Let me tell you, I don’t think it’s a good idea to index category, tags, and other archive pages on your website.
First off, let’s talk about what these pages are. Category pages are pages that group together related posts based on a specific topic or theme. Tags, on the other hand, are keywords or phrases that are assigned to individual posts to help organize and classify them. Archive pages, as the name suggests, are pages that display a list of posts by date or month.
Now, you might be thinking, “Why wouldn’t I want these pages indexed? Don’t they provide more content for my website and help with SEO?” Well, here’s the thing. When these pages are indexed, they can actually dilute the value of your original pages and post content.
Let me explain. When search engines crawl your website, they look for unique and valuable content to index and rank. If you have multiple pages with similar content, such as category pages or archive pages, search engines may see them as duplicate content and not give as much weight to your original pages and posts. This can hurt your overall SEO efforts and make it harder for your original content to rank well in search results.
Furthermore, these pages may not provide as much value to your website visitors as you might think. It’s your primary pages and posts that are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You would be surprised that visitors who land on a category or tag page as their first visit to your site, may not find exactly what they’re looking for and end up leaving your site without exploring further. This can lead to a higher bounce rate and lower engagement metrics, which can also negatively impact your SEO.
So, what should you do instead? My suggestion would be to noindex these pages. This means that search engines will not crawl or index them, but they will still exist on your website for visitors to access. By doing this, you can reinforce the value of your original pages and post content, while still providing visitors with a way to navigate and explore your site.
Overall, I believe that not indexing category, tags, and other archive pages can actually benefit your website in the long run. By focusing on your original content and optimizing it for search engines and visitors alike, you can improve your overall SEO and create a better user experience for your audience.