NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW - Any SEO benefit to these pages?
-
Hi
I could use some advice on a site architecture decision. I am developing something akin to an affiliate scheme for my business. However it is not quite as simple as an affliate setup because the products sold through "affiliates" will be slightly different, as a result I intend to run the site from a subdomain of my main domain.
I am intending to NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW the subdomained site because it will contain huge amounts of duplication from my main site (it is really a subset of the main site with some slightly different functionality in places). I don't really want or need this subdomain site indexed, hence my decision to NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW it.
However given I will, hopefully, be having lots of people link into the subdomain I am hoping to come up with some sort of arrangement that will mean that my main domain derives some sort of benefit from the linking. They are, after all, votes for my business so they feel like "good links". I am assuming here that a direct link into my NOFOLLOW,NOINDEX subdomain is going to provide ZERO benefit to my main domain. Happy to be corrected!
The best I can come up with is to have a "landing page" on my main domain which links into parts of my main domain and then provides a link through to the subdomain site. However this feels like a bad experience from the user's point of view (i.e. land on a page and then have to click to get to the real action) and feels a bit spammy, i.e. I don't really have a good reason for this page other than linking!
Equally I could NOINDEX,FOLLOW the homepage of the affiliate site and link back to the main domain from there. However this also feels a bit spammy and would be far less beneficial, I guess, because the subdomain homepage would have many more outgoing links than I envisaged for my "landing page" idea above. Also, it also looks a bit spammy (i.e. why follow the homepage and nofollow everything else?)!
The trouble, I guess, is that whatever I do feels a bit spammy. I suppose this is because IT IS spammy!
Has anyone got any good ideas how I could setup an arrangement like I described above and derive benefit to my main domain without it looking (or being) spammy? I just hate to think of all of those links being wasted (in an SEO sense).
Thanks
Gary
-
Ha, brilliant.
take care!
-
Would you believe me if I told you I had a brother called Derek? Most don't but it is sadly TRUE! Named before the show, my parents aren't that cruel.
I think we might have just excluded any US readers of this thread!
Have a good day!
-
Ha, no worries, glad it helped. I find I have to let things percolate or just draw them on a big white board. Often, the answer is pretty simple, it's just all too easy to box yourself into a 'I must do it this way' way of thinking when with a little flexibility, things are easy solved.
So, your a Trotter, any relation to Derrick?
-
Thanks Marcus. Today I learnt that I think best in the shower.....
Somtimes it just helps to get the question out there for others to comment - Your responses obviously got me thinking!
Thanks for all for your input!
-
Gary, I think that is spot on, we are telling you how to suck eggs!
-
After a long hot shower, I just thought this one up, how about.....
1.) I give each affiliate/trade user a URL with an affiliate ID on the URL, i.e. ?ID=123 (say) which points at my websites homepage
2.) If a user lands on my site with a URL containing an affiliate ID, the homepage is served up to the user with links that take the user to pages onto the affiliate subdomain site (the homepage that gets served up will be slightly different to the standard homepage). If the user navigates anywhere from this page they end up surfing the subdomain pages (all of which will be NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW).
3.) The "homepage" that gets displayed to the user is always INDEX,FOLLOW and has a rel=canonical tag for the homepage itself.
I "think" that this way my main domain gets the benefit of the links and the users always get the version of the site they are looking for without any extra "spammy" landing pages. Any one see any problems with this?
-
Is that really right? If that was the case presumably Google needs an index of NOINDEX pages or am I way off?
I "site A" gets a link from a NOINDEX page then Google must have some sort of record of that page's "WORTH" (for want of a better word) to attribute some value to "site A". That page's "WORTH" being derived from those pages that link to it.
That suggests to me (and my poor befuddled brain) that NOINDEX means it is indexed it just doesnt show in search results?
-
Thanks for your response. I don't think I can realistically go down the route of rewriting the entire site (the products change every year so it would not be a one-off cost by any means) - I would not get a return on that investment/time. I suppose, if I thought I might then why bother making it an affiliate site?
I agree with "a bit risky or just wouldn't work" - that's why I am asking because I didn't much like my own ideas!
Thanks again.
-
Well, it's true, in SEO, you really can learn something every day, even after ten + years.
I did not think the link value would pass through if the page was not indexed, almost like a cup with a hole, it would not hold the benefit.
-
I agree with Marcus about doing the writing. In the meantime I would NOINDEX, FOLLOW. The FOLLOW will allow pagerank to flow through these pages into the other pages of your site. If you use NOFOLLOW that pagerank is lost.
I have some syndicated content on one of my sites and some thin content that have NOINDEX, FOLLOW.
-
In my mind the best solution here would be to write (or have written) unique content for the sub domains so you could have them indexed, get increased exposure via search and win back links from these sites into the main page.
Anything else would be either a bit risky or just wouldnt work.
Hope that helps
Marcus
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
-
Shopify SEO - Double Filter Pages
Hi Experts, Single filter page: /collections/dining-chairs/black
Technical SEO | | williamhuynh
-- currently, canonical the same: /collections/dining-chairs/black
-- currently, index, follow Double filter page: /collections/dining-chairs/black+fabric
-- currently, canonical the same: /collections/dining-chairs/black+fabric
-- currently, noindex, follow My question is about double filter page above:
if noindexing is the better option OR should I change the canonical to /collections/dining-chairs/black Thank you0 -
Hi! I'm wondering whether for keyword SEO - a url should be www.salshoes.com/shoes/mens/day-wear (so with a few parent categories) or www.salshoes.com/shoes-mens-day-wear is ok for on page optimization?
Hi! I'm wondering whether for keyword SEO - a url should be www.salshoes.com/shoes/mens/day-wear (so with a few parent categories) or www.salshoes.com/shoes-mens-day-wear is ok for on page optimization? Hi! I'm wondering whether for keyword SEO - a url should be www.salshoes.com/shoes/mens/day-wear (so with a few parent categories) or www.salshoes.com/shoes-mens-day-wear is ok for on page optimization?
Technical SEO | | SalSantaCruz0 -
Improving SEO Structure of a Page
Our site is an online Marketplace for Services. Naturally, we have a lot of unique content in the form of :
Technical SEO | | Ideas2life
a) Job Posts
b) Profiles of Service Providers We also have 2 very important pages:
a) The Job Listing Page
b) The Service Provider Page The Listing pages have very valuable H1 Titles, but everything else is duplicate content. To capture those keywords currently in H1, we have created a different landing page for each category page, and we`ll optimize around that, so these H1s are not that big of a deal any more. These landing pages are the key to our SEO strategy and we are building new content every day to help them rank I want to make the Listing Pages No Index Follow. This way they pass Juice to Jobs, and Profiles which have unique contents, but are not indexed themselves. Is this a bad idea? I have been thinking about doing this for over a year but it never felt important enough to be worth the risk of accidentally screwing up We `ll soon do a new on page flow optimization and that's why I am considering this again. Thank you so much in advance Argyris0 -
Big page of clients - links to individual client pages with light content - not sure if canonical or no-follow - HELP
Not sure what best practice here is: http://www.5wpr.com/clients/ Is this is a situation where I'm best off adding canonical tags back to the main clients page, or to the practice area each client falls under? No-following all these links and adding canonical? No-follow/No-index all client pages? need some advice here...
Technical SEO | | simplycary0 -
When Should You Start SEO?
I am launching a new website (related to IT services) on Monday 6th May 2013. What should be my SEO/SMO/PPC strategy for a brand new website with new domain ? I have a blog within the website as well. Is it better to promote internal blog or should i focus on external bogs like wordpress ?
Technical SEO | | afycon0 -
Noindex Pages indexed
I'm having problem that gogole is index my search results pages even though i have added the "noindex" metatag. Is the best thing to block the robot from crawling that file using robots.txt?
Technical SEO | | Tedred0 -
Redesign an SEO-Disaster | Help with Redirects of Gray Hat Pages
Hi gang. I'm a new SEO and I'm currently working on the redesign of a website. I have just discovered a ton of hidden pages that are filled with duplicate content, basically reiterating the main keyword in a variety of different variations. Each page is titled with the variation on the keyword phrase and then has one paragraph of text very similar to the previous page, etc. Here is an example of one of the offensive pages (nice lookin' site, eh?): http://www.vasectomy-reversals.com/vasectomy_reversal_surgery.html The new site will not have any of these pages. I'm writing the 301 redirects now and want to redirect these offensive pages to the most relevant page on the new site. But, I'm afraid to redirect the offensive pages. Should I leave them alone, or can I have the former developer remove them? Help. Don't know how to handle these pages and their redirects. Thanks for your help! ~ Mills
Technical SEO | | Mills0 -
SEO Developers
I have a team of inexperienced SEO developers and the argument we continually have is that its a marketing role - however most of it is technical, no view state, no js, page load time, csssprite, metatags, frequency of updates to server, duplicate content via coding methodology, lioading content prior to ads, not spidering ads (IT says impossible yet google says required) etc. I looked at your referrals for developers and couldnt find any that recognized SEO as part of their skill set - do you believe tehre aer developers that specialize in this? Thanks, Michelle
Technical SEO | | Silly8880