Noindex tag
Definition
A small instruction that tells search engines they may crawl a page but must not show it in results.
Updated 2 min read
In depth
A noindex tag is a small instruction you add to a page that tells search engines, "you can look at this page, but don't show it in search results." It's the reliable way to keep a specific page out of Google while leaving the rest of your site fully visible.
How to add one
The most common method is a meta robots tag in the page's <head>:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
For non-HTML files like PDFs, you can send the same instruction as an X-Robots-Tag HTTP header instead. Google documents both approaches in its guide to blocking indexing.
When to use it
Noindex is the right tool for pages that exist for visitors but have no business in search results:
- Thank-you and order-confirmation pages
- Internal search results
- Staging or test pages
- Thin tag and filter archives that would otherwise create near-duplicates
It pairs naturally with a strong meta description strategy on the pages you do want found: index your best pages, hide the noise.
The mistake that hides pages by accident
Two traps catch people out:
- Don't also block the page in
robots.txt. If crawlers can't fetch the page, they never see the noindex instruction, so the page can linger in results anyway. For noindex to work, the page must stay crawlable. - Watch your templates. A stray noindex on a shared template can quietly wipe whole sections of a site from Google. This is one of the first things a good SEO audit checks.
If you're not sure whether an important page is accidentally hidden, run a free audit and Edward will flag any pages that are blocked from search when they shouldn't be.