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The page Google cannot see: robots rules and noindex by mistake

A single leftover rule can hide a page. How to spot it and what each setting does.

Author: HD4 min read

Table of contents
  1. Key takeaways
  2. Two different controls
  3. Look for the leftovers
  4. Fix and confirm
  5. See it on your own site
  6. Sources

Two different controls#

robots.txt manages crawling and a noindex rule manages whether a page may appear in results. Mixing them up leaves pages hidden or exposed.

Look for the leftovers#

After a redesign or a move from staging, a noindex or a disallow can stay behind. The audit lists pages hidden from Google by mistake.

Fix and confirm#

Remove the rule, publish, then read the live page to see it gone.

See it on your own site#

The free website check reads a site you name and reports what holds its pages back, with no account and no card. It changes nothing on your site.

Run the free website check

Sources#