5 replies to this topic

[bobmeetin]

Client visits Google, selects Images and does a search of a key phrase. One of her products comes up but with an old image. The path is something like:

http://t2.gstatic.co..................

On her website she replaced the original several months back but Google images, t2.gstatic.com, still displays the old image.

I visited google webmaster tools for the site, followed through a site health, but don't see how to replace the image. In the URL field I entered the image that should be used but it's ambiguous how to tell google to use this image as opposed to the http://t2.gstatic.co.................. version.

Suggestions welcome.

[chrishirst]

If the image URI that Google has in it's database returns a 200 or a 304 response it will remain that way, what the actual image is makes absolutely no difference to Google.

[bobmeetin]

Sorry you kind of lost me here. We updated the image on the website, but it is still showing the old image, over a month later.

I went into webmaster tools a month back, identified on the website the current, up to date, image and requested the fetch then update thing. In webmaster tools as the url it is showing the correct image, but to the public you are still seeing the old pic, stored somewhere but now out of date.

I don't understand the 200 or 304 response thing. What action do I need to take to fix this and make my customer smile?

[chrishirst]

Does the correct image appear when you go to the URL?

Because there is very little (read as nothing at all) you can do to make Google update their cache, it will happen when it happens.

[bobmeetin]

Yes, the image is correct when you visit the URL. When you go to google images only and search for the product you get this t2.gstatic indexed/cached incorrect image.

Client does not like the old pic showing up, so here I am. So, you can do site maps and stuff to update pages and sites, but getting images updated is beast in an uninvented zip code?

[chrishirst]

Educate the client in the facts that neither they or you have any control over what Google decide to do.


And in the fact that what they see in a search is NOT necessarily what anyone else sees.