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  4. Google is indexing my directories

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Google is indexing my directories

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  • UnderRugSwept
    UnderRugSwept last edited by Sep 13, 2012, 2:18 PM

    I'm sure this has been asked before, but I was looking at all of Google's results for my site and I found dozens of results for directories such as:

    Index of /scouting/blog/wp-includes/js/swfupload/plugins

    Obviously I don't want those indexed. How do I prevent Google from indexing those?

    Also, it only seems to be doing it with Wordpress, not any of the directories on my main site. (We have a wordpress blog, which is only a portion of the site)

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • UnderRugSwept
      UnderRugSwept @irvingw last edited by Sep 13, 2012, 5:07 PM Sep 13, 2012, 5:07 PM

      Thanks for expanding on that!

      a) There are no pages in these folders; they're just directories full of Wordpress config stuff

      b) I already have Yoast and have tag pages noindexed. All the directories I'm referring to are similar to the path I showed above.

      c) If I request removal of specific folders, will it also remove all the files within the folder?\

      Thanks!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • irvingw
        irvingw last edited by Sep 13, 2012, 4:53 PM Sep 13, 2012, 4:53 PM

        To elaborate a little on what he said

        a) yes block the folders with content you don't want indexed in robots.txt - but that is not enough you need to add the noindex to the pages as well for an extra measure.

        b) get the YOAST seo plugin for wordpress installed on your site and configure it to follow,noindex these page. look at other sections you don't want indexed too like tag pages. This plugin is easy to use and will help suggest default settings.

        c) yes you can go into WMT to request removal of specific folders and urls and Google will quickly get them out of the index for you instead of waiting for them to age away.  Your robots.txt should be in place before doing this to make sure it's permanent.

        UnderRugSwept 1 Reply Last reply Sep 13, 2012, 5:07 PM Reply Quote 0
        • Mr.Rangen
          Mr.Rangen last edited by Sep 13, 2012, 2:35 PM Sep 13, 2012, 2:35 PM

          Here are your options:

          1. Robots.txt - http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=93708 - easy option.
          2. Noindex tags - http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-noindex-behavior/
          3. Removal request - https://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=59819
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