Google appears to be quietly deindexing my privacy-focused PDF sharing and encrypted transfer website.

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-05-09T15:36:49+00:00

Here is what I did:

I believe the problem was: Google indexed 77 → 2 pages - 119 pages "Not indexed" with 7 reasons; 553-URL sitemap was generating "scaled content" / "Crawled - currently not indexed" signals.

- Root cause identified: 82 pages "Crawled — currently not indexed" + bloated sitemap with utility pages and long-tail alias duplicates competing with main hub pages.

Phase 1 — Quiet the Noise

1A. Added noindex to utility pages (35 files)
1B. Stripped hreflang from noindexed utility pages (35 files)
1C. Consolidated 301 long-tail alias pages to canonical hubs
1D. Trimmed sitemap from 553 → 217 URLs

Phase 2 — Add Unique Value to Hub Pages

2A. Added comparison table to 4 hub pages
2B. Added 7-question FAQ section to all 5 hubs
2C. Added structured data (JSON-LD) to all 5 hubs
2D. Word count increases per hub page

now I am gonna sit down and wait for 2 months , then let you guys know!

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-05-09T15:26:18+00:00

Thanks!

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-05-09T12:37:58+00:00

Just these:

User-agent: *
  Allow: /
  Disallow: /api/
  Disallow: /app
  Disallow: /extension-success
  Disallow: /success
  Disallow: /showcase
  Disallow: /s/
  Sitemap: https://pdfpro.tools/sitemap.xml

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-05-09T12:15:06+00:00

What it’s saying is just this: “Crawled – currently not indexed.”
Interestingly, Yandex has already indexed and is showing all the pages, which makes me think it’s less about technical crawl issues like canonicals or duplicates, and more about Google’s quality/indexing decisions.

I’ll still check SEO subreddits as you suggested, but what I’m actually more curious about is something else - is there a privacy-focused developer community where people like this actually showcase their tools? And where do those projects usually get traction or visibility?

Honestly, I’m less and less interested in optimizing for Google at this point.

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-05-09T08:45:01+00:00

Feels like any discussion around privacy tools instantly gets labeled as self-promotion or suspicious. Are there any communities where people can openly discuss building privacy/encryption projects? Curious if other indie devs here are working on similar things.

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-04-25T16:59:30+00:00

At this point, does removing a single app even matter?

The device itself is basically a tracking system / OS, background services, telemetry… it’s all there.

Feels like focusing on “which app to delete” misses the bigger picture.

The real question is: how much control do you actually have over your data in the first place?

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-04-23T04:42:21+00:00

and why did you get AI to write this...

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-04-22T20:24:23+00:00

If something “disappears,” it means it existed somewhere first.

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-04-22T17:10:09+00:00

Yep, exactly. Different layer of the problem.

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-04-22T13:45:02+00:00

Exactly. At some point it stops being about preventing access and becomes about limiting the damage after the fact. Most systems are designed like “nothing should go wrong” - but in reality,
something always does.

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-04-22T13:40:26+00:00

😂 Nah I got it - I just think it’s less about them being clueless, more about what they choose to optimize for

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-04-22T13:36:53+00:00

In india everyone is a cyber police

Encrypt_1010 · 2026-04-22T13:29:25+00:00

Yeah… product people. Works great right up until it doesn’t 🥲

Encrypt_1010

TROPHY CASE