A few misc Webmaster tools questions & Robots.txt etc
-
Hi
I have a few general misc questions re Robots.tx & GWT:
1) In the Robots.txt file what do the below lines block, internal search ?
Disallow: /?
Disallow: /*?2) Also the sites feeds are blocked in robots.txt, why would you want to block a sites feeds ?
**3) **What's the best way to deal with the below:
- old removed page thats returning a 500 response code ?
- a soft 404 for an old removed page that has no current replacement
- old removed pages returning a 404
The old pages didn't have any authority or inbound links hence is it best/ok to simply create a url removal request in GWT ?
Cheers
Dan
-
Many Thanks Stufroguk !!
-
-
It depends if Google had index these 'empty' pages. You need to check. Remember that every page is also give page authority. Best to redirect them before removing them as best practice. You can get Google to fetch the pages in GWTs so that the crawlers follow the redirect. Then remove them.
-
Your old pages - fetch them in GWT's, then remove them if you already have the 301's set up. Once google has indexed the new pages, you know the link juice has passed and can remove.
The blocking is used as a back up.
-
-
Thanks Stufroguk,
1) does this still apply if the pages had no content - they were just overview pages/folders without any copy, links or authority hence why i think its ok to just remove urls without 301'ing ?
2) i do have other old content pages that i have 301'd to new replacement but hadnt planned to do anything else with them, but your saying after 2 weeks should nofollow or block them ? wont that stop the link equity passing ?
Cheers
Dan
-
To manage old pages it's best practice to simply 301 redirect them, leave them for a couple of weeks then tag them with no follow and/or block them with robots. That way you've passed on the link equity. Then you can remove them from GWT's.
In answer to 1. yes But not all SE's read the "*" wildcard in file names. You might need to tinker with this a bit.
Use this to help:http://tool.motoricerca.info/robots-checker.phtml
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
-
Robot.txt : How to block a specific file type in several subdirectories ?
Hello everyone ! I need help setting up a robot.txt. I'm trying to block all pdf files in particular directories so I'm using this command. In the example below the line is blocking all .gif in the entire site. Block files of a specific file type (for example, .gif) | Disallow: /*.gif$ 2 questions : Can I use this command to specify one particular directory in which I want to block pdf files ? Will this line be recognized by googlebots ? Disallow: /fileadmin/xxxxxxx/xxx/xxxxxxx/*.pdf$ Then I realized that I would have to write as many lines as many directories there are in which I want to block pdf files. Let's say I want to block pdf files in all these 3 directories /fileadmin/directory1 /fileadmin/directory1/sub1 /fileadmin/directory1/sub1/pdf Is there a pattern-matching rule I could use to blocks access to pdf files in all subdirectories instead of writing 3x the above line for each subdirectory ? For exemple : Disallow: /fileadmin/directory1*/ Many thanks in advance for any insight you may have.
Technical SEO | | LabeliumUSA0 -
Where are the crawled URLS in webmaster tools coming from?
When looking at the crawl errors in Webmaster Tools/Search Console, where is Google pulling these URLs from? Sitemap?
Technical SEO | | SEOhughesm0 -
301 redirect question
Hi Everyone When doing 301 redirects for a large site, if a page has 0 inbound links would you still redirect it or just leave it? Im just curious on the best practice for this Thanks in advance
Technical SEO | | TheZenAgency0 -
Google Webmaster Tools : no data available
Hi guys I have a website which is 2 years old. Since 03/01/2013 I have no data in Google Webmaster Tools > Trafic > Search queries. The queries, the impressions and the clics dropped suddenly from one day to the next. I checked the rank of my keywords and the traffic of my site. They are stable and didn't move which means that they don't cause the problem. Has anybody had the same problem ? Is it Google Webmaster Tools bug ? Many thanks.
Technical SEO | | PFX1110 -
Number of Indexed Pages in Webmaster Tools
My # of indexed pages in Webmaster Tools fluctuates greatly. Compared to the # of URLs submitted (4700), we have 3000 indexed. The other day, all 4700 were indexed. Why does it keep changing? I obviously want all of them indexed right? What can I do to make that happen?
Technical SEO | | kylesuss0 -
Subdomains & SEO
Exact match domains are great for ranking but what about domains which contain just half of the full phrase being targeted? eg. If you owned the domain rentals.co.uk but wanted to target the search term "car rentals" Regarding backlinks, would it be best to link back to your rentals.co.uk homepage (using anchor text "car rentals") or to one of the following: a) www.rentals.co.uk/car-rentals b) car.rentals.co.uk AND 301 redirect to www.rentals.co.uk c) car.rentals.co.uk AND 301 redirect to www.rentals.co.uk/car-rentals
Technical SEO | | martyc1 -
Google Webmaster Tools: Keywords
Hi SEOmozzers! I'm the Dr./owner/in-house SEO for my eye care practice. The URL is www.ofallonfamilyeyecare.com. Our practice is in O'Fallon, MO. Since I'm an optometrist, my main keywords are "optometrist o'fallon" and "o'fallon optometrist". As I get more familiarity with SEO, Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools, I've discovered the Keywords that Google feels best represent my website. About a week ago I noted Google counted 21 instances of "optometrist" on the 28-30 pages of my website, which ranks as #32 in the most common keywords. #1 is "eye" with 506 instances. Even though 21 occurrences seemed low, I went though every page adding "optometrist" a couple times in the body where it would naturally be appropriate. I also added it to the address shown on the footer of every page. I changed the top navigation option of "meet Dr. Hegyi" to "our optometrist". I must have added at least 4 occurrences to every page on my site, and submitted for a re-crawl. I even tried to scale back the "eye" occurrences on a few pages. Today I see that Google has re-crawled the site and the keywords have been updated. "Optometrist has DROPPED from #32 to #33. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions why I'm not seeing increased occurrence in Googles eyes? I realize this may not be a big factor in SERPs, but every bit of on-page optimization helps. Or is this too minor of an issue to sweat? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | JosephHegyi0 -
All of my incoming links to my site are gone in Webmaster Tools!?
I just checked webmaster tools and noticed that all of the links I have acquired over the last few months are gone except for 1 website. Did something change just recently? Is this a glitch? http://www.petmedicalcenter.com Thanks in advance for your help! Brant
Technical SEO | | PMC-3120870