Multiple 301 redirects and old site content appearing in Google results

[freshleafmedia]

I have found that for some Google searches the old version of the site on a completely different domain is appearing on page one of the results, while the newer site is only on page 3.

The old site is redirecting to the new site with a 301 redirect, however there is also an additional redirect on the new site to force SSL.

Despite this when you view the Google cache of the result that appears in Google the content of the page is still the old site. Is this normal or is Google not following the chain of 301 redirects?

Edit: I just found out that downloading the page by right clicking a link and clicking download rather than viewing it in a browser leads to the old site appearing and the 301 redirect not being followed.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Do you have example links from both sites that I could take a look at please Michael?

-Andy

[freshleafmedia]

Unfortunately I can't post links since we're under a confidentiality agreement with the customer that limits what we can do. Sorry! I know it would be a lot better with URLs but we just can't do it...

[Andy.Drinkwater]

No problem.

What I was going to look for was the chain of 301 and make sure there were no errors in how these were implemented.

You could also use Webmaster Tools to suggest removal of old pages, then use Fetch as Google, to help speed up the spidering process.

It's a little awkward without seeing the sites I'm afraid.

-Andy

[freshleafmedia]

Thanks Andy - I know it's difficult without the sites so I appreciate your efforts! We've checked the 301s and are pretty sure they're implemented OK. I suspect that we just have too many of them. 2 or 3 redirects in a chain seems to be OK according to Matt Cutts but we've got 4 and I reckon Google is ignoring them altogether and just indexing the original content.

[CommT]

Why redirect twice? I'd redirect to the https version from the old site/pages instead of going through two loops...

Also, did you do the change of address thing in webmaster tools? You can also remove urls from the index through webmaster tools, but I've only ever done this once when our IT guy f-ed up our dns settings so can't really help you much though it was pretty straight-forward if I remember rightly.

Good luck

[CommT]

I see Andy has also suggested removing via webmaster tools. And he was smart enough to remember fetch as google too! Andy, you rock!

[Andy.Drinkwater]

With 4 that is possible, but before you kill everything off, do give my suggestion a whirl to see if that has an impact. However, that also depends on how much of a rush you are in to see a resolution - it could take a little time until Google gets around to resolving it.

Feel free to PM me if you would like me to take a peek at anything.

-Andy

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Thank you Amelia