Handle for Category page when filter is applied

Question

I want to set

<action method="setRobots">
    <value>NOINDEX,FOLLOW</value>
</action>

For category page but only when any filter is selected.

So I did the following..

<catalog_category_layered translate="label">
    <reference name="head">
        <action method="setRobots">
            <value>NOINDEX,FOLLOW</value>
        </action>
    </reference>
</catalog_category_layered>

But it's loading that tag when any filter is not selected.

So basically

When URL is like as following

http://www.example.com/category/cate1.html

I want to it to be indexed. But when URL is like following

http://www.example.com/category/cate1.html?size=xl

I don't want it be indexed.

Any suggestion what should I do??

Answer 1

As an alternative you can use an helper method to check if filters are being applied.

<catalog_category_layered translate="label">
    <reference name="head">
        <action method="setRobots">
            <value helper="module/getRobots" />
        </action>
    </reference>
</catalog_category_layered>

For that you need to create a custom module.

Vendor/Module/etc/config.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Vendor_Module>
            <version>1.0.0</version>
        </Vendor_Module>
    </modules>
    <global>
        <helpers>
            <module>
                <class>Vendor_Module_Helper</class>
            </module>
        </helpers>
    </global>
</config>

Then in your module helper file Vendor/Module/Helper/Data:

<?php

class Vendor_Module_Helper_Data extends Mage_Core_Helper_Abstract {
    public function getRobots()
    {
        $filters= Mage::getSingleton('catalog/layer')->getState()->getFilters();
        if (!is_array($filters)) {
            return 'NOINDEX,FOLLOW';
        } else {
            return 'INDEX,FOLLOW';
        }
    }
}

It's possible that this code does not work because the catalog layer singleton has not been instantiated yet.

If it's the case, I suggest you use the following code to check whether or not a GET parameter is being applied to the URL:

<?php

class Vendor_Module_Helper_Data extends Mage_Core_Helper_Abstract {
    public function getRobots()
    {
        $requestUri = Mage::app()->getRequest()->getRequestUri();
        if (strpos($requestUri, "?") !== false) {
            return 'NOINDEX,FOLLOW';
        } else {
            return 'INDEX,FOLLOW';
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

you can create and use robots.txt file. and you can add the urls which are not to be indexed.

create robots.txt file with following content

User-agent: *
# Paths (No clean URLs)
Disallow: /*?size=*
Disallow: /*?brands=*
Disallow: /*?price=*
Disallow: /*?dir=*
Disallow: /*?cat=*

and upload this file to the root dir of magento

Answer 3

You can create a custom extension for this.
config.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Custom_MetaChange>
            <version>1.0.0</version>
        </Custom_MetaChange>
    </modules>
    <global>
        <models>
            <metaChange>
                <class>Custom_MetaChange_Model</class>
            </metaChange>
        </models>
    </global>
    <frontend>
        <events>
            <controller_action_layout_generate_xml_before>
                <observers>
                    <noindex>
                        <type>singleton</type>
                        <class>metaChange/observer</class>
                        <method>changeRobots</method>
                    </noindex>
                </observers>
            </controller_action_layout_generate_xml_before>
        </events>
    </frontend>
</config>

Observer.php

<?php

class Custom_MetaChange_Model_Observer extends Mage_Core_Model_Abstract {

    public function changeRobots($observer) {

        $myaction = $observer->getEvent()->getAction();
        $uri = $myaction->getRequest()->getRequestUri();
        if (stristr($uri, "?")) {
            $actionname = $myaction->getFullActionName();
            if (($actionname == 'catalog_category_layered') || ($actionname == 'catalog_category_layered_nochildren')) {
                $layout = $observer->getEvent()->getLayout();
                $product_info = $layout->getBlock('head');
                $layout->getUpdate()->addUpdate('<reference name="head"><action method="setRobots"><value>NOINDEX, FOLLOW</value></action></reference>');
                $layout->generateXml();
            }
        }

        return $this;
    }

}