Excluding by Deindexing WordPress Content from Google Search

February 9, 2024
Design & Dev, Problem Solving, Resources
Read Time: 2 minutes

Managing what content gets indexed by search engines is crucial for website owners, especially when using platforms like WordPress. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to exclude specific content from being indexed by Google, ensuring that sensitive or irrelevant pages stay out of search results.

Step 1: Access Your WordPress Dashboard

  1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.

Step 2: Install and Activate a Plugin

  1. Navigate to the “Plugins” section in your dashboard.
  2. Click on “Add New” and search for a plugin like “Yoast SEO” or “All in One SEO Pack.”
  3. Install and activate the plugin.

Step 3: Configure the Plugin’s Settings

  1. Once the plugin is activated, go to its settings page.
  2. Look for the “Search Appearance” or similar section in the plugin settings.

Step 4: Set Exclusion Rules

  1. In the plugin’s settings, find the option to exclude specific content from search results.
  2. This may be labeled as “Noindex” or similar terminology.

Step 5: Apply Noindex Tags to Content

  1. Navigate to the page or post you want to exclude from Google search.
  2. In the editor, look for the SEO settings provided by the installed plugin.
  3. Enable the “Noindex” option for that specific page or post.

Step 6: Verify Exclusion

  1. Save and publish the changes to your content.
  2. Visit the live page and view the page source (right-click > View Page Source) to confirm that the noindex meta tag is present.

Step 7: Request a Recrawl (Optional)

  1. In Google Search Console, submit a request for Google to recrawl your website.
  2. This step ensures that Google acknowledges the changes and updates its index accordingly.

There you have it…You’ve successfully excluded specific WordPress content from Google search results. This process allows you to have greater control over what information is accessible to search engine users. Keep in mind that this technique is particularly useful for sensitive pages or content that may not be relevant for public consumption.

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