Google Indexing My Search Result Pages!

mookinman · 10-16-2011, 05:23 AM

I just realised that Google has over 7000 pages indexed for my website (there's supposed to be about 200), so investigated and found out that Google has indexed search result pages that have somehow got generated within my site (I think it's caused by a plugin I was using, now removed).

Obviously this means I now have nearly 7000 pages that say "sorry we couldn't find what you were looking for" etc. I've installed the meta robots plugin to "noindex" search results, so hopefully that will clean up the issue. I worry because the 250 or so backlinks or so I have pointing to my site are going to be somewhat diluted due to the ratio of pages indexed vs. incoming links.

Just wanted to give everybody a heads up to check if this is happening on your site. What I really want to do is get rid of those 7000 search result pages, anybody know how to do that?

John Romaine · 10-16-2011, 05:27 AM

If I understand you correctly, you probably should've implemented the canonical tag. Which (I believe) would've prevented this from happening.

About rel="canonical" - Webmaster Tools Help

The way in which you fix this now really depends heavily on the structure of your site.

If your search results page is something like this ....

blah.com/search-results.php

Then just set your robots.txt file to prevent that specific page from being indexed.

Others might have better suggestions.

rajsidharth · 10-16-2011, 07:05 AM

You can also use robots.txt file to control Google from indexing your internal search pages. Use this coding "Disallow: /*?" in your robots.txt file to control Google from indexing your internal search pages.

crazyamit · 10-16-2011, 07:31 AM

what is robots.txt file and how to use it?

10-16-2011, 05:23 AM	#1
mookinman Affiliate Marketer Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Birmingham, United Kingdom. Posts: 463 Thanks: 37 Thanked 47 Times in 18 Posts	Google Indexing My Search Result Pages! I just realised that Google has over 7000 pages indexed for my website (there's supposed to be about 200), so investigated and found out that Google has indexed search result pages that have somehow got generated within my site (I think it's caused by a plugin I was using, now removed). Obviously this means I now have nearly 7000 pages that say "sorry we couldn't find what you were looking for" etc. I've installed the meta robots plugin to "noindex" search results, so hopefully that will clean up the issue. I worry because the 250 or so backlinks or so I have pointing to my site are going to be somewhat diluted due to the ratio of pages indexed vs. incoming links. Just wanted to give everybody a heads up to check if this is happening on your site. What I really want to do is get rid of those 7000 search result pages, anybody know how to do that?
	My latest venture: The Most Comfortable and Eco-Friendly T-Shirts you will EVER wear! - (be sure to check it out!)

10-16-2011, 05:27 AM	#2
John Romaine No excuses - Just do it War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Sydney Posts: 4,030 Thanks: 991 Thanked 1,775 Times in 892 Posts	Re: Google Indexing My Search Result Pages! If I understand you correctly, you probably should've implemented the canonical tag. Which (I believe) would've prevented this from happening. About rel="canonical" - Webmaster Tools Help The way in which you fix this now really depends heavily on the structure of your site. If your search results page is something like this .... blah.com/search-results.php Then just set your robots.txt file to prevent that specific page from being indexed. Others might have better suggestions.
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10-16-2011, 07:05 AM	#3
rajsidharth Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Google Indexing My Search Result Pages! You can also use robots.txt file to control Google from indexing your internal search pages. Use this coding "Disallow: /*?" in your robots.txt file to control Google from indexing your internal search pages.

10-16-2011, 07:31 AM	#4
crazyamit HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: INDIA Posts: 455 Thanks: 2 Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts	Re: Google Indexing My Search Result Pages! what is robots.txt file and how to use it?