Need suggestion: Should the user profile link be disallowed in robots.txt
-
I maintain a myBB based forum here. The user profile links look something like this http://www.learnqtp.com/forums/User-Ankur
Now in my GWT, I can see many 404 errors for user profile links. This is primarily because we have tight control over spam and auto-profiles generated by bots. Either our moderators or our spam control software delete such spammy member profiles on a periodic basis but by then Google indexes those profiles.
I am wondering, would it be a good idea to disallow User profiles links using robots.txt?
Something like
Disallow: /forums/User-*
-
Maybe you should noindex user profile pages until they've been active on the site long enough that a) you're sure they're not a spam bot and b) they're actually active users, with some interesting information to share on their user page?
Like Shaliendra said, this is your call. It's really about your website goals, and what those user pages do for the site. Are you getting much organic traffic from user pages? If you aren't, it's probably easiest to just noindex all user pages. But if some profiles are bringing in organic traffic, I'd recommend that you add a noindex tag immediately, but remove it once someone has commented a few times.
Does that help?
-
I am only talking about user profile pages not the links inside them. I have already taken care of them.
Request others to please come up with suggestions.
-
If you are talking about user profile pages, it is your call.
If you are talking about links that users post in profile pages, use as signatures or use in threads, make sure to mark them nofollow.
Regards
-
Let me re-phrase my question a bit. Would it be a good idea to get the user profile links noindexed in the first place? or should we keep them indexed in Google?
-
Use meta="noindex" tag for the user profile pages. It is more effective.
Regards
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
-
Need help on declining page rank
Hi Guys,
On-Page Optimization | | Slideuplift123
We had a consistent page ranking for a specific keyword between 5 and 8 positions on google. This week all of a sudden the page which was ranking for that keyword no longer ranks for it and another page has started ranking for that keyword that too at 20th position. I am so confused why has this happened? I didn't do any changes to that page or to the now ranking page. Can anyone help why could this be happening?0 -
Do I need Yoast SEO video for YouTube videos?
I have been following advice for improving the SEO of my YouTube videos, for instance by having the keyword early in the title and description. Do I then need a plugin like Yoast Video SEO for my website where the videos are embedded to increase the chance of showing the videos for that keyword?
On-Page Optimization | | AudunBK0 -
Need Some Quality Vs. Quantity SEO Advice
We have a gallery here with our main categories of patches. https://www.stadriemblems.com/gallery/ If you click on one, say Fire Patches, you'll be taken to a page of just fire patches. https://www.stadriemblems.com/fire-patches/ But here's the kicker: If you notice of the fire patch page, there are also sub-categories to that. So if you click on say, Fire Rescue, you get taken one level deeper. https://www.stadriemblems.com/fire-patches/fire-rescue-patches/ I'm redoing this entire site (a project over five years overdue), and I'm wondering if it's really worth it to keep these three-level deep sub pages. I originally created them with long tail SEO in mind, making us be the only ones who come up when people search for very specific patches. But it's a big undertaking to redo all of them, and are they really adding any value?
On-Page Optimization | | UnderRugSwept0 -
Impact of nofollow links
Does anyone know what the impact of a nofollowed link is on the ranking value any given page has to distribute? For example, if I have 2 links on a page, both followed, I know those links each distribute nearly 50% of the total ranking value the current page has to offer. However, if one of those links is nofollowed, does that automatically mean the other link gets the ranking value cast off by the nofollowed link? In other words, the single followed link now distributes nearly 100% of the ranking value the page has to offer? It seems to me I remember hearing this was not the case and that the ranking value a nofollowed link would have if it were followed just evaporates. This would mean the single followed link still only passes on around 50%...not 100%. Is the effect different if the links are internal vs. external? If any citations are available to justify knowledge here, that would be great. I know a lot of people have opinions about this subject, but I'm not sure anyone knows Google's position. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | RyanOD0 -
What is everyone doing to reduce the number of links on a page?
Some clients of mine have sites that are throwing the "too many links on one page" error and we're not just talking a little more than the status quo 100 links, it's much more. I believe it could be due to the fly-out navigation. My Solution: shorten the Tier 2 categories in the left nav down to 5 and add a "View All" link after the 5th and remove top nav fly-outs. I'm not sure if these are best practices or the best for usability though?
On-Page Optimization | | LisaS130 -
Are To Many Rel Canonical Links A Bad Thing?
Are To Many Rel Canonical Links A Bad Thing? I had "twin" domains so I redirected my .com to www..com and now I have a lot of Rel Canonical Links.
On-Page Optimization | | Mike.Bean0 -
Website review needed
Hello, We need advice about seo for website http://www.oluadeonline.com/ The keywords provided are - Make Money Online, Online Services, Work At Home, Online Money, Online Business, Online Work Its seems impossible to rank the site for these keywords as there is too much competition
On-Page Optimization | | seoug_20050