Shall Google index a search result?
-
Hi,
I've a website with about 1000 articles.Each article has one ore more keywords / tags. So I display these keywords at the article page and put a link to the intern search engine. (Like a tag cloud)
The search engine lists als articles with the same keyword and creates a result page. This result page is indexed by Google. The search result contains the title of the article, a short description (150-300 chars.) and a link to the article.
So, Google believes, that there are about 5.000 pages instead of 1.000 because auf the link to the search result pages.
The old rule was for me: More pages in Google = better.
But is this still true nowadays? Would be a "noindex, follow" better on these search result pages? (Is there a way to tell Google that this is a search result page?)
Best wishes,
Georg.
-
Hi Alan,
well, I am not affected by Panda - it's a german website. But Panda is arriving soon
Your answer makes sense, I'll give it a try and "noindex" the search result.
Best wishes,
Georg.
-
Georg,
What I communicate as "best practices" to clients is to noindex/follow all on-site search, however you can look at your analytics to determine if you think you're getting enough value out of the current system or if wiping that out will help with long term refinement of your content. The concept for not having those indexed is many less pages would be given much more strength and weight long-term. . Unfortunately there's no exact method to determine if this will be the case in your unique situation.
Given that your search results provide depth of content (not just a bunch of links, but actual, relevant text linking to details pages, I'd be curious to see if any of your site, or specific phrases you were previously found for that led to those search pages were hit by Panda.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Author snippet image in results, question!
Hi, Quick question really, I can see how a Google+ profile picture showing up in the results can increase CTR and even trust but would this be a no no for a normal website? I mean if you had a website which offered personal training, so a brand rather than an individual would you not use this snippet? I've seen some website, even ecommerce sites using this tag to just increase their CTR.
On-Page Optimization | | Bondara0 -
Why Does Google Keep Changing My Page Titles?
I know Google has been doing this for quite some time but how do you "control" what Google will display as your page name? Lots of my pages come up with a title like "[searched keyword] - [website name]" in the search results. I usually a huge drop in CTR when this happens. On the other hand, there are some pages which have kept their title intact in the search results. So what gives? How come one page's title is changed and the other is not?
On-Page Optimization | | sbrault740 -
Thoughts on Results from Changing Title Tags
A number of the client's we represent have seen drops in rankings. The title tags on these sites are formatted old way of doing tilte: "Blue Widgets| Cheap Widgets | Metal Widgets". We are going to change them to the natural format: Acme Offers Blue, Metal Widgets for Any Budget." Just wondering if anyone has made similar changes post-penguin and if they've seen improved ranking from doing it.
On-Page Optimization | | TopFloor0 -
Search Results
I am sort of mystified at this . I have a homepage and it is for all intents and purposes optimized for the search term Charlotte electrician . If you type in Charlotte electrician I have no organic listing for this page . It does receive an A on the tool on this Site for the term target Charlotte electrician . Here is the URL http://www.providenceelectricnc.com/ now the strange thing is that for the search term electrician Charlotte the tool on SEO Moz gives me an F grade **as I would expect but I am the number one organic listing under electrician Charlotte . This is truly confusing to me it may have something to do with links but I don't see how at all . Thanks I've been studying search engine optimization and web development for about five years and appreciate any suggestion . this is a Joomla! site and I am running a lot of components and plug-ins . One combines CSS files and JavaScript files to minimizing HTTP requests . This particular component Seems to interfere with other scripts And is simply not compatible with certain other plug-ins . Perhaps it is the source or well I'm not sure thanks . ** http://www.providenceelectricnc.com/ tom.jpg 9sAhAAEAwMDAwMEAwMEBgQDBAYHBQQEBQcIBgYHBgYICggJCQkJCAoKDAwMDAwKDAwNDQwMEREREREUFBQUFBQUFBQUAQQFBQgHCA8KCg8UDg4OFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQU
On-Page Optimization | | SEOJunkie671 -
No index parts of a page?
Little bit of an odd question this, but how would one go about getting Google to not index certain content on a page? I'm developing an online store for a client and for a few of the products they will be stocking they will be using the manufacturers specs and descriptions. These descriptions and specs, therefore, will not be unique as they will be also used by a number of other websites. The title tag, onpage h1 etc will be fine for the seo of the actual pages (with backlinks, of course) so the impact of google not counting the description should be slight. I'm sure this can be done but for the life of me I cannot remember how. Thanks Carl
On-Page Optimization | | Grumpy_Carl0 -
How Can I Get Yahoo to Index My Site?
How Can I Get Yahoo to Index My Site? I have installed Bing webmaster tool two months ago -- is Yahoo that slow. My site has been out since May 2010 and for a year and a half, I only have 40 pages index. HELP!!!!
On-Page Optimization | | AppleCapitalGroup0 -
Is giving away something for a Google Review bad?
I have a friend whose client is giving away something for free if you leave a Google Review for his site. I recall that being not well liked by Google and could potentially end up in a Penalty. The site is ranking really poorly in Google but well in Yahoo/Bing so I am wondering if that is what happened. What are you opinions?
On-Page Optimization | | netviper0 -
Why isn't Google indexing me?
Recently got handed off a .org site for a quasi state agency here in Michigan. Turns out the developer had the site live for the past six months but left the noindex, nofollow tag on everything so the site was invisible to search engines. Obviously we wiped all of those things a couple weeks ago when we got started, added all of our sitemaps to bing/yahoo/google webmaster tools and we've already started getting indexed by yahoo and bing and showing up for branded terms...but NOTHING from Google. WMT says our pages are all indexed, but we aren't showing up for anything in search and we don't seem to be indexed at all. Granted, if this site was brand new and didn't have any links I could see us taking a little time to get found, but this site has very good .gov and .edu links, plus we've built some other solid links to it since we've launched and Google continues to ignore it. I haven't seen this before, but could Google still be ignoring us from the months of noindex, nofollowing? If so, any tips on how to get back in teh Google's good graces here?
On-Page Optimization | | NetvantageMarketing0