Removing articles from Soapboxie without 404 notice

1. 95

   TessSchlesingerposted 4 weeks ago

   I've received several notices to update articles on Soapboxie. However, I don't think it's worht the effort because I've looked at the figures and they haven't been read for a long time. Also, a lot of them are no longer relevant i.e. Trump.
   
   I've noticed that, in the past, if I deleted an article from a niche site, it left a 404 notice. I don't want to spoil the niche sites, so I prefer to remove the article without a 404 notice.
   
   How do I do that?
   
   thanks.

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      Stacy Vizcarrondoposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

      Is it a good thing to remove content?
      Also, what is a 404 notice

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      1. 95

         TessSchlesingerposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

         A 404 notice is computer code for the article that is being searched for isn't on that page.
         
         Yes, I think it is good to remove articles that aren't drawing traffic.

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2. 97

   Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 weeks ago

   It's something the site owner has to do, rather than an individual hubber. HubPages already has a solution in operation, as 404 notices damage a websites standing in search results. Although a 404 notice appears when a page is deleted, this is only temporary. After a few days an automatic redirect to the main menu page of the niche site is in place.

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   1. 95

      TessSchlesingerposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

      Ah. okay. That is what I thought, and I didn't want to damage hubpages. Okay. I'll let them know which hubpages I want removed.
      
      Many thanks.

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      1. 97

         Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

         You can delete pages you no longer want on niche sites and HubPages via "author view". There's a delete button alongside the edit button. You don't need to notify the team of your intentions.

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         1. 95

            TessSchlesingerposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

            Yes, but won't it leave a 404 notice? It did last time I did that. And it's still there, That' was months ago.

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            1. 97

               Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

               Ah, could be a glitch, in which case you should contact the team.
               
               By the way, is the notice you're seeing literally just the number 404 in the middle of the page, or is it showing the main menu page with a sentence at the top saying something like "the page you are looking for is no longer published"?
               
               If the latter, then the redirect is in place, all is well, and the site is not being penalized. If the former, then the tech team need to step in and clear the glitch.

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                  TessSchlesingerposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

                  Nope, it's just a 404 notice. No redirect. I think I'll include that link.

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3. 98

   Solarasposted 3 weeks ago

   In the past, if you did not update the article as requested, they removed it for you.

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   1. 95

      TessSchlesingerposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

      Ah. okay. Thanks.

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   2. STAFF

      samanthacubbisonposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

      Hi! Just want to clarify that we don't actually remove articles completely—just from that network site (so back to HubPages). And that only happens if the author edit is necessary to keep the article on that network site.
      
      (Of course, this excludes banning, etc.)

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      1. 95

         TessSchlesingerposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

         So isn't it easier if I just respond and ask you to remove the article now. I've got about 8 or 9 edits to do, and I've looked at 4 of the articles. They're about issues that have faded.

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         1. STAFF

            samanthacubbisonposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

            Once time runs out, the article will reappear in your editor's queue and then they will make a decision. If you want them removed sooner, you can do it manually.

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            1. 95

               TessSchlesingerposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

               Okay, thank you. I assume there is a button that says to remove from niche site, and it won't leave a 404 message.

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4. 98

   Maffew Jamesposted 3 weeks ago

   A 404 error doesn't damage a website in ordinary conditions because it's expected for all websites to have them from time-to-time. If you redirect a deleted page to the homepage or another page that's completely different from the original page's content, Google has stated that it treats it the same as a 404 anyway. Website owners like to do these redirects either because they think it carries the page's ranking forward (it doesn't), or because they're hoping the users looking for that page will go on to browse the rest of the site instead.
   
   The only impact of the 404 on search results is for the specific page returning the 404 to eventually be removed from search engine indexes because it no longer exists and this is the intended process. Basically, don't worry about it.

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