The noindex tag is an HTML meta tag that instructs search engines not to index a particular webpage, meaning the page won’t appear in search engine results pages (SERPs).
This can be useful for controlling which pages on your site are discoverable by search engines and users.
How Noindex Tag Works
To implement the “noindex” tag, you need to add the meta tag to the head section of your HTML code. Here’s an example of how to use the “noindex” tag:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">By adding this meta tag, you’re telling search engines that they should not include the page in their search results.
Keep in mind that search engines like Google may still crawl the page, but they won’t index it or display it in search results.
When to Use Noindex Tag
The “noindex” tag can be helpful in various situations, such as:
- Private or sensitive content: If you have pages with sensitive information or content you want to keep private, you can use the “noindex” tag to prevent them from appearing in search results.
- Duplicate content: If your website has pages with duplicate content, using the “noindex” tag can prevent search engines from penalizing your site for duplicate content issues.
- Staging or development sites: If you have a staging or development version of your website that you don’t want search engines to index, the “noindex” tag can be used to prevent indexing.
- Low-value or thin content: Pages with minimal content or low value to users can be marked as “noindex” to focus search engine attention on more important pages.