Over 500 thin URLs indexed from dynamically created pages (for lightboxes)

[Alces]

I have a client who has a resources section. This section is primarily devoted to definitions of terms in the industry. These definitions appear in colored boxes that, when you click on them, turn into a lightbox with their own unique URL.

Example URL: /resources/?resource=dlna

The information for these lightboxes is pulled from a standard page: /resources/dlna.

Both are indexed, resulting in over 500 indexed pages that are either a simple lightbox or a full page with very minimal content. My question is this:

Should they be de-indexed? Another option I'm knocking around is working with the client to create Skyscraper pages, but this is obviously a massive undertaking given how many they have.

Would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

[EGOL]

over 500 indexed pages that are either a simple lightbox or a full page with very minimal content

Are these pages pulling in much traffic from search?   I have other thoughts but would like to consider this information before saying how I would handle this if it were my site.

[Alces]

Nope. Almost none.

[EGOL]

Thank you.   My answer is then easy.

If this was my site, I would give the entire definition on the resource page and get rid of the fancy pants lightbox.

A page with 500 definitions is a lot.  So I might divide them up into logical categories and optimize those pages for more specific queries.

If there are definitions that are of very high visitor interest, I would make a full page article about them and link to them from the resource page.

[Alces]

Thanks for the advice. Any idea on how to deindex just the lightbox URL? Never been in this position and I'd like to direct my client to the right resolution.

[EGOL]

I would simply delete the file and then it will 404.

However, if you think that valuable links might be pointing to it, then I would do a 301 redirect to the most relevant page.

[Alces]

I think the only way to do that is to delete the actual Resource page, since that's where the lightbox pulls the content. I don't want to delete these pages.

[Libra_Photographic]

This was an issue that yoast came up with on an upgrade with wordpress in the middle of 2018. It may be worth a little research into how their "purge" plugin worked as it did exactly this.

Using the htaccess file simply tell google not to index the resource pages then they will naturally over time fall out of the search  or you can purge by

1. Log into the Google Search Console and select the desired website.
2. Click on “Optimization” in the left-hand navigation.
3. Click on “Remove URL” in the sub-menu.
4. Click on the button “create a new request for removal” on this page.

Once this is done and they are set to no index. Problem solved.