Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
I have a forum site where the search for site:mysite.com returns first 5 pages of nearly identical results - all the same titles and snippets, the only difference being the URL. These are different pages of the post listings for the same forum. Only on page 6 of the search results I start seeing the actual posts.
There is really no value in the category listings by themselves except that they contain links to posts. Besides, they constantly change (dozens times a day) as new posts come in. Also, I feel like having this many identical indexed pages must be hurting the rest of the site's rankings.
So, do you guys feel it's wise to set the category pages with "noindex,follow" so the bot can collect the links but drop the actual category page? I really don't want to jeopardize the bot's ability to collect new links because page 1 of the forum is where all the new posts are listed and I want this page visited as often as possible. Does "noindex" affect the visitations in any way?
Also, does anyone know what's going to happen with a page that was indexed before and now starts showing "noindex" meta tag? Is the effect the same as the page's removal from the index via WMT? Any known way to ensure the links from that page will not be gone with the page?
Thanks!
Besides, they constantly change (dozens times a day) as new posts come in.
You're seeing these urls with the site: operator but are they bringing in traffic from regular keyword searches that depend on those links to new posts? If so, then you do have an issue because by the time a user visits, then the link has changed.
first 5 pages of nearly identical results - all the same titles and snippets
Definitely address this. It can only help.
Thanks for your suggestions. I guess, I am a little hesitant to add noindex,follow to my forum's post listings given the fact that a few prominent forum sites I looked at, including WebmasterWorld, don't actually do that (at least don't show that to non-bot browsers). Is it a safe practice?
Answering this question will require some study - and to start your study, I suggest that you look for an answer to this question: are these urls showing up in regular Google searches and bringing in traffic that depend on keywords in those links to new posts?
You see, this may only look like an issue when you do a site: operator search. But in the area of regular search queries, where the rubber meets the road, this may not be a real problem at all. But still, it also might be showing you that there's a problem. So I suggest a study of your server logs and the regular SERPs involved to figure out if there's a problem or not. I would not make this kind of decision in the purely abstract realm of ideas alone.
Note, when I search on site:webmasterworld.com, I do NOT see "first 5 pages of nearly identical results - all the same titles and snippets." So your situation is somehow different from WebmasterWorld's. I suggest understanding your exact situation and then make your decisions based on that understanding.
To the best of my knowledge the listings don't actually show up in regular SERPs, only on site:mysite.com searches. I have manually checked several dozens of SERPs that I know bring traffic and all I see is the individual posts - which is the desired outcome indeed. But by bringing this issue up I am hoping to shed some light on whether having dozens of listings with identical titles and snippets affects the standing of the site a a whole with Google.
dozens of listings with identical titles and snippets affects the standing of the site a a whole with Google
