Deleted Page Still Showing on Google? A Guide for Canadians
By Search Cleanup Canada · Published and reviewed
If a page has been deleted but still appears in Google, the result is usually showing what Google saw on an earlier crawl. Removing content at the source and updating Google's result are two separate steps. Deleting the page fixes the source; Google still has to recrawl or be asked to refresh before the result changes.
Key takeaway
Quick decision table
| Situation | Likely route |
|---|---|
| The entire page has been deleted | Confirm it returns a not-found or gone error, then request a refresh with Google's Refresh Outdated Content tool. |
| The page is live, but specific text was removed | Request a refresh for the removed words. The page itself will usually stay indexed; only the stale snippet can update. |
| A review has disappeared | Check whether it is gone everywhere, including Google Maps. A stale web snippet can be refreshed; a live Google review cannot. |
| An image is still showing | Check the image file URL and the hosting page separately, then follow Google's image-specific instructions. |
| The source is still live | Refreshing will not help. Contact the publisher or assess Google's personal information and platform policy options. |
Step 1: verify the source is really gone
Before submitting anything, check the following:
- Use the exact result URL. Copy the link from the Google result itself, not from your bookmarks. The listed address may differ slightly from the one you remember.
- Open it in a private or incognito window. Signed-in sessions and cached browser data can show you something different from what a visitor or Google sees.
- Tell an error apart from a deletion. A login prompt, a paywall, a timeout or a temporary server error does not mean the page was removed. A clear "not found" or "gone" response does.
- Look for copies. The same content can live at alternate URLs, mobile versions, tag pages, archives or scraper sites. Each copy is a separate result.
You never need to share passwords or upload sensitive files to do these checks, and you should be cautious of anyone who asks you to.
Step 2: use Google's free refresh tool (if you don't own the site)
Google offers a free tool for anyone who has found a result showing content that has since been removed or changed. Google explains it in its help page on refreshing outdated pages and images in Search. In short:
- Confirm the source page has been removed or the specific content changed.
- Open the tool from Google's help page, and paste the actual result URL.
- Follow the prompts shown at that moment. If the page still exists, the tool may ask for a word that no longer appears on it.
- Keep track of the request status in the tool and re-check the search result later.
Important limitation
Google's overview of ways to remove or update web results about you sets out the other routes if your situation doesn't fit an outdated-content request. If you want someone to handle it, our outdated content removal service is an optional paid alternative.
Removed reviews
A review can show up in two different places. One is a normal web search snippet from a review site, which can lag behind after the review is deleted. The other is the review itself, still displayed on a Google Business Profile or in Google Maps.
If the review is gone at the source and only the snippet is stale, a refresh request is appropriate. If the review is still live on Google, the outdated content tool is the wrong route: it is not a way to remove a live review or hide legitimate criticism. Reviews that may break Google's policies follow a different process, covered on our Google review removal page.
Images still showing
An image result has two addresses: the image file itself and the page that displays it. Either can be removed while the other stays live, and the same picture is often copied to other sites. Deleting one hosting page does not remove every copy.
Google's help page on removing images from Google Search covers the image-specific steps. For sensitive or intimate images, see our Google Images removal page, which also lists free support options.
If you own the website
Site owners have more control. Google Search Console's Removals tool can hide a URL quickly, but only temporarily. For a lasting result you need to deal with the page itself, as described in Google's developer guide to removing information from Google:
- Delete the page so it returns a 404 (not found) or 410 (gone) status, or keep it and add a noindex directive.
- Make sure Google can still crawl the URL. Blocking it in robots.txt alone can stop Google from seeing the 404 or noindex, so the old result may linger.
- Expect the change to take effect after Google recrawls; there is no fixed turnaround.
If the source is still live
A refresh only works when the source has changed. If the content is still online, start with the publisher or platform: ask for a correction, an update or removal. If the page exposes personal details such as contact information, Google's personal information policies may apply; our personal information removal page explains how those requests are assessed. Whether any legal route exists depends on the facts and the province, so speak with a Canadian lawyer for legal questions.
If your request is rejected
Read the stated reason, then check:
- that you submitted the exact URL shown in the result;
- the source's actual current state, checked again in a private window;
- whether the word or text you entered really no longer appears on the page;
- whether a duplicate or alternate URL is the one Google is showing.
Fix what the reason points to before trying again. Repeating the same submission unchanged rarely helps.
FAQ