When G shows a server directory page as 'index'

is this going to cause problems?

[dibbern2]

I have a travel-related site that uses many small directories; one for each travel destination.

A directory, for say, Widget Island, contains 4-5 pages about various topics about Widget Island. One page, Widget Island At A Glance, serves as the 'top' page, with links to all the others. There is no page with the file name index.htm.

G indexes these pages with no problem, but also displays a listing for the directory with a trailing slash, just as though I had an index page. The serp links to a display of the server directory; similiar to what you'd see in your ftp client.

Granted, this is inconvienient, but are there more serious problems with ranking/indexing at risk?

Thanks much in advance.

[g1smd]

A Directory Index Page is as much a page as one you built in your web design program. It is made from HTML and contains content and links to other pages.

However, for usibility, I would expect a "real" content page there, and breadcrumb navigation to get me back up the heirarchical chain of folders.

If you don't want the index page to be generated, you can turn Indexing off. You need to be careful that it doesn't hamper bots getting round the site though.