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We have a property site that contains approximately 5000 properties. The search facility and subsequent Filter mechanism has resulted in Google indexing over 400 000 pages.

Question:

Will adding noindex to our search results page prevent Google from indexing it, but still allow it to crawl and index the properties on that page?

I've noted the following question with this answer: 

<meta name="robots" content="noindex,follow" />

From the answer it seems that it will allow what I'm looking for without the risk of suddenly loosing all my indexed properties? I.e. it will only remove the search results page but not the property pages.

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    Yes. You are exactly right. It will eventually remove all your unwanted pages but will still follow links found on that page. I had a similar problem over a year ago and chose to remove the search hierarchy pages and use Google search instead. So I understand the concern and not really wanting to remove the pages. Somewhere along the line I will come up with a specific AJAX style search for the bulk of my site since no-one really uses the local Google search. ;-(
    – closetnoc
    Mar 18, 2015 at 16:30
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    @closetnoc That's an answer :)
    – MrWhite
    Mar 18, 2015 at 17:59
  • @closetnoc, add that as an official answer then I'll mark it as correct.
    – Jacques
    Mar 19, 2015 at 9:42
  • @w3d Sorry guys!! I did not get any sleep the night before yesterday and was not feeling too well to boot. I wanted to wait till I was right as rain again- poet and don't know it. Clear as a bell today! A cracked bell... but that is as close I get! ;-)
    – closetnoc
    Mar 19, 2015 at 16:05
  • @Jacques I modified my comment into an answer. I appreciate your support! I was not at my best yesterday- not feeling too well. On top of that my elderly Mother has been sick the past few days and that took most of my time. She has bouts periodically but gets over it after a few days.
    – closetnoc
    Mar 19, 2015 at 16:08

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Yes. You are exactly right. It will eventually remove all your unwanted pages but will still follow links found on that page. I had a similar problem over a year ago and chose to remove the search hierarchy pages and use Google search instead. So I understand the concern and not really wanting to remove the pages. Somewhere along the line I will come up with a specific AJAX style search for the bulk of my site since no-one really uses the local Google search which really surprises me. I thought that would have been a good solution. However, I have to say, in retrospect, it might have been okay to noindex, follow my pages as an option- but. I removed them thinking I would get to AJAX sooner than I have. Ooopppsss!! So based on my similar experience, this a perfect option!

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