No Index
What is No-Index
No index ("noindex") is code that can be added to your website to tell search engines not to index or store a page in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
The search engine will still parse and understand the page's content, but it won't spend resources on ranking or keeping the page on the SERP.
No index can be useful when you have pages with sensitive information, shopping cart pages, testing, staging or draft pages.
If you accidentally leave a no index in place after the site goes live or the page is edited to be optimised, it will not show up on the SERP - so make sure to only use no index in places you intentionally want to keep tucked away.
Types Of No-Index & How To Use Them
There are two ways to implement the no-index tag.
- noindex as a <meta> tag
- HTTP response header
Here's how to implement either option.
Meta Tag Option:
Place this meta tag into the <head> section of your webpage:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">HTTP Response Header Option:
In cases where you want to stop PDF's, Video Files, and Image Files from getting indexed in the search engines place the following HTTP response into the header of your server's response to the request:
X-Robots-Tag: noindexWhen To Use The No-Index Tag On Your Website
Watch David Krauter explain when to apply a no-index tag based on the most common scenarios he's encountered over the years.
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