Internal Search Pages: The Hidden Problem That Can Waste Your Search Engine Resources
Many websites have a search feature to help people find things easily. This is good for users. It can cause big problems for search engines if not done right. When people search for something on your website it creates a page with a unique address. Search engines can get stuck crawling these pages of the important ones on your website.
What Are Internal Search Result Pages?
Internal search result pages are pages that appear when people search for something on your website. For example if someone searches for “laptops” your website creates a page with a list of laptops. This is helpful for websites with a lot of pages.. Every time someone searches for something it creates a new page and search engines might find and crawl these pages.
Why Internal Search Pages Create a Big Problem
Unlike pages search pages can create a huge number of unique addresses. Every time someone searches for something it creates a page. This can go on forever. Search engines can get stuck crawling these pages.
Examples include:
* Searching by keyword
* Using category filters
* Using price filters
* Sorting by date
* Sorting alphabetically
* Using filters
This creates a big problem, where search engines keep finding new pages to crawl and it never ends.
How It Affects Your Website
1. Search Engines Waste Their Time
Search engines only have much time to crawl your website. If they spend all their time crawling search result pages they might not have time to crawl your pages like product pages or blog posts.
2. Your Server Gets Overloaded
Search result pages are often created on the fly. Every time someone searches for something your server has to work to create the page. If search engines are crawling a lot of these pages it can slow down your website for users.
3. Search Engines Keep Finding New Pages
Some search pages have links to searches or suggested queries. Search engines follow these links. Find even more pages to crawl and it never ends.
How Search Engines Handle These Pages
Search engines try to figure out which pages are search pages and might not crawl them as much.. This is not perfect and it can take time. During that time search engines might still crawl these pages wasting resources.
Best Ways to Prevent Problems
1. Block Search Pages
One way to solve this problem is to block search engines from crawling your search pages. You can do this by adding a rule to your robots.txt file.
Example:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /search
If your search uses codes in the address block the whole search pattern.
Example:
Disallow: /search?
This is easier to manage than having a lot of rules.
2. Use the Noindex Tag
If you want search engines to crawl your pages but not show them in search results you can use the noindex tag.
Example:
This tells search engines to crawl the page but not show it in search results. Over time search engines will learn to avoid crawling these pages.
Blocking vs Noindexing
Blocking prevents search engines from crawling your pages. Noindexing lets search engines crawl your pages. Not show them in search results. Blocking is simple. Saves resources right away. Noindexing gives search engines information about your pages.
Do Not Use the URL Removal Tool
Some people use the URL Removal Tool to hide search pages from search results.. This only hides the pages temporarily and search engines will still crawl them. The problem is still there.
Do Not Return Errors to Search Engines
Some websites return errors to search engines to prevent them from crawling.. This is not a good idea because search engines might reduce crawling your whole website, including your important pages.
If a page should not exist it is better to return an error message.. Blocking or noindexing search pages is usually a better solution.
Category Pages Are
Not all dynamically generated pages are the same. Category pages are helpful for users and search engines because they organize content and help search engines understand your website. These pages deserve to be crawled and indexed.
If your website uses the search system for category pages make sure your rules distinguish between search pages and category pages.
Security Risks of Search Pages
If you let search pages be indexed it can create opportunities for spam. Attackers can create pages with spammy keywords and if these pages get indexed your website can show up in search results for bad things.
Best Practices
* Block internal search pages whenever possible.
* Use the noindex tag if search pages need to be crawled but not indexed.
* Keep your rules simple.
* Let important category and landing pages be crawled.
* Do not rely on the URL Removal Tool.
* Do not return errors to search engines.
* Check your website regularly for indexed search pages or spam.
Internal search functionality is good, for users. It can create a big problem if not done right. By blocking search pages and using the noindex tag you can help search engines focus on your content and keep your website healthy and efficient.
