Indexed to Not Indexed: Detecting “Ghost Links” Before They Hurt Your SEO
One of the biggest silent killers of SEO campaigns is “Link Decay”. You built a link, it got indexed, you celebrated… and then two weeks later, Google quietly dropped it from the index.
We have introduced a specialized monitoring feature: Status Change Detection. This report tells you exactly which URLs have flipped from “Indexed” to “Not Indexed” (De-indexed) since your last check.
Why Do Links Get De-indexed?
If a link disappears from the index, it usually means one of three things:
- Low Quality Content: Google’s “SpamBrain” decided the page offers no value.
- Orphan Page: The site owner removed internal links to that page.
- Technical Error: The server was down when Googlebot visited (5xx error).
Knowing which links dropped allows you to react: contact the webmaster, submit for re-indexing, or ask for a refund (if you paid for the link).
How to Generate the “De-indexed” Report
We made it simple to isolate these problematic links without manually comparing spreadsheets.
Step-by-Step Guide:
- Go to your Project Panel.
- Select the project you want to audit.
- Click “Recheck All” to refresh the status of your links.
- Once the check is complete, look for the new filter buttons.
Understanding the Statuses
You will see two specific status changes:
- NotIndex -> Index: Success! Links that were previously dead are now live.
- Index -> NotIndex: Warning! These links were in Google but have been removed. These are your “De-indexed” targets.
Exporting for Clients
Need to show your link builder which links failed? We have added a dedicated export function for this filter. You can download the list of de-indexed URLs to TXT or CSV format instantly.
Use this data to claim replacements for dropped links or to analyze patterns in your link building strategy.
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