Google noindex guidance
The Google noindex guidance,
as documented
What Google documents, in its own words. Verified from Google's page on 2026-10-09.
Google's page explains how to keep a page out of Search with the noindex rule. This page lists those statements with the exact wording from Google.
What Google says
| Topic | What Google says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What noindex does | “When Googlebot crawls that page and extracts the tag or header, Google will drop that page entirely from Google Search results, regardless of whether other sites link to it.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| robots.txt must not block it | “If the page is blocked by a robots.txt file or the crawler can't access the page, the crawler will never see the noindex rule, and the page can still appear in search results, for example if other pages link to it.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Two methods | “There are two ways to implement noindex: as a <meta> tag and as an HTTP response header.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Same effect | “They have the same effect; choose the method that is more convenient for your site and appropriate for the content type.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| noindex in robots.txt | “Specifying the noindex rule in the robots.txt file is not supported by Google.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| HTTP header | “Instead of a <meta> tag, you can return an X-Robots-Tag HTTP header with a value of either noindex or none in your response.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Non-HTML files | “A response header can be used for non-HTML resources, such as PDFs, video files, and image files.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Other search engines | “Be aware that some search engines might interpret the noindex rule differently.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Page still showing | “If a page is still appearing in results, it's probably because we haven't crawled the page since you added the noindex rule.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Recrawl time | “Depending on the importance of the page on the internet, it may take months for Googlebot to revisit a page.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Testing | “To test if your noindex implementation is correct, use the URL Inspection tool to see the HTML that Googlebot received while crawling the page.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Quick removal | “If you need to remove a page of your site quickly from Google's search results, see our documentation about removals.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
How to apply it
A checklist built only from the guidance in Google's page.
- Put the noindex rule in a robots meta tag or an X-Robots-Tag header, whichever suits the content type.
- Do not block the same URL in robots.txt, or Googlebot will never see the rule.
- Do not rely on a noindex rule inside robots.txt, which Google does not support.
- Check what Googlebot received with the URL Inspection tool, and allow time for a recrawl.
- For a fast removal, use the removals documentation instead.
Questions
Does Google support noindex in robots.txt?
No. Google says specifying the noindex rule in the robots.txt file is not supported.
Why would a noindex page still show in Google?
Google gives two reasons: it may not have crawled the page since the rule was added, or robots.txt may be blocking the URL so the crawler cannot see the tag.
Meta tag or HTTP header?
Google says they have the same effect. The header can also be used for non-HTML files such as PDFs, video files and image files.
How can I check my noindex?
Google suggests the URL Inspection tool to see the HTML Googlebot received, and the Page Indexing report in Search Console to monitor pages where Googlebot extracted a noindex rule.
How current is this page?
Every quote was read from Google's page on 2026-10-09. The page showed "Last updated 2025-12-10 UTC". Google can change its documentation, so treat the linked page as the final word.
Sources
- Block Search indexing with noindex (Google Search Central), read on 2026-10-09
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