Google showing a Cached option but then giving a 404

[Dantek]

2 weeks ago my home page plus some others had a 301 redirect to another domain for about 1 week (due to a hack).The original pages were then de-indexed and the new bad domain was indexed and in effect stole my rankings.Then the 301 was removed/cleaned from my domain and the bad domain was fully de-indexed via a request I made (this was 1 week ago).Then my pages came back into the index but without any ranking power.Now when I perform a search for my domain my home page is listed with an option to view the Cache. Clicking on the Cache brings up a 404 error.So why is Google showing the Cached option but doesn't have the cached file? How do I get Google to properly update it's Cache or show a cached copy?

[LynnPatchett]

Hi Danny,

I would think the 404 is showing because the last cache of google's was of the site when the 301 was in effect and now that site has been de-indexed (or something along these lines). As long as there are no technical issues still effecting the original site then just be patient, the next time google comes crawling then the cache will be updated and you should be fine. You are probably just about the only one actually looking at the cache anyway!

[Dantek]

Hmmm, yeah that could be it. It's not so much a technical issue but the real problem (and why I'm asking about the cache) is my pages have been re-indexed everyday for the past week although I have yet to see them rank.  It's as if the 301 value transfer is still in effect or my pages are now being seen as duplicates and therefore in the supplemental index. Therefore I don't really care about the actual cached page.

Last night I updated my footer to try and force a refresh. I just checked and it's still the same but I just noticed something interesting. For one query for the home page you will see a snippet from cloned domain and the cache will generate a 404. But for another query you will get a snippet from the original domain and the cached page is functional.

So it seems that depending on the query Google will look at previous indexes and show older snippets/caches. Does this make sense?

[LynnPatchett]

Hmm, the cache issue is strange, I really have no idea why it is behaving like that.

I can say that from where I am the original site seems to be ranking for keywords that I assume are some of your major ones and if you look at the cached version it shows the site as expected. It is a bit of an odd situation, might be wise to hold on for another week or so and see if rankings/traffic return and the index seems to sort itself out again.

[Dantek]

Oh wow....it's back!!!  For over a week I've been stressing with this and the lost traffic/sales.

Yeehaw  I can now enjoy my weekend.   Although I still have some forensics to focus on but still, a big relief.

Lynn, I may not have checked again until tomorrow so you definitely made my night. Thank you for bringing it to my attention and for your feedback. Have a good weekend.