"noindex" internal search result urls

[RaksG]

Hi,

Would applying "noindex" on any page (say internal search pages) or blocking via robots text, skew up the internal site search stats in Google Analytics?

Thanks,

[jesse-landry]

How do you mean? Blocking particular pages from being indexed or crawled will keep them from ranking in Google which will limit traffic. GA will still report traffic to those pages from external sources, however. Was that what you were asking?

Oof, maybe I shouldn't post here so early in the morning I have trouble with my reading comprehension first-thing in the AM.

[RaksG]

Hi Jesse,

Thanks for the quick response!

I am not referring to the traffic info but the metrics related to the search terms, unique searches, source & destination pages and so on.

I want to ensure we are still able to get accurate data for the internal searches on GA but at the same time block the results page from being ranked.

Hope that makes sense.

[jesse-landry]

I see. Well noindex nofollow tags do nothing but prevent said pages or directories from being indexed in SERPs. So no, it will not affect your GA tracking... i.e. a search query will be registered whether the page it's searched from is indexable or not.. it is essentially a separate function entirely within Google's framework.

[Inductive_Automation]

Google Analytics and a noindex tag are completely separate entities. So by applying a noindex tag to your search pages (which is a great idea, imo, reduces duplicate content), you still have the Google Analytic code on the page, which allows it to report to the server and then you can view your data.

So yes, you will still get accurate info and metrics.