Google search box - odd behavior after redirect

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

I used to use the Google provided search box to display search results on my site. I recently stopped using it in part because analytics and GWT reported thousands of search urls, which later become 404 errors, despite my noindex meta tag.

- I removed the search box
- I removed the search results page
- I redirected the search results page to Google

RedirectMatch permanent ^/search-results-page$ http://www.google.com

That last part is creating some ODD behavior, on Google's end. Visiting any of the old search result urls on MY site now results in Google displaying my results on THEIR site, complete with my color layout. Technically this is Google showing content on their own site so part of me thinks I shouldn't worry but... what would you do?

[netmeg]

Are you talking about a site search? Of your own pages? If so, why would you redirect to Google?

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Yes, the site search feature, set to display results on my site.

I'm redirecting my single search results page to Google because analytics tells me the search box has created thousands of dynamic pages on my site and webmaster tools tells me many more went 404 when revisited by adsensebot/googlebot.

It was Google's content, it seemed like a good idea to clean up the mess I have in my reports. I didn't expect to see my results suddenly appear under the google domain though, my redirect doesn't capture the parameters. I do not have google.com on my adsense approved list so I will earn nothing in the unlikely event a click occurs.

I can't change the search box from 'results on my page' to 'results on google in a new window' either because adsense throws an error saying 'you cannot re-use the same search box title' even though i'm only trying to change a setting, not create a new one.

/shrug

[netmeg]

Guess I don't understand your setup. I use a Google CSE on all my sites, and apparently it's different rules. From your posts, I can't tell if it's your content or Google's content, because you keep going back and forth in how you refer to it. But I guess I'd say don't redirect anything to Google, make a sitemap page or some such, and keep the people on your own site (and don't bother about the AdSense)

[lucy24]

That last part is creating some ODD behavior, on Google's end. Visiting any of the old search result urls on MY site now results in Google displaying my results on THEIR site, complete with my color layout.

Isn't that exactly what you told it to do? The rules said to redirect from your site to g###.* If your search results page comes in some kind of frame inside a containing page, it would still have your style sheet.

Or do you mean that if you later enter the same search string in google, you still get a page that looks like yours?


* You're a braver man than I.