Google keeps spidering deleted pages and ignores my 404s

[peterg22]

Recently I moved my domain names to my own server and Google has been a regular visitor ever since. However, in the move I deleted a lot of old pages that were no longer used or had become spam traps, but I've noticed that Google keeps requesting these pages and ignores the 404 errors that my server sends back. I've checked for these page names throughout my other pages and they aren't mentioned.

Any ideas?

[janharders]

try sending 410 ("Gone") instead of 404 ("Not found"). while 404 just says that the page isn't there, it does not state wether it might return. 410, on the other hand, says that it's dead and won't come back.

[BillyS]

I think Google gives webmasters a break by continuing to look for a page returning a 404. Mistakes do happen, redirects don't work as planned. Pages are taken down by accident.

I agree with the recommendation of sending a 410, although I thought I read somewhere that Google treats a 410 like a 404. If you really want to remove a page, then use their page removal tool. Don't forget you can block with robots.txt too. If you're worried about bandwidth, a small 404 page should take care of that concern.

[peterg22]

Thank you! I used the page removal tool in the end as there were only a few. Yes, they claim to honour the 410 response.