Typically, posts and pages in WordPress do not come with a noindex tag by default, but you might have accidentally added it or intentionally applied it and now wish to remove it. Removing the noindex tag in WordPress ensures that web crawlers can properly index your website and display it in search results. Let’s examine why you might want to eliminate the noindex tag from your content and five simple ways.
What is a noindex tag?
The “noindex” HTML tag instructs search engine robots (or “crawlers”) not to index a specific web page, ensuring it doesn’t show up in search results. To provide some background, search engines perform three main tasks: crawling, indexing, and ranking.
- Crawling: Exploring the internet by examining the code and content of every URL search engine crawlers discover. A “crawler,” “web crawler,” or “web spider” is a program used by search engines to scan web pages.
- Indexing: Storing and organizing the content gathered during the crawling process. The “index” is a comprehensive database of the crawled pages.
- Ranking: Delivering the most relevant content for the searcher’s query. The search engine ranks the search results from most to least relevant to your query.
When crawlers index a page, it competes with other pages to rank in search results for specific keywords. The noindex tag stops this by preventing the page from being added to the index, thereby ensuring it doesn’t appear in search results.
Why remove the noindex tag in WordPress?
Sometimes, you might not want certain posts or pages to appear in search results. For example, this often includes “Thank You” pages visitors see after signing up for your newsletter, subscribing to a service, or purchasing something.
Other examples are “Members Only” pages, printer-friendly versions (since search engines might consider them duplicates), admin and login pages, and similar content.
On the other hand, you generally want most of your website’s pages to attract traffic, especially if you regularly update a blog or produce content that you want search engines to notice. Furthermore, having too many pages marked with the noindex tag can negatively impact your website’s SEO rankings.
Therefore, it’s important to be strategic about which pages or posts you choose to noindex. If you want a page or post to be indexed by search engines, consider using one of the following 3 methods.
Top 3 ways to remove noindex tag in WordPress
There are various ways to add the noindex tag to your posts or pages, the same goes for removing it. These are 3 of the easiest and most user-friendly methods to do so.
1). Edit With the SEO plugin to remove the noindex tag in WordPress
we can remove/add a noindex tag by using SEO plugins like Yoast SEO, Rankmath SEO, and AIOS (All-in-one-SEO). let’s discuss this plugin.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is the easiest way to remove the meta tags To do it,
- Go to the post or page you want search engines to index, scroll down,
- Click the Advanced tab.
- Simply click Yes on Allow search engines to show this Blog in search results. and it’ll eventually be indexed into search results.
Rankmath SEO
There is another way to remove no index tag by using Rankmath SEO. Rankmath is an SEO plugin that helps us with SEO optimization for a blog post or different website pages. If you want to remove the no index checker tag by using the Rankmath SEO plugin,
- Click On Rankmath
- Go to the Titles & Meta
- Click On Global Meta
- Click On the post types you want to noindex.
All-in-one SEO ( AIOS )
All-in-one ( AIOS ) is an SEO plugin that gives you valuable data and actionable insights effortlessly with an advanced Search Statistics feature right inside your WordPress dashboard. Monitor your website’s performance, keep track of keyword rankings, analyze search trends, and receive comprehensive reports on content decay. If you want to add a noindex tag by using the All-in-one SEO plugin,
- Click on AIOS
- In the drop-down menu click on Search Appearance
- Go to the title & description
- Disable show in search results
2). Delete the HTML meta tag
As previously noted, the noindex tag is an HTML element. Therefore, you can eliminate it by modifying the HTML of the post or page. Search for the following code within the <head> section of the file:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex" />
Your article or page will ultimately be indexed if you simply remove it. This approach is equally as successful as making use of Yoast SEO’s Advanced options. It could take some time for it to work, just like any other way.
3). Add a custom function in “functions.php”
You can edit your theme’s functions.php file and add a custom function to remove the noindex tag. The following code works well:
function remove_noindex() {
if ( is_single() && get_post_type() == 'post' ) {
echo '<meta name="robots" content="index,follow" />';
}
}
add_action( 'wp_head', 'remove_noindex' );
This piece of code, as it’s written, removes the noindex function from all posts, so it doesn’t work if you want to keep some posts off search results. Additionally, it won’t affect pages or custom post types. To target specific posts or other types of content, modify the is_single() and get_post_type conditions. There are multiple ways to remove the “noindex” tag in WordPress you can see, there are multiple ways to remove the noindex tag, an essential step to make your site appear in search results. Overall, the easiest and most user-friendly method is Yoast SEO, but several others have a similar effect.
Conclusion
In conclusion, understanding how to remove the noindex tag in WordPress is essential for ensuring your website’s content is discoverable by search engines and accessible to your target audience. By following the straightforward steps outlined, you can effectively modify your site’s settings, utilize plugins designed for SEO optimization, or adjust your theme settings to remove the noindex directive. This proactive approach not only enhances your site’s visibility but also contributes to improved organic traffic and overall user engagement. Stay informed about SEO best practices to continuously refine and optimize your WordPress site for maximum impact in the digital landscape.
