What noindex does and how to remove it
A noindex meta tag or header tells Google to drop the page from search. It is right for thank-you pages and wrong for anything you want found.
Step by step, with screenshots: Noindex in robots.txt: why it does not work and what to use instead →
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What it is
A noindex directive is an instruction that tells search engines not to show a page in their results. It is written either as a robots meta tag in the page's head, <meta name="robots" content="noindex">, or as an X-Robots-Tag: noindex HTTP header, which also works for PDFs and images.
It is the right tool for thank-you pages, internal search results and staging copies. On a page you want found, a leftover noindex removes it from Google completely, usually within days of the next crawl. Google can only see the directive if robots.txt allows it to fetch the page.
OK looks like this: pages meant for search carry no noindex in either the meta tag or the header, and pages you want hidden carry noindex and stay crawlable. getReport reads both places and names the one that sets noindex.
What a passing site looks like
- The page is not set to noindexfail · −10 ptseffort S
Noindex directive
Why it matters. A noindex directive tells Google to drop this page from search results. Unless that is intended, every visit from search is lost.
- Remove noindex from the robots meta tag and from the X-Robots-Tag header, unless the page should stay out of search.
- In WordPress, untick Settings → Reading → "Discourage search engines" and check the page's SEO plugin settings.
Questions people ask
What is a noindex tag?
A noindex tag is <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> in the head of a page. It tells search engines they may crawl the page but must not show it in results. Google drops a noindexed page from its index after its next visit, and restores it after you remove the tag and it recrawls.
What is the X-Robots-Tag?
The X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP response header that carries the same instructions as the robots meta tag, such as noindex or nofollow. It is set in the server or CDN configuration rather than in the HTML, so it also works for PDFs, images and other files. Check it when a page is noindexed but its HTML looks clean.
What does excluded by noindex tag mean?
It is a Google Search Console status meaning Google crawled the page and found a noindex directive, so it left the page out of search. If the page should rank, remove noindex from the meta tag, the X-Robots-Tag header and your SEO plugin's page settings, then request indexing in Search Console.
How do you noindex a page in WordPress?
Open the page in the editor, find your SEO plugin's panel (Yoast: Advanced, Rank Math: Advanced tab) and set it to not show in search results. Without a plugin, a theme function can add the robots meta tag. Check that Settings → Reading → Discourage search engines is off, because that noindexes the whole site.
Should you block a page in robots.txt or use noindex?
Use noindex. A page blocked in robots.txt cannot be crawled, so Google never sees its noindex and can still list the bare URL if other sites link to it. To keep a page out of search, allow crawling and add noindex; use robots.txt only to save crawling on sections that do not matter.