If you are setting up a new site, particularly if it’s some kind of ecommerce portal, you may need to publish a large number of URLs all at the same time. Some people worry that this presents a risk and may result in being penalised in search engine rankings.
Although there is no formal penalty for publishing a lot of URLs at once, doing so can have some undesirable consequences, so is it ever worth taking the risk?
Understanding Google
We’ll talk about Google here because it’s the most used search engine, and others will behave in a similar way. When you submit a new site, Google’s algorithms look at the content and determine how it should be added to the search index. They also look for unusual patterns of behaviour.
Adding several hundred pages to a site at once counts as unusual and may be seen as evidence of a site having been hacked or that you are spinning content to generate page views. This may result in Google filtering the site in an effort to protect users, or it may trigger a manual review to understand what’s happening – although though this process is more likely to be carried out via AI these days. In any case, a review is likely to result in a delay to your pages being indexed, thus making it hard for people to find them.
Adding pages
Many sites use automated systems to add content. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, as long as the pages are useful and add value to the site. If the pages don’t actually add anything useful, they will ultimately be penalised by the search engine. Belfast SEO specialists include https://www.rycomarketing.co.uk/seo-belfast-agency/, and they will usually advise that pages need to have useful content.
Ultimately, Google and other search providers aren’t really concerned about how many pages your website has. What matters is whether those pages are useful. Adding a lot of pages at once isn’t actually wrong, but it may result in a delay to those pages appearing in searches.
Even if you are adding pages for legitimate reasons, it may be advisable to add them in batches in order to avoid problems and falling foul of Google’s AI.
