SEO Hero Tip: How to get Google to remove hacked URLs from their Search Results

I just had this Wix website design customer write me this question:

QUESTION:

"After hackers took over my Wordpress-based website, I put together a Wix website but have a problem remaining that I cannot solve. If you do google my website, you will still find URLs that have Japanese characters that lead to 404 errors. These were apparently the pages created by the hackers on the old site and old server, but it has been two or three months and I am not able to get rid of them! I used Google's "Remove URLs" which was supposed to temporarily remove them for 90 days, but it lasted 5 days! Can you help?" SEO HERO ANSWER: Sorry to hear about your hacked Wordpress website! Unfortunately, Wordpress websites are hacked often, which is a leading reason a lot of businesses move their site to a hosted, more secure platform like Wix. Typically, getting Google to update it's indexed pages for websites simply takes time. To get Google to notice your new sitemap more quickly, make sure to submit your new sitemap.xml file to Google and Bing so that they both will work on reindexing quicker. I also find it helps to post as your business on Google+ with links to your new website so Google will sniff out your website and reindex your pages faster. You should also create 301 Redirects for any hacked URLs to point to your homepage so that Google will know that the old links no longer exist. SEO Consultations & Packages: If you need help with these things or general SEO, I do offer SEO packages and consultations. My SEO packages range from $1000-$1500+. SEO Packages include research of keywords and phrases to find out what people are searching for, make recommendations and then optimize your Wix website with the keywords and meta tags that I recommend. I can also build in a blog if needed, write blog posts, and/or create pages for specific keyword phrases, and then I will consult you and give you an idea hit-list for writing new blog articles or page content going forward – which is all great for SEO. It’s all about giving Google lots of information, and optimizing your content properly. Lastly, I will train you on how to keep doing your own SEO going forward. I also am a Website Designer and Graphic Designer and offer design services in addition to SEO. Contact me for a free estimate »

In Conclusion... So make sure to get Google to notice you and use the Google Search Consule and Big Webmasters to submit your sitemap.xml files, and also be sure to post your website links on Google+ regularly so Google pays attention and updates your indexed pages in it's search results. And don't forget to setup 301 Redirects! Wix makes it easy to do this in your website's Wix Dashboard, see screenshot below, it's found under Settings > SEO (scroll down to see the 301 Redirect area where you can add bad URLs and point them to your homepage or any other page deemed appropriate on your website).