Why is Google showing threads in printthread?

[makpaolo]

Very odd.. some posts of mine show in google search engine, but it will show the printthread.php link instead of the showthread.php which is actually really annoying to see..

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[/img]

How can I fix this?

EDIT: That IMG tags is a bug with MyBB, I did not do that... anyways: https://i.gyazo.com/a01cd0c6396af7b26865...cdef85.png

[Crazycat]

In your Robots.txt, add a rule to disallow printthread.php.
Google bot is lazy: the printthread page is simpliest to read (for it) than a forum page.

[makpaolo]

In your Robots.txt, add a rule to disallow printthread.php.
Google bot is lazy: the printthread page is simpliest to read (for it) than a forum page.

Sorry I am not very well with that. Can you help me with the right rule to add?
That does make sense

[Crazycat]

Ok, so add (if doesn't exists) a file robots.txt in your forum root, and put in this file:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /printthread.php*

This will say to all spiders to not read the printthread.php page. Googlebot usually follow the robots.txt directives, you'll have to be patient and wait for an unindexation of your pages.

Note that you can specify a particular User-agent if you want to apply rules to only one spider.
Have a look @ https://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html if you want to understand more things about this file and what you can do with it.

[makpaolo]

Ok, so add (if doesn't exists) a file robots.txt in your forum root, and put in this file:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /printthread.php*

This will say to all spiders to not read the printthread.php page. Googlebot usually follow the robots.txt directives, you'll have to be patient and wait for an unindexation of your pages.

Note that you can specify a particular User-agent if you want to apply rules to only one spider.
Have a look @ https://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html if you want to understand more things about this file and what you can do with it.

Thank you very much! I have done this and I feel confident it will work as well. Thanks again

[Ashley1]

Adding disallow won't result in "unindexation". It will only result in bots being blocked from crawling those URLs.
The only way to remove the content from the index, is to add meta noindex to the printthread template. And you have to remove the disallow directive.

[makpaolo]

Adding disallow won't result in "unindexation". It will only result in bots being blocked from crawling those URLs.
The only way to remove the content from the index, is to add meta noindex to the printthread template. And you have to remove the disallow directive.

This method is preferred over robots.txt?

So I would just add:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

Under <head> tags?

[Crazycat]

In the printthread template, yes.
And this method is not preferred, you can use the 2.
The disallow directive in robots.txt says robots to not go on the page, the meta noindex says them to not index the page.

Adding disallow won't result in "unindexation". It will only result in bots being blocked from crawling those URLs.
The only way to remove the content from the index, is to add meta noindex to the printthread template. And you have to remove the disallow directive.

They will unindex: the page "doesn't exists anymore" (for crawlers) so they will remove it.

[Ashley1]

In the printthread template, yes.
And this method is not preferred, you can use the 2.
The disallow directive in robots.txt says robots to not go on the page, the meta noindex says them to not index the page.

Adding disallow won't result in "unindexation". It will only result in bots being blocked from crawling those URLs.
The only way to remove the content from the index, is to add meta noindex to the printthread template. And you have to remove the disallow directive.

They will unindex: the page "doesn't exists anymore" (for crawlers) so they will remove it.

Not true. If you use disallow in robots, the URLs will stay in the index indefinitely.

As i said above the only way to remove URLs from the index, is to use meta noindex, or alternatively set a 301 redirect.

[makpaolo]

In the printthread template, yes.
And this method is not preferred, you can use the 2.
The disallow directive in robots.txt says robots to not go on the page, the meta noindex says them to not index the page.

Adding disallow won't result in "unindexation". It will only result in bots being blocked from crawling those URLs.
The only way to remove the content from the index, is to add meta noindex to the printthread template. And you have to remove the disallow directive.

They will unindex: the page "doesn't exists anymore" (for crawlers) so they will remove it.

Not true. If you use disallow in robots, the URLs will stay in the index indefinitely.

As i said above the only way to remove URLs from the index, is to use meta noindex, or alternatively set a 301 redirect.

Well, if I were to do the templates way, does that mean Google will then only crawl showthread URLs? I have some posts that are on Google ranked on the first page, but they are in printthread.php templates. I understand it may be lost, but is it possible to simply convert all printthread.php links to their proper Google SEO url / showthread.php url?