Yoast SEO is one of the most popular SEO plugins for WordPress, offering a robust set of tools to manage how search engines interact with your site. Among its many features, the ability to control indexing behavior—specifically with the noindex directive—is a powerful tool for managing search visibility. When it comes to subpages, such as paginated content or archive pages, Yoast SEO provides advanced settings that allow site owners to fine-tune whether these pages should appear in search results.
This guide will explore how to use Yoast SEO’s advanced settings to apply noindex directives to subpages. We’ll break down the technical implications, the benefits of using these settings, and the step-by-step process for implementing them. The article is aimed at developers, SEO specialists, and WordPress site administrators who want to take control of their site’s visibility in search engines.
Understanding the Role of noindex in SEO
Before diving into the specifics of Yoast SEO’s advanced settings, it’s important to understand what noindex means in the context of SEO. The noindex meta tag is a directive that tells search engines not to include a particular page in their search results. It does not prevent the page from being crawled, but it ensures that the content is not displayed to users in search engine results pages (SERPs).
For example, if you have a paginated blog post or a series of archive pages that you don't want to appear in search results, you can apply the noindex directive to those pages. This helps in managing duplicate content, reducing clutter in SERPs, and focusing search visibility on the most relevant and valuable pages on your site.
Yoast SEO simplifies the implementation of noindex directives by providing an intuitive interface for managing these settings. The plugin allows you to apply noindex at both the individual page level and across entire content types or taxonomies.
Yoast SEO’s Advanced Meta Robots Settings
Yoast SEO’s Advanced settings offer more granular control over how search engines interact with your content. In addition to the standard noindex directive, Yoast provides options such as nofollow, noarchive, and nosnippet. These advanced settings can be accessed via the Yoast SEO metabox in the WordPress editor.
When it comes to subpages, the focus is often on applying noindex to paginated content or archive pages. However, it’s also possible to use the other advanced settings to control how search engines handle these pages. For instance, the noarchive setting prevents search engines from showing a cached version of the page, while nosnippet stops search engines from displaying a snippet of the page in the SERPs.
The Advanced settings are particularly useful for managing content that is not intended for direct search visibility, such as author archives, date archives, or custom post type archives. By applying the appropriate directives, you can ensure that these pages are either not indexed or indexed in a way that aligns with your SEO strategy.
Step-by-Step Guide: Applying noindex to Subpages
To apply noindex to subpages using Yoast SEO, follow these steps:
Log in to your WordPress Dashboard
- Ensure you are logged in as an administrator or an editor, as access to the Advanced settings is limited to these roles.
Edit the post or page
- Navigate to the post or page that you want to apply the
noindexdirective to. This could be a specific subpage or an archive page.
- Navigate to the post or page that you want to apply the
Open the Yoast SEO metabox
- Scroll down to the Yoast SEO metabox. If it’s not visible, click the gear icon to open the Advanced tab.
Access the Advanced settings
- In the Yoast SEO metabox, click on the gear icon to open the Advanced settings. This will reveal options such as
noindex,nofollow,noarchive, andnosnippet.
- In the Yoast SEO metabox, click on the gear icon to open the Advanced settings. This will reveal options such as
Apply the
noindexdirective- Under the “Allow search engines to show this content in search results?” option, select No. This will apply the
noindexdirective to the page.
- Under the “Allow search engines to show this content in search results?” option, select No. This will apply the
Save or update the post
- After making the changes, click Update or Publish to save the settings. The page will now have the
noindexmeta tag applied.
- After making the changes, click Update or Publish to save the settings. The page will now have the
Verify the changes
- To confirm that the
noindexdirective has been applied, view the source code of the page. You should see a<meta name="robots" content="noindex">tag in the HTML. Alternatively, you can use Google Search Console to verify that the page is no longer indexed.
- To confirm that the
Managing noindex for Content Types and Taxonomies
In addition to applying noindex to individual pages or posts, Yoast SEO also allows you to apply the directive to entire content types or taxonomies. This is useful for managing archive pages, tag pages, or custom post type archives that you don’t want to appear in search results.
To manage noindex for content types or taxonomies:
Go to Yoast SEO > Settings
- In your WordPress Dashboard, navigate to Yoast SEO > Settings.
Select the content type or taxonomy
- Under the Content types or Taxonomies section, select the type of content you want to manage (e.g., Posts, Pages, Categories, Tags).
Adjust the indexing settings
- In the “Show X in search results” section, you can toggle the setting to On or Off. Selecting Off will apply the
noindexdirective to all pages of that content type or taxonomy.
- In the “Show X in search results” section, you can toggle the setting to On or Off. Selecting Off will apply the
Save the changes
- After making the changes, click Save changes to apply the settings.
By applying noindex to entire content types or taxonomies, you can ensure that large sections of your site are not indexed by search engines. This is particularly useful for managing content that is not intended for direct search visibility, such as tag archives or author archives.
Comparing Yoast SEO’s noindex Options
Yoast SEO offers several options for controlling indexing behavior, each with its own purpose. The following table compares the most commonly used settings:
| Setting | Purpose | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
noindex |
Prevents search engines from including the page in search results | Individual pages, posts, or archives |
nofollow |
Prevents search engines from following links on the page | Entire site or individual pages |
noarchive |
Prevents search engines from showing a cached version of the page | Individual pages |
nosnippet |
Prevents search engines from showing a snippet of the page in SERPs | Individual pages |
These settings can be applied individually or in combination, depending on your SEO goals. For example, if you want to prevent a page from appearing in search results and also prevent a cached version from being shown, you can apply both noindex and noarchive.
Managing noindex for Paginated Content
Paginated content is a common use case for the noindex directive. In the past, Yoast SEO offered a specific feature to noindex subpages of archives, but this feature has since been removed. However, the same result can be achieved by manually applying noindex to each subpage.
To manage noindex for paginated content:
Edit each paginated page
- Open each paginated page in the WordPress editor.
Apply
noindexvia Yoast SEO- In the Yoast SEO metabox, navigate to the Advanced settings and apply the
noindexdirective.
- In the Yoast SEO metabox, navigate to the Advanced settings and apply the
Update the pages
- After applying the directive, update each page to ensure the changes are saved.
By applying noindex to paginated content, you can prevent these pages from appearing in search results, which helps in managing duplicate content and improving the overall search visibility of your site.
Common Issues and Troubleshooting
While Yoast SEO makes it easy to apply noindex directives, there are some common issues that users may encounter. The following table outlines some of the most common problems and their solutions:
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
Page still appears in search results after applying noindex |
Verify that the noindex directive is correctly applied in the HTML. Use Google Search Console to confirm the page is de-indexed. |
noindex directive not applied |
Ensure that the Yoast SEO plugin is active and that the settings are correctly configured. |
noindex applied to the wrong content type |
Double-check the content type or taxonomy settings in Yoast SEO. Make sure you are applying the directive to the correct type of content. |
| Conflicting SEO plugins | Disable other SEO plugins to ensure that Yoast SEO is the only plugin controlling indexing behavior. |
If you encounter any issues with noindex directives, it's a good idea to use tools like Google Search Console or Screaming Frog to verify that the directives are being applied correctly. These tools can help you identify any discrepancies between your settings and how search engines are interpreting them.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How do I noindex an individual page in Yoast SEO?
To noindex an individual page in Yoast SEO:
- Edit the page in WordPress.
- Open the Yoast SEO metabox and navigate to the Advanced settings.
- Select No under the “Allow search engines to show this content in search results?” option.
- Update the page.
Can I noindex an entire content type?
Yes, you can noindex an entire content type by going to Yoast SEO > Settings > Content types. Select the content type you want to manage and toggle the “Show in search results” option to Off.
What is the difference between noindex and nofollow?
The noindex directive prevents search engines from including a page in their search results, while the nofollow directive prevents search engines from following links on the page. These directives can be used together or separately, depending on your SEO goals.
Can I use Yoast SEO to noindex pages in Google News?
Yes, you can use the Yoast News SEO plugin to noindex pages in Google News. In the Yoast SEO metabox, navigate to the News tab and check the “Exclude this post from Google News” option.
Why are my pages still being indexed after applying noindex?
There could be several reasons why your pages are still being indexed:
- The
noindexdirective is not correctly applied. - There is a caching issue.
- Another SEO plugin is conflicting with Yoast SEO.
- The site-wide indexing settings in WordPress are preventing indexing.
Use tools like Google Search Console to verify that the pages are no longer indexed and to identify any potential issues.
Key Terminology
Understanding the terminology associated with noindex and SEO is essential for effectively managing your site’s visibility in search results. The following table defines some key terms:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
noindex |
A meta tag that tells search engines not to include a page in their search results. |
nofollow |
A meta tag that tells search engines not to follow links on a page. |
noarchive |
A meta tag that prevents search engines from showing a cached version of a page. |
nosnippet |
A meta tag that prevents search engines from showing a snippet of a page in the search results. |
| Indexing | The process by which search engines discover and include pages in their search results. |
| Sitemap | A file that lists all the pages on a website, helping search engines to crawl the site more efficiently. |
The Bottom Line
Managing noindex directives for subpages in Yoast SEO is a powerful way to control how your content appears in search results. By using the advanced settings in the Yoast SEO metabox, you can apply noindex to individual pages, posts, or entire content types. This helps in managing duplicate content, improving the visibility of your most important pages, and ensuring that your site is indexed in a way that aligns with your SEO strategy.
Whether you're working with paginated content, archive pages, or custom post types, Yoast SEO provides the tools you need to take control of your site's indexing behavior. By understanding how these settings work and implementing them effectively, you can ensure that your site is optimized for both users and search engines.