What is noindex?
Noindex is a meta robots directive (or X-Robots-Tag header) that tells search engines not to include a page in their index. The page can still be crawled, but it will not appear in search results.
Why noindex matters
Not every page should rank. Admin pages, thank-you pages, duplicate content, thin pages and internal tools waste crawl budget and dilute site quality signals if indexed. Noindex removes them from the equation while keeping them accessible to users.
When to use noindex
- Duplicate or near-duplicate pages.
- Thin or low-value pages.
- Thank-you and confirmation pages.
- Private or staging content.
Noindex vs canonical
Use canonical when a page should exist but consolidate to a main URL; use noindex when the page should not be in search at all.
Related terms
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