: List view pages in google index We have a large database of items which are viewable as individual items (they are plants) (url example http://www.plantify.co.uk/Abelia-chinensis/plant-5087) or in

@Cofer257

There is almost never a reason to prevent Google's indexing of a page. In this kind of situation if the list view is appearing above the individual page in search results (for a direct query like "Abelia chinensis") then there is something else wrong.

Here are some things I think you should fix/improve:


Your navigation looks confusing to me. Your "plant finder" link in the main menu links to the first plant in the list, instead of the list itself.
On the list view, the "Browse" link always goes to "Heucherella". (Not really sure where it should go, maybe the last plant you visited?)
The pagination on the list view implies there are only 5 pages. When you get to page 5, there is no "6", just a Next link.
Whichever plant you are on, the "list" tab always goes to the first page, not the page the current plant is on.
In the list, each plant name is in a H1 tag inside a link. Not only does this break several validation rules (multiple H1s, block tag in inline tag), it will not aid SEO. You should have one H1 tag as the page heading (e.g. "List of plants") then just list the links. You could use a H2 for them if you like.
The title on the individual plant page would be better with your site name at the end, i.e. <title>Abelia chinensis (Chinese abelia) | Plantify</title>
If you want a page to rank, that page needs links to it (not just the home page plus internal linking). Try getting a few "deep links" to your Abelia chinensis or other plant pages.

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@Murray432

PageRank is such a small part of Google's algorithm that I would not worry about link 'juice'. IMHO I don't really think it's conveyed in the way much of the internet seems to, and even if it was once Google will have changed it by now to stay relevant and deal with the link farms.

The issue you have is that these plant name queries are highly competitive (even wiki struggles) and your site is a garden design tool not a nursery or plant sales site.

My advise would be to look carefully at your site title, page titles and descriptions and compare them to the top ranked results on google searches you'd like to be in (and to the way stack exchange works), I would also add facebook and twitter shares for each page in addition to your google+ button.

It may be worth introducing a tagging system into your site to make it more easily searchable for users.

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@Barnes591

I would use the noindex meta tag on the list view page. If you really want to focus on the detail pages, this may be a good option.

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