Noindex Tag

A noindex directive tells supporting search engines not to include a page in their search indexes. On a webpage, it commonly appears in a robots meta tag; it can also be sent in an HTTP response header. Site owners may use it for pages that are accessible to visitors but are not meant to appear in search results. The search engine must be able to crawl the page to detect the directive. If robots.txt blocks access, the crawler may never see noindex, and the URL may still be discoverable. Noindex does not secure private information, so unpublished CMS drafts should have appropriate access restrictions instead of relying on a tag alone.