How to ask Google to remove old pages that don't exist

[mayanksaxena]

I have moved a site to a new location. There are a number of pages that date back to 2012 and 2011 and we do not want them anymore. Is there a way to ask Google to remove these pages entirely.

[matbennett]

If you ensure that those pages return a 404 (Not found) response then Google will remove them from it's index in time.

If you want to speed the process up then you can also do this from webmaster tools. There is a guide to removing URLs here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1663419

It has been said that using the URL removal tools on a lot (read hundreds) of individual URLs might be seen as negative. However if you just have a handful then that would be the way to do it.

[Chris.Menke]

Mayank,

If, when you type in the URLs and the server give a response of 404 (page not found) then they will eventually drop out of the index.  You may also use your Google Webmater Tools Remove URL  tool (under the "Google Index" link) to request removal of the URLS.

[lbohen]

Why not keep leave the old page alive in the hopes that some will click on their links? Use a 304 redirect to your new site.

We have hundreds of audiobook titles that have gone out-of-publication. For those who may come upon the original page while searching the web and click on the link we use a 304 redirect to this common page: http://www.audiobooksonline.com/out-of-publication-audio-books-book-audiobook-audiobooks.html