Is it good or bad to add noindex for empty pages, which will get content dynamically after some days

[swapnil12]

We have followers, following, friends, etc pages for each user who creates account on our website. so when new user sign up, he may have 0 followers, 0 following and 0 friends, but over period of time he can get those lists go up. we have different pages for followers, following and friends which are allowed for google to index.

When user don't have any followers/following/friends, those pages looks empty and we get issue of duplicate content and description too short. so is it better that we add  noindex for those pages temporarily and remove noindex tag when there are at least 2 or more people on those pages.

What are side effects of adding noindex when there is no data on those page or benefits of it?

[Roman-Delcarmen]

Well, if those pages do not have any value your best choice is add the no-index tag, I mean if they don't answer any question and aren't useful they will consume your crawl budget. Thin content can be identified as low-quality pages that add little to no value to the reader. Examples of thin content include duplicate pages, automatically generated content or doorway pages.

Google tries to provide the best results that match the search intent of the user. If you want to rank high, you have to convince Google that you’re answering the question of the user. This isn’t possible if you’re not willing to write extensively on the topic you like to rank for. Thin content rarely qualifies for Google as the best result. As a minimum, Google has to know what your page is about to know if it should display your result to the user. So try to write enjoyable, informative copy, to make Google, but first an foremost, your users happy.

How to Determine if a Page is "Low Quality"
https://moz.com/blog/low-quality-pages

What is Thin Content and Why is it Bad for SEO?
https://www.custard.co.uk/thin-content/

How to Turn Low-Value Content Into Neatly
https://moz.com/blog/low-value-content-next-level

Now is a good idea to familiarize yourself with Google’s Quality Guidelines. Think long and hard about whether you may be doing this, intentionally or accidentally.

You’re probably not straight-up spamming people, but you could do better.
the golden rule to identify if your page needs the no- index tag or not, is very simple
“Does this add value for your visitors?” Well, does it?

Also, check what Google says about it** "Thin content with little or no added value"**
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3-obcXkyA4

IN SUMMARY, Adding the no-index tag to unuseful pages will not hurt your site

Hope this info helps you with your question.

 

[swapnil12]

As my pages are dynamic, so if I want to remove noindex after few days as page will have something. Is that google going to consider quickly enough that I removed noindex for those pages?

[Roman-Delcarmen]

In that case, you can create some rules in your robot.txt file. All depends on the configuration of your site. Also, you need to check on your search console and your crawl budget.

As I mentioned all depends on your site. If you deal with 10 new users per day, just take it easy, config your robot.txt file in the other hand if you deal with 1000 or 10000 users, in that case, you will need to think in a better solution.

The first idea that comes to my mind is to create a script on javascript who evaluate some parameters on those pages and if meet the parameters (do not add the tag) if not **(add the tag) **