Noindex Checker

Find out why a page is not in Google

When a page refuses to show up in search, the cause is usually one small directive: a leftover noindex from a staging site, a robots.txt rule that is broader than intended, or a canonical tag that points somewhere else. This checker reads all of them in one go and gives a plain verdict, Indexable or Not indexable, with the exact reason and where it came from.

What is checked

• HTTP status and redirects: only pages that answer 200 can be indexed. Redirects are followed and the final URL is the one tested.
• Meta robots and googlebot tags: noindex, none and an expired unavailable_after date all keep a page out of results. A googlebot-specific tag counts as well as the general one.
• X-Robots-Tag header: the same directives sent as an HTTP header, including rules aimed at a single crawler such as googlebot: noindex.
• robots.txt: the rules for Googlebot and for all crawlers, matched against the page path with the same precedence Google uses.
• Canonical: whether the page names itself or another URL as the main version, in the HTML or in a Link header.

Fixing common problems

If a meta tag is the cause, look in your CMS or SEO plugin for a "discourage search engines" or "hide from search" option, both site wide and on the page. If the header is the cause, check your server, CDN or hosting rules. For robots.txt, narrow the disallow rule or add an Allow line for the path. After fixing, request indexing in Google Search Console so the page is crawled again sooner.

Remember that robots.txt blocking and noindex do not mix: if a page is blocked from crawling, Google cannot read its noindex tag. To remove a page from results, allow crawling and use noindex.