If one were to put the metatag "noindex, follow" on the homepage of a site (created with wordpress), would Google still index all the posts? The posts would of course all contain the metatag "index, follow". Or does Google not like it if it can't index the homepage - would it perhaps penalize the entire site for such a thing?
Pages are treated separately. As long as you have pages other than the homepage linking to your inner pages it should be fine. However, if a large number of the links pointed at the site are pointing at the homepage it could significantly harm your rankings. -Michael
The incoming links go to both the homepage and the posts...though the majority probably go to the homepage. Reason I am thinking of having noindex on the homepage is to stop duplicate content - as all the posts initially appear on the hompage. Is there any other way I could handle this? And also - aside from harming my rankings - could it stop Google from indexing my site?
I don't think you'll have a duplicate content issue. I wouldn't go for the noindex nonfollow tags in the homepage. You are in the same situation as a lot of other bloggers and Google deals good with blogs.
no difference at all. you'll have problems getting the posts indexed with those tags, and Search Engines deal perfectly with the homepage replicating the content of the posts.
Consider using wordpress plugin (wordpress-duplicate-content-cure), but i agree with "seo ranter" - there is nothing to worry