Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Should I Have No Index, No Follow On Blog Category & Tag Pages?
-
At some point in the past I read or was told that No Index, No Follow tags on category and tag pages were a good thing on a standard WordPress blog in order to prevent duplicate content issues.
Is this still true or was it ever true?
-
This is the challenge about replying to "fast" questions in a Q&A. How thorough of an answer should be provided. I agree with EGOL in that the category and tag pages could and perhaps even should ideally be built out, offer more content and be indexed. Many sites choose not to take this approach and simply keep these pages merely as indexes or organizers. IF you choose to do such, then I maintain my original advice to use the noindex, follow tag.
With respect to robots.txt, the best file is a blank one. Many sites use the robots.txt far too much. It should be avoided whenever there is another solution available. In this case, it would be a big mistake to use it.
-
In total agreement...not allowing the engines to spider/index your category and tag pages would be detrimental to your potential results. However, if you choose to do this, it can be done much easier in the robots.txt file.
-
Very much agreed... it really depends on how everything is structured.
-
If I kept my category pages out of the search indexes I would be walking away from hundreds of search engine visitors per minute.
Do analytics to see how much traffic is coming into these pages from search, who is linking to them, how much revenue they earn and also consider their future traffic potential.
Its not good to follow generalized advice blindly.
-
I agree with John.
You do NOT want to have "no index, no follow" tags on internal links. "noindex" is fine, but "nofollow" is an indication that you do not trust the link. It sends mixed signals to search engines and is not a good idea.
If your category and tag pages have no content and merely contain links to other internal pages, then "Noindex, follow" is the tag you want to use.
An alternative approach, as John mentioned, is to build out those category/tag pages with more content so they offer value to searchers.
-
There are a couple of different approaches to take. My personal fave is the "noindex,follow" on tag & category pages. Having said that, I've heard of some people who have great category rankings. That may depend on just how much duplication you have going on between the category/summary page and the actual blog post pages.
The Yoast SEO and All in One SEO plugs are great for WP by the way.
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
-
Can I use expired domain content on My Blog
Hello Expert, I wanted to know, can I use expired domain content on my blog channel. I have done many searches on google but couldn't find a satisfactory answer. Please help me to find out this.
Content Development | | vijay77960 -
Images & Duplicate Content Issues
Here's a scenario for you: The site is running WordPress and the images are uploaded to the media section. You can set image attributes there such as the Description & Alt Tag. Let's say you'd like to reuse the same image in two different blog posts. The image keeps the same Description & Alt Tag associated with it in the media section. Would this be considered duplicate content? What would be the best practice in this case to reuse the same image in multiple posts?
Content Development | | VicMarcusNWI0 -
Blog.xyz.com
I have a site that is running its blog on www.blog.xyz.com and I am looking for ways to increase Google traffic. Would it be better to running the blog on something like: www.xyz.com/blog instead?
Content Development | | kevgrand0 -
Difference in Forum and Blog for SEO
I was pushing my employer to agree to switch to add a blog onto our site and he asked me, what is the difference between the blog and a forum for SEO purposes. Besides the general look and feel and a forum being more community oriented, is a blog better than a forum for seo, and if so, why? It can be vice-versa I just need to fully understand this myself so I can begin to work on one and explain it to my employer. If anyone can provide any insight, it will be much appreciated.
Content Development | | ithvac0 -
Onsite Blogging Vs Guest Blogging
Hey all! I have a limited amount of time allocated to writing instructional blog posts for my company. When I complete an article I can do whatever I want with it: pitch it as a guest post on an industry blog, or post it on my company's onsite blog. I know there's not a magical solution regarding the percentage of time one should devote to guest blogging v. focusing on the company blog, but I figured I'd throw the conundrum out to the Mozzers anyway. In your opinion, how many of your writing resources should be devoted to guest posts, and how many should be devoted to maintaining the onsite blog? What if our onsite blog isn't currently receiving a lot of traffic? Thanks! Meg
Content Development | | ClarityVentures1 -
Should I publish several blog posts at once or stagger?
I have several blog posts that I want to publish (40 or so). For freshness is it better to stagger their publication over several months or is it fine to publish them all at the same time. The comments are closed.
Content Development | | AndreB0 -
How many pages is too many to add to a site at one time?
I have quite a bit of excellent content articles at my disposal and we would like to increase the number of pages on our site. I could, theoretically add 100's of pages at a time. Does anyone have a good sense of how much content added to a sight in mass looks bad to Google? My plan is to add approximately 50 pages a week to our site, which already has 4000 pages of content. This is relevant content, since we are a custom writing service and all topics are covered. Our content is what gives us great organic hits and orders. However, I would like to add more than 50 a week...how many is too many? Thanks and I appreciate thoughts and feedback! Karen
Content Development | | eworld0