FabioSelau
Power Member
- Oct 19, 2018
- 786
- 430
No, my friend, I submitted it via GSC and also through the Google Cloud Indexing API—I'm a developer.
Google does not index any URLs from the site.
- Thread starter FabioSelau
- Start date
- Apr 3, 2009
- 491
- 257
The old favicon is the tell everyone's walking past. Google isn't slow-crawling your site, it's still serving the OLD entity from cache -> it hasn't even refreshed the one page it kept indexed. That's not a technical fault on your end, that's a reborn-domain quarantine: the domain died, changed hands (maybe), came back as a different site, and Google reset its crawl priority to near zero until it re-earns trust.
Three things I'd actually do, in order:
- Check the Wayback snapshots for the year you didn't own it. "Someone snapped it up, or so I believe, I'm not 100% sure" is the loudest sentence in your post. If the interim owner parked it or ran junk on it, that's your reset explained. Still fixable, just slowly.
- Forget the Indexing API for this. Google's own docs restrict it to pages with job posting or livestream structured data. The "success" response means the request was accepted, not that a crawl was scheduled. For a normal SaaS site it does nothing.
- Make the crawl paths physical: a Sitemap: line in robots.txt (the GSC submission clearly isn't being read), hard internal links from the one indexed homepage to your money pages, and a few real external links pointing at INNER pages, not the homepage. Inner-page links are what force discovery when the front door is cached.
Timeline honesty: two weeks is nothing for this situation. I've watched reborn domains sit in the penalty box for 30-90 days with everything technically perfect. Watch your server logs for Googlebot on inner URLs, that's the only signal that matters right now. The day it starts fetching /prices is the day the clock starts.
FabioSelau
Power Member
- Oct 19, 2018
- 786
- 430
I checked, and there was no other owner; it expired and GoDaddy took ownership. After the domain's redemption period ended, it became available for registration again, and I registered it.
From what I’ve read, there was a Google update in 2024 that quarantined expired domains that were re-registered—a measure to prevent spam. These domains spend a few weeks in a low-priority indexing queue, and I believe that’s exactly what happened here. However, another page got indexed today, so I’m fairly certain that’s the situation.
I just never expected this to happen to me, since it’s a personal project and the domain doesn't have strong metrics; the algorithm ought to focus on expired domains with good metrics that are bought specifically to build PBNs.
I’m working on internal linking and making improvements... but I believe things will return to normal soon. I also set up a low-budget Google Ads campaign just so Google sees the project is legitimate; I think that should help.
FabioSelau
Power Member
- Oct 19, 2018
- 786
- 430
I’ve analyzed it, and everything looks good. I even checked the response headers for robots, articles, and the sitemap; they are all correct. I also checked the Cloudflare logs and left them without any specific rules for bots.
FabioSelau
Power Member
- Oct 19, 2018
- 786
- 430
The root URL was already indexed; I didn't submit it for indexing after re-acquiring the domain—it was already indexed when I re-registered it in GSC. The problem lies with the other URLs.
On second thought, I have an idea: it might be Google's DNS cache. Perhaps, from their perspective, the URLs still point to the old Firebase Hosting setup—where everything 301-redirected to '/' because it was just a single landing page—whereas now I've built a multi-page site. That could be the cause, but then why does the "Test Live URL" tool show the correct content, including the HTML?
- Oct 16, 2025
- 101
- 37
If you submit it through the Google Cloud Indexing API then most probably your will get indexed.
If it still doesn't work look at this post https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/method-force-indexing-via-vertex-ai-gemini-grounding.1795250/
It looks too much hassle but as a dev, it should not be hard for you to follow along. It work surprisingly well.
Digital Overseer
Newbie
- Apr 16, 2026
- 22
- 16
Have you checked the domain history after it expired? Sometimes old ownership changes can leave trust issues or other signals behind even if anything looks clean now. I would also check server logs to see if googlebot is actually crawling the URL. If it is not getting crawl activity then the same issue may be before indexing. Since GSC says the pages are indexable. I would focus on crawl signals, internal links and giving google some time to rediscover the site.
uniteddare
Junior Member
- Jun 19, 2013
- 101
- 21
Have you checked history? What happened with the website during this year? Any signs of some generic shops or chinese spam?
FabioSelau
Power Member
- Oct 19, 2018
- 786
- 430
GoDaddy was the owner; I registered it later when I returned. Apparently, there was no other owner in the interim.
FabioSelau
Power Member
- Oct 19, 2018
- 786
- 430
GoDaddy was the owner; I registered it later when I returned. Apparently, there was no other owner in the interim.
FabioSelau
Power Member
- Oct 19, 2018
- 786
- 430
I'm going to give it a try. Great topic—I had never thought of that. Thanks!
moonshine7000
Elite Member
- Mar 4, 2013
- 4,330
- 3,985
Did the site had rankings before it expired
FabioSelau
Power Member
- Oct 19, 2018
- 786
- 430
No, it’s a personal project—though I’m about to make it more professional. It had a few backlinks and some impressions—around 300 a month—nothing too advanced.
uniteddare
Junior Member
- Jun 19, 2013
- 101
- 21
For the whole year? Are you sure? Have you checked webarchive?
- Apr 3, 2009
- 491
- 257
First, the good news you kind of buried: a second page indexed today. That's the quarantine cracking, not luck. The clock I mentioned just started. From here, watch whether crawl frequency on inner URLs climbs. That trend is the whole story now.
Two things to save you budget and false hope.
The "low metrics, so why me" part. The 2024 re-registration filter isn't metric-gated. It doesn't care that yours is a small personal project. It quarantines basically every expired domain that changes hands, because the spammers hide in the boring low-profile drops too, not just the juicy high-DR ones. Google never singled you out. You walked into a blanket net. Nothing personal, nothing you did wrong.
The Ads campaign. Drop any indexing hope pinned to it. Paid and organic are walled off inside Google. Googlebot doesn't crawl or index a page faster because the Ads account is spending. "Show Google the site is legit" is one of those beliefs that feels true and quietly eats budget. If the ads bring you real visits and a bit of brand search, keep them for that. Just not as an indexing lever, because they don't touch it.
The only dial that's live right now is inner-page discovery: a Sitemap line in robots.txt, hard links from the indexed homepage down into /prices and /features, and a couple of real external links pointing at those inner URLs instead of root. You're a dev, so your server log tells you the truth GSC won't. The day Googlebot fetches an inner URL, you've won.