Joost de Valk

Yoast

Anton Timmermans

Jip Moors

Omar Reiss

Taco Verdonschot

<p>The purpose of this SEO plugin is to purge attachment URLs out of Google’s index as fast as possible. This helps sites<br />
that might have suffered from having too many thin content pages in the search index by removing them in the fastest<br />
way possible.</p>
<h3>What does this plugin do?</h3>
<p>This plugin makes all your attachment URLs return an HTTP 410 status. It then creates an XML sitemap with a recent last<br />
modified date, containing all those URLs. The XML sitemap with recent post modified date makes Google spider <em>all</em> those<br />
URLs again. The 410 status code makes sure Google takes them out of its search results in the fastest way possible.</p>
<p>With a nice trick, we also show end users the actual attachment image, so the user experience is not as poor as when<br />
they see an error page.</p>
<h3>Yoast SEO required</h3>
<p>This plugin is an extension to <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/" rel="ugc">Yoast SEO</a>. It requires it to work.</p>
<h3>How long should you run this plugin?</h3>
<p>After 6 months the attachment URLs should be gone from the search results. If you then remove the plugin, and keep<br />
Yoast SEO’s redirect setting on “Yes”, you have the best long term behavior for attachment URLs: to redirect to the<br />
actual attachment.</p>
<h3>Does Google condone this?</h3>
<p>This method has been discussed with and OK’d by Google.</p>
<h3>From within WordPress</h3>
<ol>
<li>Visit ‘Plugins > Add New’</li>
<li>Search for ‘Yoast SEO: Search Index Purge’</li>
<li>Activate Yoast SEO: Search Index Purge from your Plugins page.</li>
<li>Go to “after activation” below.</li>
</ol>
<h3>Manually</h3>
<ol>
<li>Upload the <code>yoast-seo-search-index-purge</code> folder to the <code>/wp-content/plugins/</code> directory</li>
<li>Activate the Yoast SEO: Search Index Purge plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress</li>
<li>Go to “after activation” below.</li>
</ol>
<h3>After activation</h3>


Yoast SEO: Search Index Purge

Remove attachment URLs from Google's index as fast as possible to prevent thin content penalties.

Niels Lange

<p>Google Search Console, formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, is an essential tool for monitoring and maintaining your site’s presence in Google search results. The SMNTCS Google Webmaster Tools plugin simplifies the process of adding the Google Search Console verification code to your website, ensuring that you can easily verify your site and access valuable insights about its performance.</p>


SMNTCS Google Webmaster Tools

Adds the verification code of Google Search Console, former Google Webmaster Tools, to your site.

Yoast SEO: Search Index Purge vs SMNTCS Google Webmaster Tools