How to fix Excluded by noindex

The 'Excluded by noindex' finding means a page has a directive telling search engines not to include it in their index. This is usually caused by a 'noindex' meta tag or an HTTP header.

What is wrong

This issue is identified when a page returns a 'noindex' instruction via a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag in the HTML head or an 'X-Robots-Tag: noindex' in the HTTP response header. If this is present, search engines will crawl the page but refuse to show it in search results.

You can recognise this by checking the page source for the word 'noindex'. If this tag exists on a page you want to rank, it is a critical error preventing any organic traffic.

Why it matters

A noindex tag acts as a 'keep out' sign for search engines. Even if your content is high quality and perfectly optimised, it will never appear in search results or AI-generated answers if this tag remains.

While useful for private areas like 'thank you' pages or internal search results, an accidental noindex on a landing page or blog post will lead to a total loss of visibility and potential revenue.

How to fix it

1. Locate the tag

Inspect the page source code (Ctrl+U) and search for 'noindex'. If not found in the HTML, check the HTTP response headers using browser developer tools or a header checker.

2. Remove the directive

Delete the <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag from the HTML <head>. If the instruction is in the HTTP header, adjust your server configuration or SEO plugin settings to remove the X-Robots-Tag.

3. Validate and request indexing

Once removed, use Google Search Console's URL Inspection tool to verify the change. Click 'Request Indexing' to alert Google that the page is now eligible for inclusion.

Platform notes

In WordPress, this is often caused by the 'Discourage search engines' setting in Reading settings, or a specific toggle within SEO plugins like Yoast or Rank Math on a per-page basis.