Link Search Menu Document
Robert Winslow

Search Index Audit (2026-03-22)

Audit of which pages appear in the main site’s search index (/assets/js/search-data.json) and whether each entry is appropriate.

Current search index entries

URL path Source file Appropriate? Notes
/teaching.html teaching.md Yes Parent nav page
/teaching/3102.html teaching/3102.md Yes Course page
/teaching/330.html teaching/330.md Yes Course page
/research.html research.md Yes Parent nav page
/research/jmp.html research/jmp.md Yes Job market paper
/research/mebdi22.html research/mebdi22.md Yes Research project
/research/contagion.html research/contagion.md Yes Research project
/research/reu.html research/reu.md Yes Research project
/cv.html cv.md Yes CV page
/slides/ slides/index.md Debatable Has nav_exclude: true but no search_exclude. Lists PDF slide decks.
/slides/remark_formattest.html slides/remark_formattest.md No Test page with 10 heading sub-entries polluting the index. Has nav_exclude: true but no search_exclude.

Pages with nav_exclude: true but missing search_exclude: true

These files are hidden from the sidebar but still appear in search results:

  • slides/remark_formattest.md — A formatting test page for Remark slides. Generates 10+ sub-entries in the search index from its headings (“Slide with a Footnote”, “alt footnote test”, “katex gdefs”, etc.). This is clearly not something a visitor should find via search. Should add search_exclude: true.

  • slides/index.md — The slide deck index page. It’s nav-hidden, which suggests it’s not meant for primary discovery, but someone searching for “slides” or “defense” might reasonably want to find it. Could go either way.

HTML files without frontmatter (not in search index)

These are static HTML files served by Jekyll but not processed through the theme. They don’t appear in the search index because they lack frontmatter, which is correct behavior:

  • index.html — Site landing page (custom HTML, not themed)
  • 404.html — Error page
  • teaching/calendar_creator.html — Interactive calendar tool

Redirect stubs (not in search index)

The redirects/ directory contains 93 stub files (26 for the 3102 migration, 2 for 202, 1 for econ-UMN electives, 64 for the econ/ migration). These have minimal frontmatter (permalink + redirect_to) and do not explicitly set search_exclude: true. However, jekyll-redirect-from generates pages with <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> and no real content, so they don’t produce search index entries. None appear in the live search data.

Internal/documentation files (correctly excluded)

These files have both nav_exclude: true and search_exclude: true:

  • CLAUDE.md — Claude’s working memory
  • claude_audits.md — Audit notes
  • claude_directory.md — Directory listing
  • redirects/INDEX.md — Redirect inventory

  1. Add search_exclude: true to slides/remark_formattest.md — This is the clearest win. A test page shouldn’t appear in search at all, let alone with 10 sub-entries.

  2. Decide on slides/index.md — Either add search_exclude: true for consistency with its nav-hidden status, or remove nav_exclude: true if it’s actually useful for visitors to find via both search and nav.