How do I remove my site from Google?

Except in instances involving legal issues or spam, Google’s policy for removing a page from our index requires that we obtain the permission of that page’s webmaster.

This prevents competitors from sabotaging each other’s listings. Please have the webmaster for the page in question contact us with proof that he/she is indeed the webmaster.

This proof must be in the form of a root level page on the site in question, requesting removal from Google. Once we receive the URL that corresponds with this root level page, we will remove the offending page from our index.

For more information on this process, please see http://www.google.com/remove.html

Excerpt taken from Google Webmaster Info

I’m listed in Google but not for my keywords

Google does not manually assign keywords to your site, nor do Google manually “boost” the rankings of any site. The ranking process is completely automated and depends on the relative PageRank of each result found.

The best way to improve your position in results is to have relevant content and multiple links from other web sites. If there are certain keywords you feel are essential to your site’s success, you may want to consider a targeted keyword advertising program.

Google does not sell placement in the results, but Google do have advertising positions available adjacent to them.

Excerpt taken from Google Webmaster Info

Google is not showing a description of my site

Site descriptions in Google results are actually quoted from the web page in question. Google automatically generates different descriptions based on the search terms used to find the site (these “snippets” display the search term(s) in the context of the page on which they appear).

For example, if there is a pet site that deals with cats and dogs, and someone enters a search for the word ‘dog,’ the site description on Google will only talk about ‘dogs.’ If a person searches Google for ‘cats’ and the same site is delivered as a result, the description will be different – it will contain references to the word ‘cat’ as it appears on the website.

Google does not display a standard description. We look for the search terms specified (and in some cases, variations of those terms) and show snippets of where those terms appear. This is a completely automated process and editing is not an option. If you alter the relevant text on the page itself, Google will pick up those changes during our next crawl in a few weeks.

Excerpt taken from Google Webmaster Info

How do I change my URL in Google?

It is not possible to manually change your listed address at the exact time you move to your new site. There are steps you can take to make sure that your transition goes smoothly, however.

Google listings are based in part on the ability to find your site by following links from other web pages. To preserve your ranking, you will want to inform any sites that currently link to your pages of your change of address.

Excerpt taken from Google Webmaster Info

My site on Google is on old version

If Google continue to list an ‘old’ version of your site (i.e. to list www.my123site.org despite the fact that your site now lives at www.my456site.org ) you need to update the links that are pointing to the sites.

Since Google robots jump from page to page via hyperlinks, someone must still be linking to the defunct page. Once others correct their links, Google can too.

Once your new site is live, you may wish to place a permanent redirect (using a “301” code in HTTP headers) on your old site to inform visitors and search engines that your site has moved.

Excerpt taken from Google Webmaster Info