[Support request] Odd page or post on site I did not create and can’t find

[Annie]

Hello. By way of Google Analytics and typing “site:mywebsite.com” into Google search, I’ve found an odd page or post on my site that I didn’t create and I can’t find in my WP dashboard. The page/post shows up in Google search results, but I can’t find it in the “Page” or “Post” areas of my WP dashboard. I don’t know where the page/post came from, and it looks weird. Can you please tell me where I might be able to find it so I can delete it?

I put the link to the odd page/post in the Private Information area, so you can see what I’m referencing.

Thank you.

[Annie]

In Google search, it shows up as the “author/hello” page but I did not create that page and don’t want it there.

[Ying]

Hi Annie,

That’s an author index page, go to dashboard > user, check what’s the Username set there.

Let me know 🙂

[Annie]

Hi Ying. “Hello” is the only Username there and it’s not checked.

[Ying]

Yes, that’s the reason the page author/hello is generate.

Username cannot be changed normally, but here’s an article that might be helpful for you:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-change-your-wordpress-username/

[Annie]

Can I delete or make sure that page does not show up in search results?

[Ying]

You’ll need to delete this user then.

[Annie]

Well, when I click on the “Hello” user, I see I have nicknamed the user “Anne,” so I’m fine with that. But, is there anyway to stop the “Author” page from showing up on Google search? It looks like I have to have at least one user so I can’t delete it.

[Ying]

The page will be displayed as the author/username, no matter what the nick name is.

So as long as the username is “hello”, the author/hello page will be generated automatically. This page can not be deleted Unfortuanly.

[Annie]

In doing some searching on WordPress.org, it looks like I can add some CSS to stop the author page from appearing. Here is the CSS WordPress.org said to add:

.search-results .content .nv-meta-list .author {
display: none;
}

Please tell me how and where do I add that CSS?

[Annie]

Ying, I do have GP Simple CSS plugin installed on my site. Should I just use that and paste the code in and save it?

[Ying]

display: none; is generally not a good practice, we use it sometimes for design reason, but use it to hide the entire page, I would not recommend to do so!

It might affect your google ranking as well.
https://www.burkdigitalfactory.com/blog/seo-css-display-none-is-it-bad-to-hide-content/

And the CSS here is not for hiding the page, but to hide the author name from search result.

Even if you use css to hide the author archive page, when people click on the author name in post meta, they will be directed to a blank page.

So the best solution is to change the username if you don’t like it show as hello.

[Annie]

Okay, thank you for your guidance, Ying. I think it’s best to leave things as they are.

Enjoy your day.

[Ying]

No problem, didn’t help much though 🙂

[Annie]

Hey Ying, you did what you could, and no one can ask for more. I’ll do some searching online and see if I can figure out what others may do. If I fond something more, I’ll let you know and ask your opinion about it.

[Author]

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