I shared a tip on this topic almost three and half years ago. In fact, it was the 16th note I shared. There have been 181 straight weeks of notes since then. Hard to believe it’s been that long.
I had a recent conversation with a new client about this because they had all their category pages tagged noindex. I thought it might be a good time to revisit this.
Should You Noindex Category Pages?
The short answer: It depends on how your site uses category pages.
If category pages are part of your navigation or sub-navigation, do not noindex them. These pages contribute to user experience and internal link equity. Ignoring this can disrupt your site’s internal linking structure and SEO performance.
Here’s why:
- Soft 404 Errors
When you noindex category pages, Google may treat them as soft 404s over time. This isn’t catastrophic but can lead to errors in Search Console. - Loss of Link Equity
Noindexing signals Google to treat links on those pages as nofollow, cutting off link equity flow. If your navigation links point to category pages, noindexing will waste link equity and harm your internal linking strategy.
Quick Rule:
If users can navigate to category pages from anywhere on your site, keep them indexed. If the only way to access them is via the sitemap or direct URL input, noindexing won’t have an SEO impact.
Common Objections and Solutions
- “Category pages are low quality or duplicate content.”
Solution: Improve them. Add unique content, such as an introductory paragraph, and avoid showing only post excerpts. High-quality category pages enhance both user experience and SEO. - “Category pages outrank my main target pages.”
Solution: Optimize your target pages better. Strengthen their content, internal links, and on-page SEO. Aim to rank both pages high for related queries instead of creating competition. - “Noindexing saves crawl budget.”
Solution: Crawl budget concerns are overblown for most sites. If your site has fewer than 100,000 pages, crawl budget is rarely an issue. Google efficiently crawls small- to medium-sized sites. Instead of noindexing valuable pages, focus on improving their structure and content to maximize SEO benefits. Reserve crawl budget-saving efforts for massive sites with millions of URLs, where issues like faceted navigation or duplicate pages genuinely impact crawl efficiency.
Bottom line: If category pages play a role in your navigation or internal link strategy, keep them indexed and improve their quality. This ensures they benefit both your users and your SEO efforts.
