Meta robots tag
We check the <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag and bot-specific directives such as googlebot and bingbot.
What does the Noindex Checker check?
We inspect the server response and returned HTML for the indexing signals that matter.
X-Robots-Tag header
We check the X-Robots-Tag HTTP response header. It can control indexing for HTML, PDFs, images and other resources.
Redirects & canonical
We follow redirects to the final URL and check its canonical URL to show whether the preferred URL differs.
Important: we check the HTML and HTTP response returned by the server. A noindex directive added dynamically by JavaScript is not detected.
How does the Noindex Checker work?
A simple six-step check gives you the important technical SEO signals.
01
Enter a URL
Paste the webpage URL you want to inspect.
02
Fetch the URL
The checker requests the page and reads the HTTP response and HTML.
03
Check directives
We look for noindex in robots meta tags and X-Robots-Tag headers.
04
Follow redirects
If the URL redirects, we inspect the final destination.
05
Check canonical
We identify the page's declared canonical URL and compare it with the final URL.
06
Understand the result
The result explains which indexing signal was found.
Noindex examples
Common directives the checker can identify.
Robots meta tag
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">Googlebot-specific
<meta name="googlebot" content="noindex">Noindex + nofollow
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">HTTP header
X-Robots-Tag: noindexNone
<meta name="robots" content="none">Noindex Checker FAQs
Answers to common indexing and noindex questions.
What does a noindex tag do?
A noindex directive tells search engines not to include a page, image, PDF, or other supported resource in their search results.
How do I check if a page has a noindex tag?
Enter the page URL into the checker. It examines the returned HTML for robots directives and the HTTP response for an X-Robots-Tag directive.
Does robots.txt prevent a page from being indexed?
No. robots.txt controls crawling and is not a reliable way to prevent a URL from appearing in Google Search.
How do I remove a noindex tag?
Find whether it comes from a robots meta tag, X-Robots-Tag header, CMS setting, SEO plugin, or server configuration, then remove or change the unintended directive.
What is the X-Robots-Tag header?
X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP response header that gives search engines indexing and serving instructions. It is especially useful for PDFs and images.
What does noindex, nofollow mean?
It tells search engines not to show the page in search results and not to follow links on the page.
Why is my page still showing in Google after removing noindex?
Google may still have the previous information until it crawls the page again. Check both HTML and HTTP response and make sure robots.txt is not blocking Googlebot.
What does none mean in a robots meta tag?
none is equivalent to noindex, nofollow.
Can a canonical URL affect indexing?
Yes. A canonical is a signal for the preferred version of a URL, but it is not the same as noindex.
Can JavaScript add a noindex tag?
Yes, but the checker reads the HTML and HTTP response returned by the server, so a directive added later by JavaScript is not detected.