Overview

You may notice that some spam posts briefly appear in search results before being quarantined. This occurs because automatic spam detection may not always act instantaneously. When spam is posted, it can be visible for a short period before being automatically marked as spam. During that window, search crawlers may discover and index the content’s URL and title.

Once quarantined, the post body becomes hidden to everyone except admins, moderators, or the original author. The page displays a “message is not available” state, but the indexed entry can persist in search results until the crawler revisits and updates the index.

Solution

Follow these steps to verify, mitigate, and prevent the issue from recurring.

1. Verify That the Posts Were Auto-Classified as Spam

• Go to Spam Quarantine and check that the Classifier column shows “Auto.” → View the Spam Quarantine page

• In Moderation Manager, filter for:

  • Rejected > Published

  • Reject Reason = Spam

  • Classifier = automatic
    This identifies posts that were briefly published under Post-Moderation before being quarantined. → Find all messages rejected as spam

2. Harden Moderation During Spam Waves

To prevent spam from going live before review:

1. Switch high-risk boards to Pre-Moderation.

   • Go to Community Admin > Mod Tools > Moderation

   • Select Pre-Mod for the relevant discussion styles.

   • Click Save.
     → Configure spam moderation permissions and settings

Why this works:
Pre-Moderation ensures that no content is visible to crawlers until approved, effectively eliminating exposure of spam URLs.

3. Reduce Indexing of “Not Available” or Quarantined States

1. Add a noindex meta tag to the “not available” state page:

   <meta name="robots" content="noindex">
   

2. In Studio > Advanced > Robots Editor, configure robots.txt to disallow crawlers from accessing specific paths associated with quarantined or restricted content → Exclude content from search using robots.txt

Why this works:

• noindex ensures that crawlers remove these pages from search results.

• robots.txt controls which paths crawlers can access, preventing unwanted crawling.

⚠️ Important: Apply these rules only to quarantined or unavailable pages. Do not use noindex on valid, public content.

4. Clean Up Already Indexed Spam URLs

1. Open Google Search Console.

2. Locate the spam URLs still appearing in search.

3. Use the Request Removal or Request Recrawl tool to expedite de-indexing.

If you haven’t set up Search Console:

• Verify your property by uploading the HTML verification file via Studio.

• Ask Support to alias it at the root domain as described here: Common questions about Khoros SEO

5. Ongoing Best Practices

• Regularly review Spam Quarantine and mark false positives as “Not Spam.”
  This feedback improves the spam classifier’s accuracy over time. → About Khoros Communities spam management tools

• Monitor for new spam activity, especially during high-volume posting periods.

• Keep moderation settings flexible and adjust from Post-Mod to Pre-Mod as needed. → Spam management FAQs

Quick Checklist

• ✅ Confirm affected posts show Classifier = Auto in Spam Quarantine → Spam quarantine alert messages

• ✅ Switch the most affected boards to Pre-Moderation.

• ✅ Add a targeted noindex to “not available” states or update robots.txt.

• ✅ Use Search Console to remove existing spam URLs.

• ✅ Keep marking false positives as Not Spam to train the system.

Summary

This issue occurs because spam detection may have a short delay under high volume, allowing crawlers to briefly index a post before it’s quarantined. To mitigate:

• Use Pre-Moderation to prevent spam from going live.

• Add noindex to quarantined content.

• Clean up search results through Google Search Console.

• Continue refining your spam classifier through regular review and correction.

FAQ

Q1. Why do I still see “message not available” pages in search results even after quarantine?
A1: Because crawlers may have indexed the page before it was quarantined. These entries will disappear after re-crawl or manual removal.

Q2. Will adding noindex block crawlers from my entire community?
A2: No. If applied selectively to the quarantined state or path only, it affects only those URLs — not your regular content.

Q3. How long does it take for Google to remove spam URLs after using Search Console?
A3: Typically within a few days to a few weeks, depending on the crawl frequency and site authority.