How to noindex a page in wordpress

If you have a WordPress website, you may have heard the term “noindex” before. But what does it mean, and why would you want to use it?

In this blog post, we’ll explore what noindexing a page means, why it’s important for your WordPress SEO, and how to noindex a page in WordPress.

What Does Noindexing a Page Mean?

Noindexing a page means telling search engines not to include that specific page in their index. This means that the page will not show up in search engine results pages (SERPs) when someone searches for a keyword related to that page.

When a page is indexed, it means that search engines have crawled and added it to their index, making it eligible to show up in search results. By noindexing a page, you are essentially telling search engines that you do not want that page to show up in search results.

Why is Noindexing a Page Important for WordPress SEO?

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Noindexing a page is important for your WordPress SEO for a few reasons:

• It prevents duplicate content: If you have multiple pages on your website with the same content, search engines may see this as duplicate content and penalize your website. By noindexing one of the pages, you can avoid this penalty.

• It helps prioritize important pages: By noindexing less important pages, you can help search engines focus on indexing and ranking your most important pages.

• It can improve your website’s crawl budget: Search engines have a limited amount of time and resources to crawl and index your website. By noindexing pages that are not important or relevant, you can help search engines focus on crawling and indexing your most valuable pages.

How to Noindex a Page in WordPress

Now that you understand the importance of noindexing a page, let’s explore how to actually do it in WordPress.

Using a Plugin

The easiest way to noindex a page in WordPress is by using a plugin. There are several plugins available that can help you noindex pages, such as Yoast SEO, All in One SEO Pack, and Rank Math.

For this example, we’ll use Yoast SEO, as it is one of the most popular SEO plugins for WordPress.

1. Install and activate the Yoast SEO plugin on your WordPress website.
2. Go to the page you want to noindex and click on the “Edit” button.
3. Scroll down to the Yoast SEO section and click on the “Advanced” tab.
4. In the “Meta robots index” dropdown menu, select “Noindex”.
5. Click on the “Update” button to save your changes.

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Your page is now set to noindex, and search engines will not include it in their index.

Manually Adding Code

If you are comfortable with editing code, you can also manually add the noindex tag to your page. Here’s how:

1. Go to the page you want to noindex and click on the “Edit” button.
2. Click on the “Text” tab to switch to the text editor.
3. Add the following code to the top of your page:

1. Click on the “Update” button to save your changes.

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Your page is now set to noindex, and search engines will not include it in their index.

How to Check if a Page is Noindexed

After you have noindexed a page, you may want to check if it has been successfully removed from search engine results. Here are a few ways to do this:

Use Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that allows you to monitor and maintain your website’s presence in Google search results. Here’s how to use it to check if a page is noindexed:

1. Log in to your Google Search Console account.
2. Click on your website’s property.
3. Click on “Coverage” in the left-hand menu.
4. In the “Excluded” tab, look for the page you noindexed. If it is listed, it means that Google has successfully removed it from their index.

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Use a Site Explorer Tool

Another way to check if a page is noindexed is by using a site explorer tool, such as Ahrefs or SEMrush. These tools allow you to see which pages on your website are indexed and which are not.

Simply enter your website’s URL into the tool and look for the page you noindexed. If it is not listed, it means that the page is noindexed.

Use a Google Search

You can also use a simple Google search to check if a page is noindexed. Simply search for “site:yourwebsite.com” and look for the page you noindexed. If it does not show up in the search results, it means that the page is noindexed.

When Should You Noindex a Page?

Now that you know how to noindex a page, you may be wondering when you should actually do it. Here are a few situations where noindexing a page may be beneficial:

• Duplicate content: If you have multiple pages on your website with the same content, you should noindex one of them to avoid being penalized by search engines.

• Thin content: If a page on your website has very little content or is not relevant to your target audience, you may want to noindex it to avoid wasting your website’s crawl budget.

• Outdated content: If a page on your website contains outdated information, you may want to noindex it to avoid confusing your website visitors.

• Private pages: If you have pages on your website that are only meant for internal use, you should noindex them to prevent them from showing up in search results.

Takeaways

Noindexing a page in WordPress is an important aspect of your website’s SEO. It can help prevent duplicate content, prioritize important pages, and improve your website’s crawl budget. By following the steps outlined in this blog post, you can easily noindex pages on your WordPress website and improve your website’s overall SEO.