De-Index

Definition

De-indexing refers to the procedure of removing a webpage or an entire website from the search engine index. This means the de-indexed pages won’t appear in search result listings, regardless of the search queries or the corresponding content that possesses potential relevancy. It’s important to note that de-indexing doesn’t involve deleting the website or the webpage from the internet, only its visibility on search engine results.

De-Index Relevance For SEO

De-indexing plays a crucial role in SEO, primarily as a strategy for controlling the visibility of your content to the search engine crawlers. You might want certain parts of your website deindexed because they contain low-quality content, duplicate content, or private content. By intentionally de-indexing such pages, you can steer away potential penalties from search engines, protect private content, and most importantly maintain your website’s overall ‘authority’. Remember, each page index influences your website’s overall image to the search engine algorithms. Therefore, it is indispensable to manage your indexed content effectively for successful SEO practices.

De-Index Best Practices for SEO

The best practices while de-indexing for SEO purposes include:

• Using robots.txt: A “robots.txt” file tells search engine crawlers which pages or files they can request from your site to be indexed.
• Meta NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW Tag: Placing the ‘noindex’ and ‘nofollow’ meta tags on the pages you don’t want indexed, gives search engines a clear signal that you do not want them tagging along or indexing your specified pages.
• Using Google Search Console: You can politely ask Google to ‘Remove URLs’ command if you want to expedite removal, although, this is not always necessary unless the page contains sensitive details.
• Preventing Duplicate Content: Make use of canonical tags to specify the ‘main content’ and prevent similar content pages from being indexed to avoid duplicate content and penalties.

Always take extra care while de-indexing. Unintentional broad directives could lead to your entire site being de-indexed!