When you’re setting up your website, whether it’s for products, articles, or pictures, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to organising your content. But most website systems offer something called “category pages” and “tags” to help you sort things out.
Category pages are like big folders (imagine folders for “clothes” or “shoes”), while tags are like smaller labels (like labels for “red dresses” or “running shoes”). These tools can be helpful, but too many can cause problems. Specifically, they can affect how well your website shows up in search engines like Google.
As a Singapore SEO Consultant from a top digital marketing agency, we’ll explain the issues that having too many category and tag pages can cause. We’ll also talk about a solution called “noindexing” and show you how it can make a big difference, using a practical example.
If you’re wondering whether “noindexing” can help with your website’s SEO (search engine optimization) issues, keep reading.
What Problems Can Extra Category and Tag Pages Cause?
Having lots of category and tag pages can lead to two main problems:
- Competition for Attention: Imagine if different parts of your website are all trying to get the same visitors. It’s like having a bunch of people shouting for attention in a crowded room. This can make it more difficult for your website to rank well in SERP.
- Wasting Resources: Search engines use special programs to “crawl” websites and add their pages to search results. But they can’t crawl every single page on the internet. So, they focus on what they think are the most important pages. When your website has many extra pages that aren’t very useful, it’s like sending search engines on a wild goose chase. This can lead to them missing out on the good stuff.
How to Deal with Excess Category and Tag Pages
If you find yourself with too many category and tag pages causing SEO problems, there are steps you can take to fix it:
- Noindexing Pages: This means telling search engines not to include certain pages in their search results. It’s like marking a book as “private” in a library catalogue so that only certain people can find it.
- Organising Better: Take a good look at your categories and tags. Make sure they make sense and help your visitors. Get rid of ones that are confusing or don’t add much value.
- Linking Wisely: Be careful with how you link to these pages within your website. Don’t go overboard with links to less important pages. Focus on directing people to the pages that matter most.
- Regular Check-Ups: Keep an eye on your website. Do audits regularly to see any new issues with category and tag pages. Fix them promptly to keep your site running smoothly.
When Should You Index or Noindex Pages?
Here are some guidelines to help you decide whether to include or exclude pages from search engine results:
- Include Valuable Pages: Pages that provide useful information or products should definitely be included in search engine results. You want people to find them easily.
- Noindex for Avoiding Confusion: If you have pages that are very similar to more important ones, it’s a good idea to noindex them. This stops them from stealing attention from the main pages.
- Private Pages: Noindex pages that are meant for a specific group of people, not the general public. Examples include pages for your email subscribers or customer portals.
- Testing and Staging Pages: If you’re working on new things or testing changes, noindex those pages to keep them out of search results until they’re ready for the spotlight.
Bottomline
Categories and tags can be great tools for organising your website, but they need to be used wisely. Having too many of them can lead to SEO issues like content competition and resource waste.
Using techniques like “noindexing” and making thoughtful decisions about your website’s structure can help address these issues and improve your site’s overall performance. The key is to align your choices with your website’s goals and the experience you want to offer to your visitors.
If you like this article, you may want to read this article about The SEO Consultant Projections for the Changing Search Landscape.
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