The “noindex” value of the meta robots tag is used to tell search engines not to index a specific web page. When a search engine encounters a page with a “noindex” tag, it will not add the page to its index or show it in search results.
The noindex tag is helpful for preventing search engines from indexing pages that are not useful or relevant for users, such as duplicate pages, development or staging pages, or pages intended for logged-in users only.
The syntax for the noindex tag is as follows:
<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>
It is important to note that the noindex tag only applies to the search engines that support it, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Additionally, it is a good practice to use 301 redirects when possible instead of using the noindex tag, since it will help search engines to understand that the page is permanently moved, and it will transfer the link equity to the new page.
It’s also important to monitor the pages that have the noindex tag to make sure that they are not being indexed by mistake or that the tag is not being removed by mistake. If that’s the case, it will cause the page to be indexed and potentially dilute the website’s search engine visibility.
Also, See: De-indexing