Deleted media still accessible via direct link

  • Unknown's avatar
    gabrielfruhauf · Member ·

    Hello,
    I have an issue. I deleted my whole WordPress.com blog this morning because I was showing sensitive information. So I decided to permanently delete the website to be sure all the files will be gone.

    But the links still work. In this case, it concerns a PDF which I absolutely want to be deleted as fast as possible.

    I read it’s because WordPress’s cache. Is there a way to delete this file from the WordPress’s cache as fast as possible ?

    Thank you

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    I will type modlook into the sidebar tags on this thread for a Staff follow-up. How do I get a Moderator/Staff reply for my question? https://en.support.wordpress.com/getting-help-in-the-forums/#how-do-i-get-a-moderatorstaff-reply-for-my-question Please subscribe to this thread so you are notified when they respond and be patient while waiting. To subscribe look in the sidebar of this thread, find the subscribe to topics link and click it.

    To keep things running quickly around here, files are held in multiple caches through a separate system. These caches are usually cleared within 3 days and the files will then become 404 page not found.

    IMPORTANT NOTE: Deleting public blogs and/or blog content from them does not remove indexed content from the SERPs (search engine page results). Google and Bing only clear their caches of deleted indexed content that produces a 404 (page not found) every 3 – 6 months. To completely remove an entire page from Google search results after it produces a 404 (page not found):
    https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6332384?hl=en&ref_topic=1724262&vid=0-635749429504660340-12158368555624983465&rd=1

  • kokkieh · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    Files are removed from our cache pretty quickly after you delete a site, but if you can provide the link I can make sure for you.

    But search engines also keep their own caches, as @timethief pointed out. Those caches we don’t control, and you’ll need to contact each search engine directly to have it cleared on their end. Not all search engines do that, though.

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