Noindex Simple URL links?

  • Resolved drastikone1

    (@drastikone1)


    7 years, 6 months ago

    Hi,

    I’ve noticed a few of my Simple URL links getting indexed by Search Engines. I also use Yoast. I mainly use Simple URL for affiliate links. Is there any harm in setting each new Simple URL link to noindex using the yoast plugin?

    Or is there a better and more effective way? Obviously I just the want the Simple URL to not get indexed without any harm to the normal URL’s on my website.

    • This topic was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by drastikone1.
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Nick C

    (@modernnerd)

    7 years, 6 months ago

    Simple URL links shouldn’t be indexed by search engines because they issue a redirect code: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/should-i-click-noindex-for-simple-urls-with-yoast-wordpress-seo/

    If they are being indexed, though, setting noindex via WordPress SEO and excluding them from your sitemap are both good ideas.

    Thread Starter drastikone1

    (@drastikone1)

    7 years, 6 months ago

    Hi Nick,

    Thanks for the reply. Are the Simple URLs also nofollow too? I’ve heard Google say they prefer us to not make sponsored or referral do follow? So do we need to edit our Robots.txt file and dissalow /go/

    • This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by drastikone1.
    Thread Starter drastikone1

    (@drastikone1)

    7 years, 6 months ago

    Also, I noticed in my Yoast SEO settings under Titles & Metas/Post Types/Simples URLs the box says Meta Robots – Index. Do I need to change this to noindex?

    Thanks

    Nick C

    (@modernnerd)

    7 years, 6 months ago

    Hi, @drastikone1.

    Yes – setting noindex, nofollow, and disallowing the short URL in robots.txt are all good precautions if you find your links appearing in search results.

    Thread Starter drastikone1

    (@drastikone1)

    7 years, 6 months ago

    Hi Nick,

    How do you make them no follow? I know how to use the Robots.txt to dissallow them and The Yoast Plugin allows me to set Simple URLS under the Titles and Metas section to No index, but don’t see anywhere to make them no follow?

    • This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by drastikone1.
    Nick C

    (@modernnerd)

    7 years, 6 months ago

    You could edit each specific link you’d like to discourage search engines from following and add ‘nofollow’ to the rel attribute:

    <a href="http://example.com/go/slug/" rel="nofollow">example link text</a>

    More here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/96569.

    I’m not aware of a way to apply nofollow to links with a specific URL format in bulk, though. (You can only apply it to individual links via the rel attribute, or to all links on a certain page via nofollow on the robots meta tag.)

    • This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by James Huff.
    • This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Nick C. Reason: formatting
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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