. If you don't want to have your postings public, then a blog is not for you. Kind of defeats the purpose of having one. :)

  6. alazyknitter
    Member

    Well duh. It's not that I generally mind if people read my blog, obviously I wouldn't have one if I did. My concern is that I (stupidly) cut and pasted an article that is driving people to my site who normally would have never found my blog - these people are family and friends of my partner. Under the circumstances and considering who these people are, I'm feeling a little more exposed than I planned for. I made a mistake by posting the article, and I was just looking for help to try to stop people from getting to my blog by looking for information related to a family tragedy and the people who died (because otherwise, they would likely not have found their way to it). I'm feeling a bit vulnerable right now, so I'm having a hard time appreciating your bluntness. Thanks everyone for what help you could offer, I'm just going to suck it up and move on.

  7. drmike
    Member

    Well duh. It's not that I generally mind if people read my blog, obviously I wouldn't have one if I did.

    *chuckle* I've lost count how many people we had here on this very forum who have stated that their blog was private and that they didn't want anyone reading it. No, I'm not kidding. :)

    Actually found the page I was thinking of:

    http://preg.org/collectibles/mentalplex/remove.html

    Try this method and email addresses and see if they can help you.

    Good luck,
    -drmike

  8. drmike
    Member

    *chuckle* I've lost count how many people we had here on this very forum who have stated that their blog was private and that they didn't want anyone reading it. No, I'm not kidding. :)

    For your reference.

  9. matt
    Staff

    alazyknitter, if you uncheck that box your site will be removed from search engines, but it can take anywhere from a week to a few months for search engines to catch up with the change.

  10. mutube
    Member

    I think a lot of people blog believing only strangers will read what they write - treating it like talking to a therapist. There is something strangely private about opening your life to strangers.

    It's unsettling being "found out" because from that point it stops feeling private. There is huge self-consciousness when writing with a particular audience in mind - especially if these people are close or known to be generally critical of you.

    Unfortunately, people you know will always find you. The only control you have is whether they realise it's you when they do!

    To do that, decide outright whether you are creating a personal or anonymous blog.

    • If it's personal, tell everybody about it. This makes it quite openly "yours". It's also less interesting to other people (secrets are always sexy).
    • If it's anonymous, tell nobody you know about it and never post anything that could connect it to you. This stands even when you're ego is crying out for recognition.

    Consider it a lesson learnt alazyknitter. Whether you can make the jump from one to the other is up to you! :)

    Good luck.

    P.S. You could always get another blog ;)

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