Remove internal site SERPS from Google Index?
-
1. Internal Serp pages did not have a robots meta tag
2. As a result, client site has thousands (~4,400) of internal site SERP pages in the Google index.
3. We added the NoIndex, Follow attribute to all internal SERPS
4. We Disallowed: domain.com/internal-search-operator in Robots.txt
5. No new SERP pages are being indexed, but the other 4000 something that were already there are still in the index weeks later.
6. The pages are dynamically created and still work, so I can't use the Remove Content tool from google, because the pages don't 404.
Is there any way to get these pages out of the index besides just waiting and hoping google eventuall drops them?
Thanks
-
You can still submit a url removal request from GWT, because it checks for 1 of 3 things:
- 404 header response code
- NOINDEX meta tag
- Robots.txt disallow rule
So even if its not 404 Google will still do the removal.
-
You can create a formal request to Google using Webmaster Tools and tell them the URLs or list of URLs that you'd like removed from the index. Whether or not they actually remove them is a completely different story.
-
I should have explained it what I meant by SERPS better.
These pages are generated by doing a text search on the site. (Magento) So yes, they are product listings, but obviously most queries are different, so the dynamically created pages are all unique but useless.
Thanks for the idea about rel=canonical them back to the search page - I will look into that.
-
Note: By SERPs I'm assuming you're referring to Search Results within the site (e.g. a product listing) and not actual Google SERPs.
If so, it sounds like it could be a case for canonical. If the pages are all site.com/search.htm?searchterm=xxxx&page=y&rows=100 kind of thing you could canonical them all back down to search.htm.
If you're not familiar with canonical here's a YouMoz post that explains it pretty well:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/complete-guide-to-rel-canonical-how-to-and-why-not
Based on my experience in the past the canonicalized pages will eventually 'disappear' from the index (not really, but Google doesn't display them anymore) in time. They would also eventually fall out already with what you've done in regards to noindex no follow etc., but I've found it takes longer.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Structural data is not showing SERP
Hi, I need your help please check i am trying to display site structural data but not showing in SERP after doing efforts, please tell me if i am missing something: https://kfoods.com/special_chicken_karahi_rid469
On-Page Optimization | | abrarpasha0 -
SEO audit on a beta site
HI there, Is there much point conducting an SEO site audit on a site that has not yet launched and is protected behind a login? Presumably none of the usual SEO tools (Moz, Screaming Frog etc) can crawl this site becuase it is all locked behind a login. Would it be better to launch it and then do a site audit? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | CosiCrawley0 -
How to remove subdomains in a clean way?
Hello, I have a main domain example.com where I have my main content and then I created 3 subdomains one.example.com, two.example.com and three.example.com I think the low ranking of my subdomains is affecting the ranking of my main domain, the one I care the most. So, I decided to get rid of the subdomains. The thing is that only for one.example.com I could transfer the content to my main domain and create 301 redirects. For the other two subdomains I cannot integrate the content in my main domain as it doesn't make sense. Whats the cleanest way to make them dissapear? (just put a redirect to my main domain even if the content is not the same) or just change the robots to "noindex" and put a 404 page in the index of each subdomain. I want to use the way that will harm the least the performance with Google. Regards!
On-Page Optimization | | Gaolga0 -
Indexed/Submitted URLS vs Total Indexed
Hello, My site is www.colbysphotography.com. I have Total Indexed 195 while I have 87 URLs submitted and only 79 URLs Indexed. What is the difference and is there a problem? Thanks ahead of time,
On-Page Optimization | | littlecolby
Colby0 -
How to Fix Google Webmasters Soft 404 Errors for Wordpress Site?
I am getting Soft 404 errors in my Google Webmasters Tools don't know how to fix it the site in on WordPress CMS the site is "http://appdictions.com/" i am getting errors in the http://appdictions.com/members section...suggestion to fix the issue will be appreciated..
On-Page Optimization | | preferati0 -
Country Name in Google SERP
I am asking similar type of question that i asked before .I want to display country name in SERP like this. Ask an SEO question |SEOmozQ&A http://seomoz.org/-United States .How to display URL with country name like above.
On-Page Optimization | | Alick3000 -
0 urls indexed in GWT, many found with site: command
Hi, This is happening with a brand new site. We have created sitemaps and submitted them to Google Webmaster Tools. GWT says sitemaps are ok, "x" number of urls submitted, but no urls indexed. When I check in Google with site:domain.com I see that many of the urls are already indexed. Why this discrepancy between GWT and reality? Thanks for your time!
On-Page Optimization | | gerardoH0 -
Google Sitemap
Does adding a Google Sitemap to webmaster tools REALLY help SEO? If so, are there any resources for help creating one? Here is my site: http://www.petmedicalcenter.com Thanks,
On-Page Optimization | | PMC-312087
Brant0