Index or not index Categories
-
We are using Yoast Seo plugin. On the main menu we have only categories which has consist of posts and one page. We have category with villas, category with villa hotels etc.
Initially we set to index and include in the sitemap posts and excluded categories, but I guess it was not correct.
Would be a better way to index and include categories in the sitemap and exclude the posts in order to avoid the duplicate? It somehow does not make sense for me, If the posts are excluded and the categories included, will not then be the categories empty for google? I guess I will get crazy of this.
Somebody has perhaps more experiences with this?
-
No problem at all, glad I could help!
Good luck with the site!
-
You are really amazing Lewis! I understand what you mean with no indexing the pages 2, 3 etc..Yoast has there such option that I can mark it and it will not be indexing them.
Thank you so much for the tool you gave me to visit yoast site!!! It worked! Now I can learn more about it and figure out what is the best. This is clear that they have blocked ips from Kenya, although they have claimed they do not do that, and we paid almost 100usd for the plugin
Thank you very much Lewis!
-
Hi Iris,
Yes, you want the URLs to be included in the sitemap too as this is what the search engines will use to build a map of your website and list them in their search engines.
With regards to your duplicate page issue, this is to do with your pagination of the pages. There's a guide here which tells you the SEO best practices when it comes to handling pagination, so hopefully this will help - http://searchengineland.com/the-latest-greatest-on-seo-pagination-114284
Really, you don't want those additional pages to be picked up in the search engines, so a fix will need to be sorted for that. You'll probably need to find a developer / a plugin to allow you to not index the /2 /3 pages etc.
I don't do much work with Wordpress, so maybe someone else could advise you with regards to the archive section. If your categories and posts are indexed, then I would have thought that you've done the correct thing with the archives and set them to noindex. That being said, I have limited knowledge of carrying out SEO for wordpress so I would need to take a closer look into that to give you a better response..
Hope this helps at least a little!
On a separate note, you could try accessing the Yoast website through a proxy such as http://hidemyass.com/ - Might be worth a go?
-
You are amazing Lewis, thank you so much for your time. The posts in categories are displayed only with short summary, so I guess it should be alright then. Should they also be all included in the sitemap? I am very scared of duplicate content.
Also every category has approximately 3 pages and now the moz crawl shows me that I have duplicate pages like this below and that it does not know which one is canonical:
I am not sure how to sort this out.
I have there also some archive post which says under: "Note: instead of templates these are the actual titles and meta descriptions for these custom post type archive pages."
I set the archives on noindex as i do not want the archives with post shoved in search result, but the categories. I hope this is correct. There are also some options and media, oh my god it's killing me:-( I have no idea what it is.
The reason why I am so annoying with this is that I can't access yoast site, his support team is looking into it why, but did not get back to me yet:-( I guess they have blocked ips from Kenya although they said me they don't do this.
Thank you very much Lewis for all you have done for me already!
-
I'm not sure if I fully understand your question, but I'll give it my best shot to answer it.
If I was in your position, I would set the Yoast plugin to index both the categories and the posts, but make sure that the posts only show a short summary / the first 'x' number of words than the post. The reason behind doing this is similar to how an ecommerce store works.
On eCommerce stores, you have your categories which are used as funnels to find inner product pages. Categories are generally set to be indexed as they combine lots of relevant data for a user which helps create a better user experience. In your case, your category may be 'Villas' and inside that, you may list 20 individual Villas. If you didn't have your category pages indexed, you'd be relying on the search engine to filter a user down to either your homepage or one specific villa which you hope is right for the users choice (which most likely will result in a higher bounce rate).
Again, I'm not sure if I've understood exactly what you're looking for, but that's what I would recommend if you're asking which sections of your site should be indexed. Hope this helps!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
Question on Indexing, Hreflang tag, Canonical
Dear All, Have a question. We've a client (pharma), who has a prescription medicine approved only in the US, and has only one global site at .com which is accessed by all their target audience all over the world.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jrohwer
For the rest of the US, we can create a replica of the home page (which actually features that drug), minus the existence of the medicine, and set IP filter so that non-US traffic see the duplicate of the home page. Question is, how best to tackle this semi-duplicate page. Possibly no-index won't do because that will block the site from the non-US geography. Hreflang won't work here possibly, because we are not dealing different languages, we are dealing same language (En) but different Geographies. Canonical might be the best way to go? Wanted to have an insight from the experts. Thanks,
Suparno (for Jeff)1 -
22 Pages 7 Indexed
So I submitted my sitemap to Google twice this week the first time everything was just peachy, but when I went back to do it again Google only indexed 7 out of 22. The website is www.theinboundspot.com. My MOZ Campaign shows no issues and Google Webmaster shows none. Should I just resubmit it?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | theinboundspot1 -
HTTP Pages Indexed as HTTPS
My site used to be entirely HTTPS. I switched months ago so that all links in the pages that the public has access to are now http only. But I see now that when I do a site:www.qjamba.com, the results include many pages with https in the beginning (including the home page!), which is not what I want. I can redirect to http but that doesn't remove https from the indexing, right? How do I solve this problem? sample of results: Qjamba: Free Local and Online Coupons, coupon codes ... **<cite class="_Rm">https://www.qjamba.com/</cite>**One and Done savings. Printable coupons and coupon codes for thousands of local and online merchants. No signups, just click and save. Chicnova online coupons and shopping - Qjamba **<cite class="_Rm">https://www.qjamba.com/online-savings/Chicnova</cite>**Online Coupons and Shopping Savings for Chicnova. Coupon codes for online discounts on Apparel & Accessories products. Singlehop online coupons and shopping - Qjamba <cite class="_Rm">https://www.qjamba.com/online-savings/singlehop</cite>Online Coupons and Shopping Savings for Singlehop. Coupon codes for online discounts on Business & Industrial, Service products. Automotix online coupons and shopping - Qjamba <cite class="_Rm">https://www.qjamba.com/online-savings/automotix</cite>Online Coupons and Shopping Savings for Automotix. Coupon codes for online discounts on Vehicles & Parts products. Online Hockey Savings: Free Local Fast | Qjamba **<cite class="_Rm">www.qjamba.com/online-shopping/hockey</cite>**Find big online savings at popular and specialty stores on Hockey, and more. Hitcase online coupons and shopping - Qjamba **<cite class="_Rm">www.qjamba.com/online-savings/hitcase</cite>**Online Coupons and Shopping Savings for Hitcase. Coupon codes for online discounts on Electronics, Cameras & Optics products. Avanquest online coupons and shopping - Qjamba <cite class="_Rm">https://www.qjamba.com/online-savings/avanquest</cite>Online Coupons and Shopping Savings for Avanquest. Coupon codes for online discounts on Software products.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | friendoffood0 -
Images Not Indexing? (Nudity Warning!) - Before & After Photos
One of our clients is in the Cosmetic Surgery business (bodevolve.com) and individuals most likely to purchase a cosmetic procedure only search for 2 things....'**before & after photos' and 'cost'. ** That being said we've worked extremely hard to optimize all 500+ before and after photos. And to our great disappointment, they still aren't being indexed...we are testing a few things but any feedback would be greatly appreciated! All photos are in the 'attachment' sitemap: http://bodevolve.com/sitemap_index.xml I'm also testing a few squeeze pages like this one: http://bodevolve.com/tummy-tuck-before-and-after-photos/ Thanks so much, Brit
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BritneyMuller0 -
Why do my https pages index while noindexed?
I have some tag pages on one of my sites that I meta noindexed. This worked for the http version, which they are canonical'd to but now the https:// version is indexing. The https version is both noindexed and has a canonical to the http version, but they still show up! I even have wordpress set up to redirect all https: to http! For some reason these pages are STILL showing in the SERPS though. Any experience or advice would be greatly appreciated. Example page: https://www.michaelpadway.com/tag/insurance-coverage/ Thanks all!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MarloSchneider0 -
De-indexed by Google! ?
So it looks as though the content from myprgenie.com is no longer being indexed. Anyone know what happened and what they can do to fix it fast?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | siteoptimized0 -
Should I prevent Google from indexing blog tag and category pages?
I am working on a website that has a regularly updated Wordpress blog and am unsure whether or not the category and tag pages should be indexable. The blog posts are often outranked by the tag and category pages and they are ultimately leaving me with a duplicate content issue. With this in mind, I assumed that the best thing to do would be to remove the tag and category pages from the index, but after speaking to someone else about the issue, I am no longer sure. I have tried researching online, but there isn't anything that provided any further information. Please can anyone with any experience of dealing with issues like this or with any knowledge of the topic help me to resolve this annoying issue. Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Paul
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PaulRogers0 -
Removing pages from index
Hello, I run an e-commerce website. I just realized that Google has "pagination" pages in the index which should not be there. In fact, I have no idea how they got there. For example, www.mydomain.com/category-name.asp?page=3434532
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AlexGop
There are hundreds of these pages in the index. There are no links to these pages on the website, so I am assuming someone is trying to ruin my rankings by linking to the pages that do not exist. The page content displays category information with no products. I realize that its a flaw in design, and I am working on fixing it (301 none existent pages). Meanwhile, I am not sure if I should request removal of these pages. If so, what is the best way to request bulk removal. Also, should I 301, 404 or 410 these pages? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Alex0