How to de-index a page with a search string with the structure domain.com/?"spam"

[Miamirealestatetrendsguy]

The site in question was hacked years ago. All the security scans come up clean but the seo crawlers like semrush and ahrefs still show it as an indexed page. I can even click through on it and it takes me to the homepage with no 301. Where is the page and how to deindex it?

domain/com/?spam

There are multiple instances of this.

http://www.clipular.com/c/5579083284217856.png?k=Q173VG9pkRrxBl0b5prNqIozPZI

[CopyChrisSEO]

Hello Miamirealestatetrendsguy and fellow Mozers,

It sounds like you have had a crazy time handling this hack. Good news is, as far as I can tell from the given information, you are close to resolution. Googlebot should correct the indexed pages over time. I'm certain you would like to expedite that process. Here are three recommendations that come to mind: Remove URLs via GSC, block the offending URLs via robots.txt, and suggest edits in Google's SERPs.

Remove URLs via GSC
In GSC, under Google Index, select Remove URLs. This suppression is temporary however. Click on more information for more about that. My experience with it as been suppression for a few months. Don't worry about the time though. Our next step should take affect before your time is up.

Block the Offending URLs via Robots.txt
Before you do this, be very certain what you are doing. After you are confident, list your offending URLs, edit the offending URLs as noindex nofollow in your robots.txt, and upload it. Hopefully, you can find commonalities to shorten this list and save your time.

Note: I have purposefully avoided the details on how to this here because it is vital SEOs learn how to do it with full knowledge of potential risks as well as how to avoid those risks. Here are some resources:
          • Google Support           • Moz's Robots.txt Rundown 
          • Search Engine Land's Deeper Look

Suggest Edits in Google's SERPs This one is iffy, and I really don't trust Google using this feedback. However, I have done it and it worked more than once. Find your offending results and send specific feedback.

Wipe that Index Clean,
CopyChrisSEO and the Vizergy Team

[Miamirealestatetrendsguy]

Thanks very much for your explanation.

I have gone ahead and temporarily blocked the pages in GSC.

I am working on the robot.txt and see there are no instructions for the crawlers to skip over these urls in question.

I understand that I should use the "*" operator to alert all crawlers to disallow the pages in this format:

user-agent: *

Disallow: /?spam string

Finally, I will send the suggested edit to Google and see where that gets me. Honestly, at this point, they cannot possibly be penalized the site any worse so anything working towards cleaning up the index for the site will be a step in the right direction.

[CopyChrisSEO]

You are most welcome. I'm glad to hear your road to site recovery is coming along. I'm also glad to confirm that, to all of my knowledge, your understanding of the "*" operator and Disallow /?spam string is correct. One more thing:

Fetch as Google and Request Indexing
Apologies, I neglected to mention this step in my answer. It should be included. This is the best tool I'm aware of to ask Google, "hey, crawl me please." Do this after you upload your shiny new robots.txt.

In GSC, under Crawl, select Fetch as Google. Then, select Fetch and Render. When status is partial or complete, click Request Indexing. There is no guarantee here, and my experience is Google does what it wants. Even so, I've seen results in less than 2 hours (full disclosure: the longest I've waited has been 3 days).

Penalty Free I agree. They cannot possibly be penalizing your site. At least, not purposefully. You have taken all recommended actions and then some to resolve site issues. Even if you do have a few bad back links floating around out there from some blackhat t3 site PBN, Penguin 4.0 should discredit that bad link juice. Your site doesn't even have the offending pages. It's just a matter of time before Google's index lines back up with your live site.

Good Work Sir,
Wipe the Index Clean,
CopyChrisSEO and the Vizergy Team