Block Low Quality Pages?
-
What are your thoughts on blocking (in robots.txt) and/or noindexing low-quality pages to defend against Panda, assuming you can't remove, redirect, or add quality content to it? Also, assume there are no external links pointing to these low-quality pages, no social shares, and zero incoming organic traffic.
Has anyone had experience with this as a solution to Panda?
-
Hi there,
For any such low quality pages, I'd suggest asking two simple questions first:
-
Is the page important for my users, does it add any value ?
-
Is the page beneficial for the site's SEO ?
which I think you have asked already from reading your question, so well done there.
Pages can usually be removed or redirected, perhaps not yet though at some point, they can be.
From what you've said, it sounds like those such pages are adding no value to anybody whatsoever, so Mike is right in suggesting to block them.
I have some further thoughts for you;
If the page adds no value to your visitors though could be useful for search, then think about Consolidating that page into another (re-using some of the content) or simply 301 redirect it to an appropriate & more valuable page.
This idea came from an SEOmoz Mozinar (web conference) from yesterday, is a great concept.
There is no point in keeping pages of no value there but hidden away from search engines or users, simple get rid of any such pages by Consolidation or 301 redirects.
If the page holds no user value though has some SEO value, then consider 301 redirecting it to another appropriate page.
Consolidation and Redirects help to keep a site clean, rather than blocking or noindexing pages that no longer need to be there.
If in doubt, then by all means make use of Robots.txt or the NoIndex attribute until you are sure of what to do with them long term.
Hope that helps,
Regards
Simon
-
-
If they are of no value to anybody, I'd just block them.
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
-
Over Optimised Magento Pages
We are working on a clients Magento site and we've added new copy which has a decent keyword density which is in line with best practice. When we run it through Moz we are getting a Key Word Stuffing alert saying the page has 27 keywords, where we can only see about 11. This is the page https://www.greatbeanbags.com/bean-bag-cushions The client is pushing back saying the page must have already been optimised before as our new copy has triggered the stuffing alert. But my guess is the page was already stuffed but buy some Magento code we can't see. Any ideas? #magento #Keyworddensity
Content Development | | Marketing_Optimist0 -
Followed all on-page rules no listing for target keyword :(
Hey guys, long time Moz user, first time forum asker. I recently went all out and tried to create above and beyond blog content, while also making sure to keep it SEO friendly. The page is indexed but does not show anywhere at all for the target keyword. Here is my article URL below. http://blog.storitz.com/2016/04/75-moving-tips-preparing-packing-beyond/ I checked it on the onpage ranker on MOZ and got a B. Here are some theories on maybe why it's not ranking at all. It got knocked for keyword stuffing. Although my page has tons of content and the keyword density is at a reasonable rate, I still used the keyword 22 times. Another is my wordpress automatically set my robots tag to "Noodp". Wanted to get some feedback and see if there is anything you guys might have some insight into before I start making adjustments here. Appreciate it in advanced!
Content Development | | Storitz0 -
My first Guest post. Well, it's about quality!
I've started my new blog two months ago. I thought about two things: quality and authority. So, I started with high-quality content and let me tell you that based on my own experience, quality is the queen of all this. Now, my new blog reaches roughly 270 unique users each day that generate 811 daily page views (1% from Google, %0.3 from other search engines, 56% from social media, 28% from links, 14% direct, 0.7% spammy sites). Alexa Global: 1,238,771 Then I've started the author journey trying to write guest posts on high-quality blogs. I found that there're two options to do guest blogging. Writing an article medium-quality and keep the high-quality content for my blog. Or, providing a high-quality content under any post that comes with my name. I found a high-quality blog which may accept my article. So, I thought about the two options and then I decided to provide a very high-quality content and I did. The message which I received about my article was so amazing. I had some grammars mistakes and they said literally: "We didn't mind as much doing the editing since you put so much effort into providing our readers with excellent content!" I'm so happy really and based on this experience I recommend you to think about the authority more than the link. What will make you provide high-quality content under your name instead of keeping it only for your blog. Have an experience with guest blogging? Why don't you share it with us to help others as well?
Content Development | | Eslam-yosef2 -
At what point to stop comments on a blog? Do too many comments hurt the page?
I have a page that's ranking pretty well, and driving sales. That page is starting to get 10+ comments per day and is starting to get quite long. I was wondering if there is a point where I should disable the comments? My gut tells me that people interacting with the page, and Google seeing responses with the users SHOULD be a good thing not bad. But, then I think that a majority of the content of the page is no longer the article, but the comments. All the comments are good, non spammy and directly related to the topic. People just asking questions, etc. Good engagement, I should be happy right?
Content Development | | DemiGR0 -
Lonely lonely pages
On my site I have tons of blog posts that have never been visited. (Falls on floor in tears). I of course know why. The content is mediocre in most cases and when it was average to good I didn't market it more. My question is should I go and just scrub the non visited pages or spend the time making these pages better and work on making the content above average? My competition above me do not have as many pages and their ranking is purely (I have researched this to death) from links from sites they have developed - with good authority.
Content Development | | GrangeWeb1 -
How long should a quality blog post be?
How long should a "quality" blog post be? General advice seems to be that a 300 word post just won't cut it, but advice on the optimum length is vague. I appreciate that all posts are different but is there a rule of thumb, is 1000 words good and 1500 too long...or should they are all aim to be 2000 words? Also with regards to pictures in blogs, can they just be taken from the web or are there sites that I should be using to source the pictures? Thanks
Content Development | | Studio330 -
Can someone define what a low quality blog is supposed to look like?
I know the recent Google update devalued a lot of low quality blogs, but i'm having a hard time understanding what can be considered low quality? My site is www.247VirtualAssistant.com and it wa sitting in the top 3 for all my keywords(virtual assistant, virtual assistants etc etc). Last month everything tanked and now on the 2nd and 3rd page for my keywords. I'm thinking this is because of a lot of my links got devalued but with my limited SEO knowledge, i'm having a hard time identifiyng these. Please help!
Content Development | | Shajan0 -
My WebSite has two sections with overlapping, or redundant articles on the same topics. Google is only listing one or the other article in Search Results. What should I do to have both pages (similiar but unique content ) to be listed?
My Web Site has two sections with overlapping, or redundant articles on the same topics. Google is only listing one or the other article in Search Results. What should I do to have both pages (similar but unique content ) to be listed? Example: http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/pregnancy_week_12.htm http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/pregnancy_12_weeks.html
Content Development | | docjamesmd0