URLs are not indexed

[prsntsnh]

My website has 0.5 million pages with urls like this- **http://www.mycity4kids.com/Delhi-NCR/collage-painting-classes-%3cnear%3e-shalimar-bagh ****, **none of these urls are indexed.

Question 1- What can be the possible reason for this issue? Users see this url as : http://www.mycity4kids.com/Delhi-NCR/collage-painting-classes-<near>-shalimar-bagh</near>
The symbol "<" and ">" get converted into "%3c" and "%3e" respectively, is this the reason for these urls not getting indexed?

[JaneCopland]

Hi Prashant,

If these URLs are only created when a user searches for a term, but are not linked to anywhere in HTML either on your site or elsewhere on the Internet, this is a very good reason why they are not indexed.

Google does not usually perform queries on a site (e.g. fill in forms) to "discover" what content might be displayed when those forms are filled in. It's tried and tested method of crawling is just that - crawling links and text in HTML. It has become more adventurous with different technology and sometimes finds things that it wouldn't have previously, but linking is still the primary way to ensure something gets crawled.

In many cases, you wouldn't want Google finding content that it has to perform queries / fill in forms or searches to get to: this is how some sites create massive amounts of duplicate content by accident. So in a way, Google is doing everyone a favour by not indexing URLs like this.

We have submitted these urls on google webmaster using a "sitemap" for indexing still none of them are indexed.

I tend to think of sitemaps like road maps: they're a guide. The site itself is the road. If a map tells me that I can drive across a river but when I get there, this is no bridge, I'm not going to drive across the river. Maybe I will if I have a huge four-wheel-drive car with a snorkel, but possibly not. Maybe Google will index URLs it can't find on the web itself, but possibly not.

If you want the URLs to be found, link to them

Cheers,

Jane

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

Just Google the URL it can't be simpler, if there is a result it's indexed.

[prsntsnh]

Thanks Martijn

Could you please tell how many ways are there to check whether a page is indexed or not?

Someone on a different forum told me that we can check "indexed status" of a url by directly googling that url, there is no need to use "site:" operator.

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

Hi Prashant,

Then that's definitely your issue, I wouldn't index any pages to be honest that I couldn't find in any navigation besides self finding the pages. I would link from any related pages to the pages that you want to have indexed.

[prsntsnh]

Thanks Martijn,

Yes, if a user enter a search term then these URL get formed. for example if you visit : www.mycity4kids.com and enter Collage Painting Classes in 1st search box and Shalimar Bagh in 2nd search box then you will see this:** http://www.mycity4kids.com/Delhi-NCR/collage-painting-classes-<near>-shalimar-bagh</near>** url in address bar.

We have submitted these urls on google webmaster using a "sitemap" for indexing still none of them are indexed.

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

Hi Prashant,

Can these pages be found via the navigation or do you have to enter a search term to get to them? I can't find any links to the first page you've listed in your question. If that's the case than it's quite normal that Google didn't index the page as they just aren't able to find the page in the first place.