Search results indexed

[pauledwards]

Hi there, is is bad practice in seo to have search results for products indexed?

For example a search result of holidays to Ibiza, with lots of deals coming up? its a search query url that would be indexed, with just an image and price per product on the page, with about 10 per page?

Any advice appreciated.

[RobertFisher]

Paul,

What do you mean by indexed? Are you saying should the meta robots for the url be: index, follow?

So, you url  GreatToursExample.com/holidays-in-ibiza, should it be indexed? Yes, if you want it to show in the SERP.

If I am not following your question, explain and I will follow up.

[Thos003]

I see a lot of search queries being indexed and found by Google. If the page generated offers something unique and not purely duplicate content then I could see this as helpful. It would be a tough line to define of what is strictly spammy SEO and what is helpful. Most often I see these pages for obscure searches, like "best spots with a view for holiday dinners in ibiza".

If you do decide to test these pages, then I would suggest to not dilute your strong pages. If you already rank for "holidays in ibiza" then don't try to rank a similar page like "Ibiza holidays"

[pauledwards]

Hi guys thanks for the reply.

So basically to clarify there are pages indexed which are merely lists of products from a search query url. Somehow Google has picked up the search query url and indexed it. Its simply a list of products with the price on say page 3 of 10 for example. This happens a lot. The worry is will it look duplicate and be seen as poor quality with the panda update?

Thanks, any help much appreciated as always.

[RobertFisher]

If it is duplicate but on your site only, I do not think you will have an issue based on what I read from Google. If you are using the same product verbiage as everyone else I think it could be an issue. As to poor quality, this issue would more affect ranking IMO.

So, you can no index if it is not a critical page to your business. Or, if it is as I have here, you can simply leave it be until at such time as you believe it is a problem in the eyes of Google. If it is duped content that everyone is using I, personally, would no index no follow.

Best