Ghost URLs in the SERP's

301 and 302 redirects hanging in the results

[xbase234]

My client has a number of redirects lingering high in their brand search results. The SERP's show just the url, with no title or description shown, and they all happen to be redirected urls (a 'ghost' url, if you will).

If a url is going to show up in the results, then I would prefer that the title and desc are listed. When running a 301, I would like to have the url disappear altogether. Any known methods of wiping out a 301 from the results while continuing to let it run?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

[jdMorgan]

> with no title or description shown

Use the server headers checker [webmasterworld.com] to make sure it's a 301 redirect

Do NOT disallow the URL using robots.txt

Jim

[xbase234]

These urls are a mix of 301's and 302's - about 5 of each, and no robots.txt file.

[edited by: xbase234 at 3:53 pm (utc) on Feb. 11, 2004]

[AthlonInside]

Use only 301 and give Google at least a month time.

[xbase234]

Athlon - the 301 redirects have been running for several months now.

These urls have a number of backlinks on PR5 and above sites. Could this be the reason the 301's are lingering?

[AthlonInside]

Then I guess the 301 is not done correctly? Do you use .htaccess of PHP?

Have you try fetching the file with a server checker tool? Try this and see what's the code
[seoconsultants.com...]

[xbase234]

Athlon - I used the server header checker tool at searchengineworld.com, which verifies the url as a 301. The seoconsultants header check reveals a 302 or 404, so it looks like there is a discrepancy that I will need to investigate -

thanks