Jackson
Forum Replies Created
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Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Negative Category Pages (/?cat=-1)Hi @jnashhawkins, just swinging back around as it looks like that HTTrack is only for PC’s unfortunately.
Wondering if you had any other thoughts on this after my previous reply to you?
Thanks so much!
=D
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Negative Category Pages (/?cat=-1)Thanks for the awesome reply @jnashhawkins, I really appreciate you taking the time. Most helpful information I’ve received yet to understand what’s going on.
Google is reading them and in some instances the negative category page is actually outranking the real post that is supposed to be returning for that given query. They will be stacked on top of each other in the results sometimes. Super weird.
They show up in Google Search Console too, and I see big swings in rankings as on some days I’ll have a specific post ranking in position 3 and the negative category page will not be showing up. But then a different day that same post will fall down to position 40 or something BUT that negative category page will also be generating results. And like I said they appear right on top of each other at times.
Yes, the problem is still there for sure. I did the 999 blog posts thing to get rid of all the different links as everyone wanted me to keep URL inspecting them in GSC to get google to figure out that they shouldn’t be indexing that page. I suspect doing that was what was creating the organic search ranking fluctuations too.
Also, with them all on just one link I was thinking there would be a potential to remove just that one URL or somehow no-index it. My site is not very big so the 999 would never happen. I think my entire blog is less than 90 posts.
Visitor experience won’t change with this setting. They’ll never find that page as there is not clickable link to it anyways.
I’ll have to look into the HTTrack thing. I’m admittedly not very technical with all this stuff but I’m sure I could figure it out.
Let me know if my response to your questions give you any other ideas.
Thanks again, I really appreciate it!
=D
Thanks @pcosta88 I’ve made a post about this in the forum you suggested. Fingers crossed that someone has a solution.
All the best!
Thanks for the follow up @bikegremlin
@elavd & @hauntingfox did you ever find a solution?
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: ?cat=-1 Indexed Versions Of Homepage@exactfox did you ever find a solution to this? I’ve been struggling with it for months now and cannot find any answers. Thanks!
@pcosta88 I’ve already been through the support with Yoast. And also Elegant Themes, and Google Webmasters Forum, etc.
They all point me back here to try to figure out this WordPress issue.
Any other ideas on how I can prevent these pages from being created, or at least keep them out of search results, without effecting the actual content I want to show up there?
I really appreciate the help, thank you!
@bikegremlin what was the solution that resolved your issue? I’m not seeing it in the thread here. Been trying to figure out this exact same issue for my site as well but keep striking out everywhere. Thanks! =D
Thanks @pcosta88 and I’m just not sure how to get any help with this here.
I made my original post (https://wordpress.org/support/topic/category-pages-coming-up-in-google-search-results-instead-of-the-actual-post/) before later narrowing down thru other support systems that it was for sure a WordPress issue. That post somehow offended one of the admins and in hindsight now I’m guessing because the forum here removed (as redundant) the most important part of the link, it must have made it unclear what my real issue was at a quick glance.
Another admin stepped in later to apologize and explain. And after noticing that the forum automatically removed the link in the post I tried to make a new post that was super simple and nailed down the exact issue this time. BUT, that was then deleted by one of the admins and I was told not to post more than once. I then asked if I could take the original post down and just go with my 2nd much more precise post, but to no avail or even a response.
I just don’t know what else to do from here.
Thanks for your help, it is much appreciated!
=D
It seems everyone is stumped on this /?cat=-1 issue.
I spent a crazy amount of time on support chats/calls with Yoast, Divi (my theme), Google Webmasters Forum, and then I hit a dead end here.
I was told it wasn’t even a WordPress issue by an admin here, and they were actually offended by me. It was weird.
I’m still holding out hope to find the right solution. I’ve had many suggestions…only to get suggestions against those suggestions, including asking google to remove the pages, as they say that could affect real content not getting indexed as well.
Here’s what seemed to be the best advice from the thread over on Google Webmasters Forum: https://support.google.com/webmasters/thread/27682311?hl=en&msgid=27682311
I’m still holding out hope for a better solution before I try that code snippet.
If I find a solid solution I will report back, and please do the same as well.
Cheers and good luck! =D
Hmmm, anyone have any ideas how I could best find some help with this?
Other places I could be reaching out to about these /?cat=-1 pages ?
A million thank-yous in advance!
=D
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: ?cat=-1 Indexed Versions Of HomepageI got stuck with this issue on here too.
I spent a crazy amount of time on support chats/calls about this “negative” category situation. Extensive talks with Yoast, Divi (my theme), Google Webmasters Forum, and then I hit a dead end here.
I was told it wasn’t even a WordPress issue by an admin here, and they were actually offended by me. It was weird.
I’m still holding out hope to find the right solution. I’ve had many suggestions…only to get suggestions against those suggestions.
Here’s what seemed to be the best advice from the thread over on Google Webmasters Forum: https://support.google.com/webmasters/thread/27682311?hl=en&msgid=27682311
I’ll follow up if I find anything else and feel free to do the same. Cheers! =D
Also James, I just noticed it was my post today you must have been referring to as it seems to have been removed. Can we just take this one down and put that one back up?
It’s much much clearer and doesn’t have a negative vibe to it. 😉
If that’s possible, that would be great.
If not, can I edit this one to put emphasis on the fact that these are a “Negative” category pages that are being created and show like: https://www.aframeforward.com/?cat=-1
This part is the most important piece to solving it I’m guessing: /?cat=-1
Somehow that was removed from my original post here I just now noticed, and is an absolutely crucial piece of information for understanding what’s going on here.
Thanks so much!
=D
Thanks for your thoughtfulness and time James. I appreciate it!
I won’t tag anyone ever again now knowing how bad it is. Again, my apologies as I just thought that was how you responded to people on here, as it shows the @ tag handle right next to users name. Figured it was like Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Google, etc.
Are you referring to my other post today asking about the negative category pages? If so, I was trying to make a more simplified and different post that could make it easier for people to provide insight, as my original post was much more complex and involved many more variables. Also now knowing that it was indeed a WordPress issue I thought that would be helpful. And because no one was responding I figured my original post must not have been effectively worded and was only creating confusion with the stern response from the moderator, and then her not responding to me after that. I thought that thread was dead as a result of how it, and I, was treated.
I understand the etiquette/expectations here now so thanks for clarifying.
And yeah, I’m hoping someone can provide some insight as to why those pages are being created, and/or how I can eliminate them from being created, or at least how I keep them from showing up in search results. It’s so strange to me that no one knows how the pages are created or why. Truly baffling. Fingers crossed though and thanks again James! =D
- This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by Jackson.
Wow, never expected that kind of response, and most certainly wasn’t trying to be rude by any means.
As I mentioned above, we did test without the theme and those odd pages are still there. Everyone agreed (Divi, Yoast, Google Webmasters Forum) after that it was indeed a WordPress issue so I was just trying to follow up on that.
I didn’t get a response to my follow ups so I thought maybe it just got lost in the busy shuffle of everyones lives. No big deal. Never realized tagging someone that you were responding to in a thread could be considered a bad thing. I just thought it meant that you were engaging in a conversation with that person.