Removing 404 URLs from Google's index

Why do I get lots of hits?

[abates]

I've had occasion to use Google's page for removing dead links from their index. It seems to work quite well, but I've got a question...

Whenever I do it, I start getting hits on the URLs I've reported from 216.239.33.5 (which resolves to proxy.google.com) with a client string of Java1.3.0_02. It hits all the 404 URLs once an hour until I get the email saying the URLs have been removed.

Why does Google do this? I can understand them checking to make sure that the URLs really *are* returning a 404 response, but hitting them once an hour for often up to five or six days does seem a little excessive. :)

[msr986]

>but hitting them once an hour for often up to five or six days does seem a little excessive.

You wouldn't think so if your site was removed because your host was down for a day or two.

[davidpbrown]

I know it's been said before but my 2 cents..

I submitted a couple of 404's, waited a couple of weeks and with no response have now redirected a whole load of URL's.

Reasonably, Google has now got to declining the request but still has the old pages in the search results, along with a load of other old pages in it's cache.. It's frustrating that Google is so unresponsive and so slow to update..

Is it that Google is becoming New Google or is it that they've dedicated servers to commercial apps like Froogle and?adservers?.. I hope not.

methinks Google's broke but still remember when it was quality.. wouldn't it be nice if things suddenly came back to life?

[netcommr]

I would gladly handle that massive load of 1 per hour to make sure nobody made a mistake or desceived someone then have to wait 2 months to start over...

[abates]

msr986, netcommr: I quite agree. It's obviously there to make sure that the page is really 404 and it's not just a temporary error. I'm just suprised at the frequency.

And also the client string. I'd have expected it to be Googlebot or something similar. :)

[TheRealTerry]

Imagine if your competition sees your site is down and immediately goes to google to report you and have you removed. A simple server "burp", or maybe a downed connection outside your control, that gets corrected in a matter of hours would erase all your previous SEO efforts in the blink of an eye.

Google does a fantastic job of putting in safeguards to prevent the more devious of your competition from damaging your search performance in most cases.