Internal "nofollow" prevents pages from indexing?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by bobpit, Feb 18, 2009.

  1. #1
    I just noticed something weird.

    I have 3 not so important pages. For "technical" stuff, "contact us", "fees", "timetable". (These are examples)

    In all of them I use the "nofollow" tag when linking internally, because I do not care for them to rank high. There are only a couple of exceptions, where I have 1-2 regular links to "Contact us" and "fees". I do include all 4 pages in my sitemap though.

    I just noticed that only the "contact us" and "timetable" page appears in the google index. But I am pretty sure that the other two pages, where indexed by google 1-2 months ago, and now they have disappeared.

    Now, when I search in google with keywords appropriate for the "timetable" or "contact us" pages, google prefers to bring me any other page from my site, than the correct one. Somehow it knows this is a trivial page that rarely anybody visits.

    Makes sense?

    1) How can I make google index the missing pages? I have them in my sitemap. They are linked form all 12 pages of the site.

    2) Are you aware of this issue?
     
    bobpit, Feb 18, 2009 IP