I need help to refresh an image in Google's cache

[andybookie]

I need tips to refresh Google's cache.
I have edited an image that is indexed in Google Images and uploaded it to the same URL. My aim is the have the cached version of the image (that appears in the Knowledge Graph) to refresh to the new image.

Note: Deleting and uploading a new image is not an option as I wish to keep the image prominent in the Knowledge Graph.
Help please :)

[aristotle]

you might try to paste the url of the image into google's image search. This might trigger a new fetch by googlebot-image.

[not2easy]

In the Search Console, under Remove URLs you can remove only the cached file, it is one of the options there.

[andybookie]

@noteasy Surely I can't delete a cached Google URL? The thing I am struggling to understand at the moment is what is the cached image. In Google Image or on the Knowledge Graph, if I right click on the image (not click through to actual image) and open in new tab this produces a URL, which I would expect to be Google cached image URL. This URL begins with data:image/jpeg;base64...then a multitude of text (3 A4 pages log).
I am not able to delete this URL through the Search Console obviously.
Or am I missing something?

[andybookie]

@aristotle Can't see this helping but good suggstion and I'll give it a go.

[aristotle]

Maybe google has appropriated your image for its own use and added it to their knowledge base and/or knowledge vault under their own url.

[andybookie]

@aristotle yeah I guess that's the case and want to influence the refresh of that cached image

[not2easy]

Surely I can't delete a cached Google URL?

If the cached image is on your site and you remove that image URL from Google's cache, surely they will not have that image in their cache until they update their cache to show the new version.

[aristotle]

not2easy -- but if the old image has been added to google's knowledge base and/or knowledge vault, then I doubt that you can delete it from there through the search console.

[andybookie]

From @not2easy 's responses i've gone into Google Search Console and removed the original image from the cache. This may mean that the image will be re-cached so i'm looking forward to seeing if this works.

[andybookie]

If this works @not2easy I owe you one!

[not2easy]

You can always follow up by submitting the updated page where this image is found. Use "Fetch as Google" in the Search Console and from there, click "submit to index". That would speed the changes.

[aristotle]

Well if google's search results are (or were) showing a cache of your old image, and if you deleted it successfully earlier today, then shouldn't you already be able to see the effect in their search results?

[lucy24]

then shouldn't you already be able to see the effect in their search results

The image shown in search results isn't your actual image. It's a cached version with lower resolution, in .png format. (I investigated this a few years ago when they changed their image-search format.)

[andybookie]

Hi guys, after performing some tests, I found that it took 1.5 weeks for a cached image to refresh in Google Images. The test that worked was the simplest - upload the new image to the old image URL > fetch and submit image URL to index through GSC > Fetch and submit entire domain through GSC.

Other tests included removing cached image from index through GSC and fetch and submitting image once the cached image disappeared.

But the simplest test worked and it took 1.5 weeks - this was on a very low level, low traffic blog. I imagine it would be quicker on a high traffic website which is crawled more often.

[martinibuster]

andybookie, welcome to WebmasterWorld and thanks for following up with your results! Much appreciated. :)