8 replies to this topic

[shimlad]

OK - so i have an accommodation website where advertisers can include an availability calendar if they wish.

The availability calendar would appear on a URL like this:

propertyname/availability

and get indexed which is fine.

However there are two buttons on the calendar which are "previous" and "next" which send the calendar on or back 3 months.

Problem is, it is displaying the new data on a different URL i.e.

propertyname/availability/1909/6/
propertyname/availability/1908/5/

and it goes on infinitely forward and backwards.

it also uses the same title tag and Google webmaster tools is reporting it as having duplicate title tags.

question is, what do I use to stop it indexing the unwanted extra URLS?

[chrishirst]

Add a meta robots element with a noindex value

HTML

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

[Jill]

You might want to simply use rel=canonical to make propertyname/availability the canonical one. That should do the trick, I believe.

[shimlad]

Thank you for the quick answers guys!

For the robot no index meta, I presume I need to set it up so my site automatically adds this tag to every duplicate page. i.e.

propertyname/availability/1909/6/
propertyname/availability/1909/5/
propertyname/availability/1909/4/
propertyname/availability/1909/3/

And with the canonical, is that the same kinda thing? i think with that i have to add on every page the rel=canonical tag telling the search engine this is the same page as: propertyname/availability/

thank you

[Jill]

i think with that i have to add on every page the rel=canonical tag telling the search engine this is the same page as: propertyname/availability/

Correct.

[shimlad]

Correct.

thanks Jill, i thought so, just nice to get it confirmed

[shimlad]

Does anybody know if the Canonical Tag would be better or the Robots Meta? or Both?

thanks.

[chrishirst]

For the robot no index meta, I presume I need to set it up so my site automatically adds this tag to every duplicate page. i.e.

propertyname/availability/1909/6/
propertyname/availability/1909/5/
propertyname/availability/1909/4/
propertyname/availability/1909/3/

Yep.

Does anybody know if the Canonical Tag would be better or the Robots Meta? or Both?

Use both, it won't "hurt" anything.

[Jill]

The canonical supposedly passes any link pop value like a 301 redirect would, which is why I would go that way if it's just as easy to either of them.