Removed Website Still Appears in Bing and Copilot Search Results

Bing
1

We've updated our website's robots.txt file to prevent it from showing up in search results. While this change has taken effect on Google, it hasn't on Edge or Copilot.

It's been three weeks since we made the update, but Bing and Copilot still haven't reflected the changes, even though Google picked them up within two days. What could be the reason for this delay?

2

To clarify, you’ve updated your robots.txt file to prevent your site from showing up in search results, which took effect within two days on Google, but not on Bing and Copilot after three weeks. This delay is likely due to how these search engines crawl and update their indexes. Here are a few possible reasons and solutions:

  1. Crawl Rates: Bing and Copilot might not crawl your site as frequently as Google does. This means it may take longer for them to pick up the changes.

  2. Index Update Schedules: Each search engine has its own schedule for updating their indexes. Google might update its index more frequently than Bing and Copilot, which could be causing the delay.

  3. Submit Reindex Requests: You can speed up the process by submitting reindex requests to Bing and Copilot. Here are the steps to do so:

    For Bing:

    1. Go to the Bing Webmaster Tools.
    2. Sign in and add your site if you haven’t already.
    3. Go to “Configure My Site” > “Submit URL” and enter your site’s URL.
      This will request Bing to recrawl and update its index.

    For Copilot:
    Since Copilot is powered by Bing, updating Bing should also reflect in Copilot. If not, you can try the following:

    1. Use the Microsoft Copilot feedback mechanism to report the issue.
    2. Raise a support ticket with Microsoft to escalate the issue.

  4. Verify Site Ownership: Ensure that you’ve verified your site ownership with both Bing and Copilot. This helps them know you’re the authorized person to request changes.

  5. Patience: Keep in mind that crawl and index updates can be a slow process. It’s possible that it just takes more time for these search engines to reflect the changes.

Give these a try and see if it helps.