In some Sitecore integrations, items deleted from the CMS may continue to appear in your Site Search index. This article explains why this happens and how to fix it.
Prerequisites
Before you start, you'll need:
- Access to your Sitecore Content Management environment
- Admin access to your Site Search app
- Permission to rebuild Sitecore indexes
Common Causes
- Code logic: Custom code that marks items as
NeverPublishbut doesn't handle deletions correctly can leave stale items in the index. - Publish strategy: Your Sitecore publish strategy affects how changes flow to the index. Certain strategies may skip deletions.
- Index rebuild delay: Items may persist until the next scheduled or manual rebuild.
How to Resolve
- Verify publishing logic: Confirm that your deletion process updates the master DB, publishes parent items, and triggers reindexing. Check for custom code that may skip deletion steps.
- Rebuild the affected index: In Sitecore, go to Control Panel > Indexing > Indexing Manager. Select the index linked to your Site Search App and run Rebuild. After the rebuild, confirm that deleted items no longer appear in Search Preview.
- Review your publish strategy: Check your index configuration (
showconfig.aspx) for strategies likeonPublishEndAsyncorrebuildAfterFullPublish. Consider whether a different strategy would better support deletions in your workflow. - Use a temporary workaround if needed: If stale items remain visible and you can't wait for a root-cause fix, you can manually remove them. See Clear a Site Search index for more information.
What's Next
If deleted items still appear after a rebuild, check your Sitecore Content Search API logic with your development team or contact Support.