What does Noindex mean?

Noindex is a meta tag or HTTP header directive used to tell search engines not to index a particular page. While crawlers can still visit and read the page, they’re instructed not to store it in their search index. This is useful for pages like thank-you pages, login screens, duplicate content, or internal tools that don’t need to show up in Google search results.

You can apply noindex using the <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag in the page's HTML or via HTTP headers.

Example

“We added a noindex tag to our outdated sales page so it wouldn’t compete with our updated version in search results.”

What are ways to use Noindex in your business?

Use noindex to clean up your SEO profile by preventing low-quality or redundant pages from being indexed. This improves the focus and authority of your indexed content. Apply it to utility pages (like privacy policies or thank-you pages), filter URLs, or temporary content.

Check noindex pages regularly to avoid mistakenly blocking high-value content from appearing in search.

Pro Tip

Don't combine noindex with a robots.txt block - if bots can’t crawl the page, they can’t see the noindex tag and may still index the URL based on backlinks.