The dreaded deindexing scenario and how to overcome it.

In today's increasingly interconnected online landscape, being seen by search engines is one of the most crucial aspects of growing and sustaining a presence for both professionals and hobbyists. Regardless of why a person has a website, being indexed by Google and other search engines is the first step to appearing in their searches. Unfortunately, there are reasons why one may lose this index and their search rankings. It's important to understand how this occurrence may happen and what to do if it does.

The first thing to do when one notices they are no longer indexed is to check for any new or suspicious files on their site. Even the best security measures may fall short and any malicious files should be rooted out and addressed. If none exist, walk back through and significant changes made between the present and last known time when the website was appearing correctly. Improper links may attribute malicious intent to the website which leads to the search engine deindexing the site as a safety precaution. One should also check their robots.txt file to ensure that proper access is allowed to search engines. Incorrect or unwanted changes in this file can pull a website off search engines completely.

Once the reason for being deindexed is found and addressed, it is time to rebuild the relationship between the website and the search engine. This will take time but may be expedited by ensuring all content is properly suited for the category of website. Once the connection has been reestablished, it may feel like starting back from square one even on a site with years of existing content. The best thing to do is making sure that all proper protocols are followed and necessary processes are in place to draw the attention of the search engines. This would be a good time to revamp SEO tactics as well as upgrade security (even if the issue was not security related).

With enough time, search rankings will return to normal. The important thing is to address any issues head-on and stay aware of changes on a given website.