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I have a website on which users can ask a question and also answer it. So, when a user asks a question, it creates a new webpage on website and below that question lies its answers.

I don't want search engines to index those pages or questions which don't have an answer, so I added an if condition stating if the question doesn't have answer show the noindex meta tag, if it does, then don't show it.

I was wondering if it is the right way to do so?

I mean, first when the question is asked and Google will crawl it, it will see the noindex tag. But after some time when it will have an answer, Google will see that it can be indexed.

Will it affect the ranking and overall performance in Google search results?

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  • Why don’t you want answer-less pages to get indexed?
    – unor
    Commented May 31, 2018 at 11:45
  • @unor Sir, because that would be of no use & will deliver no value to the users. So, google will probably never index high those pages.
    – user89321
    Commented May 31, 2018 at 11:50
  • @unor & I think that will be a bad sign for website. I only want google to index quality webpages :)
    – user89321
    Commented May 31, 2018 at 11:51

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It could be a bad logic, because all questions just after publishing don't have answers. Only with time they could be answered. If you want, that your unanswered Qs should be found through Google, than it is a bad logic to noindex them befor they get any answer.

I would establish a kind of time gap and engaging metric, like:

  • a Q is indexed just after publishing, having no answers,
  • if after some time (hours/days/weeks) it doesn't get an answer and/or generates only few clicks - than noindex it
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