The noindex tag is an HTML meta tag that instructs search engines not to index a specific web page in their search results. When a search engine crawler encounters this tag, it will not include the page in its search index, making it impossible for users to find the page through a search engine query.
Examples of what the noindex tag is used for:
- Duplicate content: If a website has multiple pages with similar content, using the noindex tag on the duplicate pages can help prevent search engines from perceiving the site as having duplicate content, which could negatively impact its search rankings.
- Private or restricted pages: Pages containing private information, such as user account pages or members-only content, can use the noindex tag to prevent search engines from indexing and displaying these pages in search results.
- Thin or low-quality content: Websites may choose to use the “noindex” tag on pages with little or no valuable content to prevent them from being indexed and potentially harming the site's overall search engine rankings.
- Development or staging environments: When developing or testing a website in a staging environment, developers may use the noindex tag to prevent search engines from indexing unfinished or temporary pages.
The noindex tag is placed in the <head> of an HTML page and is typically implemented as follows:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex”>Alternatively, the “noindex” directive can be specified in the HTTP header as follows:
X-Robots-Tag: noindexRelated: All in One SEO Documentation on Use of the noindex tag