Should search pages be indexed?

[RebekahVP]

Hey guys,

I've always believed that search pages should be no-indexed but now I'm wondering if there is an argument to index them?

Appreciate any thoughts!

[Xiano]

Do you mean pages you initiate the search from, or the search results page? (I know these can be the same thing in some cases)

I would allow a page that you search from to be indexed, depending upon what it is used to search. Someone who has put a query into Google might find your search page useful in resolving their query.

I wouldn't allow search results pages to be indexed, for obvious reasons, even for specific searches links from other locations. You'd be better off creating category index pages or similar.

[jacobmartinnn]

I prefer not to allow search result pages to be indexed.

[RebekahVP]

Thanks Alex, I mean search bars on eCommerce sites. More specifically, a search bar that filters down to products.

For help centre searches, I can understand why having the search box indexed would be useful - just don't think it would be a good idea for specific product searches. But I've never made a pro-con list so was looking more for opinions

[RebekahVP]

Thanks Jahir, any particular reason?

[Xiano]

I would definitely not allow search engines to index those type of results pages. To be fair, they're unlikely to come across them as a bot wouldn't typically fill in a search box to search, but ey might follow a link from somewhere else. For products, I would definitely want to be using category (or similar) pages to define what the search engines saw.