"How do I remove a deleted page or an outdated URL from the Google index?"
I've seen this question posted in several forums and thought I'd take the opportunity to post an answer.
Whenever I've made some sweeping changes to my site, I use Google Webmaster tools to check for crawl errors.
While a broken hyperlink can be a simple fix, errors caused by missing files (deleted pages) will cause your placement in search results to drop drastically. Seemingly overnight, 10-20 missing pages can cost you over a hundred places and effectively bury your listing.
If you're unable to find a method to right the wrongs, your listing will continue to drop until you either recreate the pages or tell Google to stop indexing the missing pages.
There's good news though, Google has provided several methods, one of which will allow you to delete the problem file references from their index and it'll prevent Googlebot from trying to spider those pages again.
Log in to the
Google URL Console and select the method you'd like to use to remove the outdated link.
While there have been reports of entire directories being removed from the index, it appears that the tool is ready for the masses. (I removed 22 separate references without incident.)
*Make sure you specify only the precise URL's to the pages you want to remove and not entire directories (unless that's your intention).*
Using the link deletion page, you'll have to specify each page individually and it'll take between 3-5 days to complete the process. You'll receive an email notification when the pages have been removed but you'll have to wait until the site is spidered again for the errors to clear from your Web Crawl Errors list in Webmaster tools.
Now, go clean up those outdated links!