# Noindex Tag

> A directive telling search engines not to include a page in their index.

Source: https://anotherseoguru.com/en/glossary/noindex

The noindex meta tag or HTTP header tells search engines that a page should not be added to their index and therefore won't appear in search results. It's different from blocking crawling - the page is still crawled but not indexed.

## Example

<meta name="robots" content="noindex"> on thank-you pages, admin pages, or thin tag/category pages.

## How to apply it

Use noindex for: thin pages, duplicate pages, admin areas, staging sites, thank-you pages. Don't use on pages you want traffic to.

> **Pro tip:** Noindex + follow lets Google crawl links on the page without indexing it. Useful for pages with good internal links but no search value themselves.

## Related terms

- [Robots.txt](https://anotherseoguru.com/en/glossary/robots-txt)
- [Indexing](https://anotherseoguru.com/en/glossary/indexing)