Blocked by meta-robots but there is no robots file
-
OK, I'm a little frustred here. I've waited a week for the next weekly index to take place after changing the privacy setting in a wordpress website so Google can index, but I still got the same problem. Blocked by meta-robots, no index, no follow. But I do not see a robot file anywhere and the privacy setting in this Wordpress site is set to allow search engines to index this site. Website is www.marketalert.ca
What am I missing here? Why can't I index the rest of the website and is there a faster way to test this rather than wait another week just to find out it didn't work again?
-
The .htaccess file is in placing directing www to non www, so I don't see what else I could do with that. I forgot to mention the website was recently overhauled by someone else, and they are having me help with SEO. Not sure if that has anything to do with it. It looks like the .htaccess should be reversed so the non www points to the www which has more value. Someone else designed this site and they are having me do the SEO on it for them.
-
The issue might be the forwarding from www.yourdomain.ca to yourdomain.ca
look at http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/pages?site=marketalert.ca%2F
and here http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/pages?site=www.marketalert.ca%2F
..some are indexed on with www and other without www. , this is your main issue.
recommendation:
- revisit the htaccess file or where the redirect has been set DNS..
- choose one with www or without and stick to it.
- revicit your external links and make the changes to your links
- create new sitemap and resubmit to SearchEngines
-
I ran the SEO web crawler and it finished already. Successfully crawled all pages. I still have to wait for another week to get the main campaign updated and see results there, but I believe it may work too now.
I guess I solved my own problem after being directed to robots.txt by Jim. I found that the Wordpress plugin for SEO xml sitemap creator was the problem because it created a virtual robots.txt file which sent me on a wild goose chase looking for a robots.txt file which didn't exist. Creating a robots.txt file allowing all seems to be the solultion, incase anyone else has this same problem.
-
If you can, follow up either way - happy to help you get it debugged!
-
I was able to update my sitemap.xml with Google webmaster tools no problem. I'm not 100% confident though that means the entire site is searchable by the spiders. I guess I'll know for sure in a few days tops.
-
I agree with Jim. Update your sitemap.xml files with Google Webmaster Tools. That will also help you identify problems you might be missing.
-
I've done some more looking into it and seems to be a problem when Wordpress uses the XML site generator plugin. It creates a virtual robot.txt file, which is why I couldn't find the robot.txt file. Apparently the only fix is to replace it with an actual robot.txt file forcing it to allow all.
I just replaced the robots.txt file with a real one allowing all. SEOmoz estimates a few days to test site crawl and it's another 7 days before the next scheduled crawl. I'd kinda like to find out sooner if it's not going to work. There must be a faster test. I don't need a detailed test, just a basic test that says, YEP, we can see this many pages or something like that.
-
hi
your robots.txt file is located here http://marketalert.ca/robots.txt, which is the root of your website directory.
this is the actual location of your sitemap file (http://marketalert.ca/sitemap.xml), does the Google WT show any issues about the sitemap file could not be found?
You might need to resubmit the sitemap file, if there are any changes, of course with the updated version of your site.
hope this helps.
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
-
Unfamiliar Meta Description Tags
I'm working with a client who uses a CMS which loads meta tags into their site through its backend. On-page I see this in the source:
Technical SEO | | medtouch0 -
Should I block Map pages with robots.txt?
Hello, I have a website that was started in 1999. On the website I have map pages for each of the offices listed on my site, for which there are about 120. Each of the 120 maps is in a whole separate html page. There is no content in the page other than the map. I know all of the offices love having the map pages so I don't want to remove the pages. So, my question is would these pages with no real content be hurting the rankings of the other pages on our site? Therefore, should I block the pages with my robots.txt? Would I also have to remove these pages (in webmaster tools?) from Google for blocking by robots.txt to really work? I appreciate your feedback, thanks!
Technical SEO | | imaginex0 -
Robots.txt | any SEO advantage to having one vs not having one?
Neither of my sites has a robots.txt file. I guess I have never been bothered by any particular bot enough to exclude it. Is there any SEO advantage to having one anyways?
Technical SEO | | GregB1230 -
Google ignores Meta name="Robots"
Ciao from 24 degrees C wetherby UK, On this page http://www.perspex.co.uk/products/palopaque-cladding/ this line was added to block indexing: But it has not worked, when you google "Palopaque PVC Wall Cladding" the page appears in the SERPS. I'm going to upload a robots txt file in a second attempt to block indexing but my question is please:
Technical SEO | | Nightwing
Why is it being indexed? Grazie,
David0 -
Meta Description: How to Implement It?
I'm pretty new to SEO and am starting to implement the knowledge that I've learned into the websites that I'm working on. The websites have already been created but without Meta-descriptions. My problem is that when I try to implement a Meta Description it moves the whole website text and design. I am using Wordpress to manage and edit the sites. Any help would be great. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | amnistech1 -
Should I Block Tag, Category, Author Pages
Just finished reviewing the first crawl of my first SEOmoz campaign for a site that I am working on. The site I"m working on uses Wordpress as a CMS, and most if not all of the warnings and notices have to do with author, category, and tag pages. Should I block these from being indexed? Why or why not?
Technical SEO | | Falconberg0 -
Best blocking solution for Google
Posting this for Dave SottimanoI Here's the scenario: You've got a set of URLs indexed by Google, and you want them out quickly Once you've managed to remove them, you want to block Googlebot from crawling them again - for whatever reason. Below is a sample of the URLs you want blocked, but you only want to block /beerbottles/ and anything past it: www.example.com/beers/brandofbeer/beerbottles/1 www.example.com/beers/brandofbeer/beerbottles/2 www.example.com/beers/brandofbeer/beerbottles/3 etc.. To remove the pages from the index should you?: Add the Meta=noindex,follow tag to each URL you want de-indexed Use GWT to help remove the pages Wait for Google to crawl again If that's successful, to block Googlebot from crawling again - should you?: Add this line to Robots.txt: DISALLOW */beerbottles/ Or add this line: DISALLOW: /beerbottles/ "To add the * or not to add the *, that is the question" Thanks! Dave
Technical SEO | | goodnewscowboy0