Search - turn it really off

[ecee 0]

Hi, I have turned off the search field in the navigation. Then it hit me that I probably need to turn off the general search function provided, but I can't find that setting anywhere in Pagelines. Because if you know the syntax, then you can still get your theme to show search results. For example if I type any words in the end of this string, it will show a page from my site: http://kidify.se/?s=any-search-word So, if that's possible, then I guess it must be possible for search engines to hit such search pages, and I don't want that, as I have no control over what that would look like. (right now I have not enabled search engines). So, does anyone know 1) if you can be sure that search engines cannot hit such pages 2) if you can turn this search function really off - more than just taking away the search field? Thanks!

[Rob 547]

The search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) don't use the search functionality of a site to find content. They use bots to actually read the entire content of the site. If you go to Dashboard > Settings > Privacy, you can select "Ask search engines not to index this site." which generally works. I use that in a private site I don't want others to see and the search engines don't find my content. See http://www.wikihow.com/Block-Search-Engines for more options. Even if you were to remove the search scripts entirely, as long as content is there and the search bots are able to find your content, they'd report it. So, the Privacy option above is best. As for controlling the results, you should look into microformats. WordPress uses a number of these, usually provided through a plugin. The search engines love microformats because they help the search engine format results. Depending on the nature of your content, there may be any number of plugins out there with a corresponding microformat. Then at least you know the results will be structured a particular way.

[ecee 0]

Hi, That's a good point about the search engines. When the site is finished I will do that, enable it to search engines. It was just that I took a look at the generated search results page and it was a total mess of results. Like this one for example: http://kidify.se/?s=artiklar - just plain ugly, picking content from everywhere. So I guess the way to go is to try to control it then. I will look into microformats and see if that can help :) It would in fact be very useful if I could have it to only show search results from my custom post types posts for example. Thanks!

[Rob 547]

It seems the search results are picking up excerpts and other goodies. Try Dashboard > PageLines > Settings > Blog And Posts and make sure Post Excerpts and Thumbnails are both turned off (unchecked) for Search Results. See if that helps.