Noindex.

Noindex is a directive communicated to search engines via a robots meta tag (`<meta name='robots' content='noindex'>`) or X-Robots-Tag HTTP header, instructing bots not to include the specified page in their search index. A noindexed page may still be crawled (Googlebot needs to visit the page to read the directive), but it will not appear in search results.

When to Use Noindex

Appropriate noindex use cases: thank-you pages (no search value, should not be found via organic search), internal search result pages (near-infinite thin-content duplicates), staging or duplicate content under development, low-value category tag pages with no unique content, and admin, account, or login pages that should not appear in search results.

Noindex vs. Robots.txt Disallow

Key difference: a robots.txt disallow blocks Googlebot from crawling the page: Googlebot never reads the page content. A noindex meta tag allows crawling (Googlebot visits and reads the page) but prevents indexing. If a page is disallowed in robots.txt, Googlebot cannot read its noindex tag, creating a situation where the page may remain in the index without the noindex being respected. The two directives serve different purposes and must not be confused.

Noindex and Internal Link Equity

Noindexed pages still pass link equity through outbound links to other pages on the site. They also continue to receive link equity from internal links: they just don't appear in search results. Removing noindexed pages from the internal link graph doesn't recover link equity lost in the process; it is usually preferable to leave noindexed pages linked internally.