The Andes Candies Game
In the fall of 2010, our team started playing the Andes Candies game at the office. The game was straightforward. Someone was in charge of hiding the mints around the office.
You might pick up your phone and find a mint or go to the storage room and find a mint. There could be a mint on a random bookshelf or a desk drawer. This sweet, chocolatey minty celebration continued, so The Creative Company published a fun blog post titled “Andes Mints.”
Since then, this post has ranked in the top 10 Google Search results for ANDES CANDIES. It's crazy, funny, and weird.
The Phone Calls
Over the years, this website traffic has been the source of much mirth and joking around the office. “How can Google be so smart if it thinks we make those little green-wrapped pieces of chocolate?”
Every year, we receive half a dozen calls around the holidays from kindly grandmothers about the candies, wondering when they expired (apparently, it was not on the wrapper or the box), or looking to Andes Candies for a recipe. One grandmother was distraught because her grandson would be very disappointed because her Andes Candies hadn’t arrived on time.
Content Pruning Using Google Search Console
But at some point, we realized, “If Google thinks we make candy and do not deliver best-in-class marketing services, we have a problem.”
So earlier this year, we informed Google that the Andes is not something we make. We did this by removing the page from Google using Google Search Console.
Use Google Search Console to remove unwanted pages from Google index.
The Result
We can see that the request worked, and our little Andes Candies page no longer attracts hundreds of users seeking more information about their holiday treats.
Google Analytics showing that all organic traffic to the page has disappeared after removing the page from Google index.
Craig Hadley,
Chief Content Officer (CCO)
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