Backlinks to pages that are not indexed by Google

[gazinyork]

Does anybody know if backlinks to pages on my site that are not indexed help SEO? I have a category page on my blog that I exclude from indexing as it just contains duplicate content (blog post titles and intros). People have started backlinking to it. Must I get the page indexed to get any SEO link juice benefit from Google?

 

[Community]

Hi Gaz,

It happens alot, especially on e-commerce type stores where customers link to search and filtered results URL's.

Depending on the SEO you speak to you may get mixed messages here, in theory the "nofollow" attribute is the attribute that tells google not to follow the links on the page, the noindex is the one which tells google you don't want the page to appear in search results.
That said, It's been confirmed by John Mueller recently that if Google see's the noindex attribute it won't follow the links on those pages either and therefore won't pass any equity.

This is from a Google employee however, so whether you take that as a pinch of salt is entirely up to you.

My personal view on this situation is that if the category doesnt really have much value for a visitor such as ease of navigating the website, then potentially redirect it.

But since people are actively linking to it i would assume its a helpful category to have. In which case i would personally keep it noindexed, as you've mentioned its duplicate and/or thin content. My belief ( and this is only a theory ) is that much like nofollow backlinks, the overall overview of a diverse linking profile ( incoming, outgoing and internal ) has a part in how a site is seen. So even though you are noindexing the page, it could still play an indirect part in your sites over all picture ( in my opinion. )

I should also note, this would hugely depend on the incoming links to that category. If they are rather juicy ones i would be tempted to rename the category so it still exists for site visitors, then redirect the old category URL to an exceptional bit of content that you can harness.

 

[gazinyork]

Wow! Thanks. A lot to think about and a very interesting suggestion. I must say I felt my question was probably rather a basic one but as usual in SEO there are wheels within wheels!