Using Noindex, Nofollow HTML Metatags: How to Tell Google Not to Index a Page in Search

Indexing as many pages on your website as possible can be very tempting for purveyors who are trying toboost their search engine authority.

But, while it’s true that publishing more pages that are relevant for a particular keyword( expecting they’re likewise high quality) will improve your rank for that keyword, sometimes there’s actually more significance in keeping sure-fire sheets on your website out of a search engine’s index.

… Say what ?!

Stay with us, kinfolks. This affix will tread you through why you might want to remove particular webpages from the SERPs( search engine develops sheets ), and exactly how to go about do it.

De-Indexing a Page from Google

There are a few reasons where you may want to exclude a webpage — or a portion of a webpage — from search engine crawling and indexing like 😛 TAGEND

Toprevent duplicate content( when there is more than one edition of a sheet indexed by the search engines, as in a printer-friendly version of your material) from being indexed

To give admin and login pages for internal application unless they’re meant to be used by their home communities

For a thank-you page( i.e ., the sheet a visitor territory on afterconverting on one of your bring sheets) where the visitor gets access to whatever offer that property page promised, such as a link to an ebook PDF

Here’s what the thank-you page forour SEO gratuities ebook looks like, for example 😛 TAGEND

You want anyone who shores on your thank-you pages to get there because they’ve once filled out a form on a arrive sheet — not because they found your thank-you page in search.

Why not? Because anyone who spots your thank-you page in investigation can access your lead-generating presents instantly — without having to provide you with their information to pass through your lead-capture form. Any purveyor who understandsthe value of landing sheets understands how important it is to capture those visitors as causes firstly, before they can access your offers.

Bottom line: If your thank-you pages are easily discoverable through a simple Google search, you may be leaving valuable guides on the table.

What’s worse, you may even find that some of your highest-ranking sheets for some of your long-tail keywords might be your thank-you pages — which means you could be inviting hundreds of potential leads to bypass your lead-capture forms. That’s a jolly obligating reason why you’d want to remove some of your web pages from SERPs.

So, how do you go about “de-indexing” specific sheets from search engines? Here are three the resources necessary to do it.

3 Ways to De-Index a Webpage From Search Engines Robots.txt to De-Index Use if: You require more restraint over what you de-index, and you have the necessary technical resources.

One highway to remove a sheet from search engine results is by including a robots.txt register to your site. The advantage of using this method is that you can get more ensure over what you are allowing bots to index. The outcome? You can proactively restrain unwanted material out of search results.

Within a robots.txt register, you can specify whether you’d like to block bots from a single page, a whole directory, or even really a single idol or document. There’s also an option to prevent your site from being crawled while still enabling Google AdSense ads to work if you have them.

That being said, of the two options available to you, this one necessary the most technological “tai chi”. To learn how to create a robots.txt file, you’ll want to read through this article that clarifies exactly how to get it on ..

HubSpot customers: You can learn how to install a robots.txt datum on your website here, and learn how to customize the contents of the Robots.txt filehere.

If you don’t need all the control of a robots.txt datum and are looking for an easier, less technological solution, then this second alternative is for you.

Htaccess No Indicator No Follow to De-Index Use if: Your website is running on Apache, and mod_headers is enabled, this is a quick solution.

In this situation, you could attach this single strand to your. htaccess document 😛 TAGEND

Header adjust X-Robots-Tag “noindex , nofollow”

To signify that your website can be indexed, but never shown in any Google search results.

Meta No Index No Follow to De-Index Use if: You want an easier solution to de-indexing an part webpage, and/ or de-indexing the links on an entire webpage.

Using a metatag to foreclose a sheet from appearing in SERPs — and/ or the links on a sheet — is both easy and efficient. It expects merely a tiny bit of technical know-how — in fact, it’s genuinely simply a replica/ glue racket if you’re abusing the rightcontent management system.

The tags that let you do these the picture is announced “noindex” and “nofollow.” Before I get into how to add these tags, let’s take a moment to define and distinguish between the two. They are, after all, two completely different mandates — and they can be used either on their own, or alongside one another.

What is a “noindex” tag?

When you supplemented a “noindex” metatag to a webpage, it tells a search engine that even though it can crawl the sheet, it cannot lent the sheet into its pursuing index.

So any sheet with the “noindex” guiding on it will not go into the search engine’s search index, and can therefore not be shown in search engine solutions pages.

What is a “nofollow” tag?

When you add a “nofollow” metatag to a webpage, it forbids search engines from crawling the links on that page. This also means that any grading official the sheet has on SERPs will not be passed on to pages it links to.

So any page with a “nofollow” directive on it will have all its links ignored by Google and other search engines.

Like I said before, you can add a “noindex” directive either on its own, or along with a “nofollow” guiding. You can also add a “nofollow” guiding on its own, too.

When to Use “noindex” and “nofollow” Separately

Add exclusively a “noindex” tag when you don’t want a search engine to indicator your web page in scour, but you do want it to follow the links on that page — thereby returning ranking authority to the other sheets your sheet links to.

Paid landing pages are a great example of this. You don’t crave search engines to indicator territory sheets that people are supposed to pay to see, but you might require the sheets it links to benefit from its authority.

Add simply a “nofollow” tag when you do want a search engine to index your web page in pursuit, but you don’t want it to follow the links on that page.

There aren’t too many examples of when you’d add a “nofollow” tag to a whole sheet without also computing a “noindex” tag. When you’re figuring out what to do on a afforded sheet, it’s more a question of whether to add your “noindex” tag with or without a “nofollow” tag.

When to Use “noindex , nofollow” Together

Add both a “noindex” and “nofollow” tag when you don’t requirement search engines to indicator a webpage in inquiry, and you don’t want it to follow the links on that page.

Thank-you sheets are a great example of such a situation. You don’t crave search engines to index your thank-you page , nor do you want them to follow the link to your give and start indexing the content of that furnish, either.

How to Add a “noindex” and/ or a “nofollow” Metatag

Step 1: Copy one of the following tags.

For “noindex” 😛 TAGEND

For “nofollow” 😛 TAGEND

For both “noindex” and “nofollow” 😛 TAGEND

Step 2: Add the tag to the section of your page’s HTML, a.k.a. the page’s header.

If you’re a HubSpot customer, this is super easy — please click here or scroll down for those instructions specific to HubSpot users.

If you’re not a HubSpot customer, then you’ll have to paste this tag into the code on your webpage manually. Don’t worry — it’s pretty simple. Here’s how you do it.

First, open the source code of the web page you’re trying to de-index. Then, paste the full tag into a new indication within the section of your page’s HTML, known as the page’s header. The screenshots below will accompany you through it.

The tag express the beginning of your header 😛 TAGEND

Here’s the metatag for both “noindex” and “nofollow” pasted within the header 😛 TAGEND

And the tag indicates the end of the header 😛 TAGEND

Boom! That’s it. This tag tells a search engine to turn around and go away, leaving the page out of any search results.

No Index No Follow in HubSpot

Adding the “noindex” and “nofollow” meta calls is even easier. All you have to do is open the HubSpot tool to the page you want to add these labels to and opt the “Settings” tab.

Next, under Advanced Option and sounds into “Head HTML.” In the window below, glue the relevant system snippet. In the precedent below, I’ve lent both a “noindex” and a “nofollow” tag since it’s a thank-you page.

Press “Save, ” and you’re golden.

Successfully No Index No Following a Page

You’ve merely magically obliterated your sheet from search engine develops. Now, you can start capturing more of those lost leadings again.

Now, keep in mind that you won’t assure outcomes instantaneously. Your modifies won’t kick in until the next time a search engine crawls your page. Depending on how often it is usually publish brand-new pages on your website, it actually could take a few weeks. The more often you publish content, the more often search engines will crawl your place. The best highway to keep track of how frequently Google tours your website is to examine yourcrawl stats in Google Webmaster Tools.

Bottom line: If you notice that your sheet is still appearing in Google’s search results even with the “noindex” tag, it’s probably because Google hasn’t slithered your site since you added the call. You can request that Google recrawl your page exercising the Fetch as Google tool.

Also , had pointed out that some search engines’ web crawlers might translate these directives differently than Google does, so your sheet might still appear in results from other search engines. But for Google, it’ll work just fine — formerly it does go around to crawling your website.

Regardless, you’ll be able to sleep a little easier knowing you’ve eventually determined your website a better place for your marketing.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published July 2016 and has been informed for comprehensiveness.

Read more: blog.hubspot.com