Common sources of a stray noindex
A noindex usually comes from a site-wide "hide from search engines" setting left on after launch, an SEO plugin rule for a page type, or a header added at the hosting level.
URL marked 'noindex'
The page carries a noindex rule, so Google leaves it out. If you want it in search, remove the rule from the meta tag or the X-Robots-Tag header, then ask Google to recrawl it.
Diagnose it
Symptoms, checks and fixes
Common symptoms
- URLs listed under "Excluded by 'noindex' tag" or "URL marked 'noindex'".
- URL Inspection shows "Indexing allowed? No".
Checks to run
| Check | How to tell | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Is there a robots meta tag? | View the page source and search for name="robots" or name="googlebot" with noindex. | Remove noindex from the template, page setting or SEO plugin that adds it.[1] |
| Is it sent as a header? | Check the response headers for X-Robots-Tag: noindex. | Remove the header rule in the server, CDN or hosting configuration.[1] |
| Has Google seen the change? | In URL Inspection, run "Test live URL" and check "Indexing allowed?". | When the live test passes, request indexing for the page.[2][3] |
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Sources
- [1] Google Search Central: Block search indexing with noindex. Checked 10 October 2026.
- [2] Search Console Help: URL Inspection tool. Checked 10 October 2026.
- [3] Page indexing report (Search Console Help). Checked 9 October 2026.
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