Google cache still shows old file as home page

[shibin]

Hi,
I recently updated my site, formerly home page was index.php , now i changed it with index.htm
Almost 3 weeks gone still Google is not taking this page as home page. still when we search in Google old page shows index page. (Can clearly understand by title tag).
I have submitted the site in Google directory and also did basic SEO works.
Can anyone help me to resolve the issue.

Regards,
Shibin.S

[edited by: tedster at 9:44 am (utc) on Dec. 8, 2008]

[Quadrille]

Hi, Welcome!

Did you remove the old page? (Sorry, but I have to ask!)

Did you arrange a 301 permanent redirect to example.com?

What did you search for?

[shibin]

Old page is removed, is it necessary to so 301 redirect, which method is good? php or writing in htaccess?
my sire is <snip> ,please check yourself. there is no index.php file.

[edited by: engine at 2:45 pm (utc) on Dec. 8, 2008]
[edit reason] See charter and WebmasterWorld TOS [/edit]

[Quadrille]

It will always take a while for a URL to drop out of the serps; if that is a problem, then a 301 redirect is wise measure.

Incidentally, in a search for [a unique string of text] from your new index, I got no result at all from your site.

Is the new index very different in content, as well as URL? If so, then from a SE POV, it is not a 'straight swap' and therefore the old one may linger a bit longer.

Unless potential visitors are going to be mislead, I wouldn't worry too much about an expired page, but a more friendly and helpful 404 page may avoid losing them forever.

BTW, it is against the TOS to place specific URLs here, please don't. Thanks ;)

[shibin]

Ok sorry for posting URL, i just needed you to check my site, you can edit it now. i completely replaced old site with new links and contents, all the old pages are removed and all pages are new with more contents and hence more pages.
So what you advice me to wait more time? google didn't cache home page only, rest few pages it caches. What will be reason for this.
Regards,
Shibin.S

[Quadrille]

I could only guess at the details, but if you've made radical changes, SEs may be temporarily 'confused' - once they've spidered a couple of times, and know that the 'old' urls have really gone (rather than, say, suffered a brief server outage), then they will gradually correct their serps; even if there's a longer-than-usual delay in dropping the old, you'll find for most searches that the new urls will appear above them.

Submitting an updated xml sitemap may help, the 404 page will catch the stragglers - but after radical change, 301s are a very good idea; how you do that depends on your skills, server type and access, but there's plenty of advice on that in other threads - and believe me, you don't want my advice on technical matters, it can be fatal ;)

[shibin]

Thank you very much..