Noindex threads with 0 replies

[Dave Hybrid]

Hi i am trying to add the no index tag to threads with 0 replies.

All the conditionals i try dont seem to work.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave.

[Brian Cummiskey]

$post[postcount] should be what you're looking for, but it won't be available in 'headinclude'.... it's not in scope until the post bit renders.

[Dave Hybrid]

That's the issue im having, any ideas on a workaround?

[Brian Cummiskey]

short of doing the query ahead of time which would require massive code edits, (or doubling the query load for every page view), i don't think so.

[Marvin Hlavac]

$post[postcount] should be what you're looking for, but it won't be available in 'headinclude'.... it's not in scope until the post bit renders.

If the $post[postcount] cannot help Dave with the NOINDEX tag, perhaps it could help in completely preventing guests (including search engines) seeing threads with no replies, if that's something Dave would consider as an option.

[Brian Cummiskey]

The variabkle isn't available until well after the 'head' is printed. Putting a meta tag in the body will do nothing.

If anything is to be done, a manually query which writes a txt file in robots format to block certain urls is probably the best option.

But, it's really a wasted effort IMO. Google already will only index 'good' threads as it sees fit anyway.

[Dave Hybrid]

But, it's really a wasted effort IMO. Google already will only index 'good' threads as it sees fit anyway.

Yeah, that's why the index is full of spam.

These days it is a websites responsibility to showcase it's best content, not Google to find and index it.

If you allow access to shallow/thin content you will get penalized. This includes content that provides a bad user experience, bounce rate, time on site are all taken into account in the algo.

I suggest you read up on the Panda Update.

For anyone interested, here is how you noindex 0 reply threads, as threads without an answer do not offer value to a search visitor.

It was actually very simple, im surprised no one at vb or vbseo came up with it.

<if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'showthread'">
<if condition="!$threadinfo['replycount']">
<meta name="robots" content="noindex,follow" />
</if>
</if>

[Brian Cummiskey]

Just because a thread has no replies doesn't mean it's spam. Some of the best articles have been stickied/closed with no replies.

[Marvin Hlavac]

That's true, Brian, on my technical forum many threads with no replies are valuable reviews or tutorials. However, this may differ based on the type of a forum. Numerous people, since Panda, have implemented noindex meta tag on pages they consider "thin content". The code Dave has shared may be valuable to some people.

[Brian Cummiskey]

It also may stop any new threads from being indexed. All theads start as a no reply. If google hapepns to be on your site at the time a thread is started, it may note that thread as an 'avoid' and never come back to it for months, meanwhile it gained replies.