Use noindex meta tag on low-value duplicate or expired pages to control indexing.
- Use noindex meta tag on low-value duplicate or expired pages to control indexing1 cited source1 category
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Why this matters
Noindex prevents these pages from being indexed, conserving ranking signals and crawl budget.
Hypothetical standard operating procedure
Adapt this example to your site, access, tools, and change process. It is our suggested procedure, informed by the sources below.
- Identify thin, duplicate, or outdated pages.
- Add noindex meta tag with follow directive to these pages.
- Ensure robots.txt does not block crawling these pages to respect noindex.
- Monitor index coverage reports for de-indexing effect.
- Only use noindex on pages you want crawled but unindexed.
Watch for
Relying on robots.txt alone won’t de-index pages; crawlers still fetch but do not index.
Definition of done
Low-value pages show noindex meta tag and do not appear in search indexes.
Sources & attribution
Original checklist wording and example SOP by Best SEO Checklist, using source-grounded AI assistance. Editorial contact: Ted Kubaitis, @tedkubaitis on Teams. Check current source guidance before implementation.