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Bing "URLs with NOINDEX tag": keep it or remove it

These pages ask Bing not to show them, and Bing follows the rule. Remove the tag from pages you want on Bing. Keep it on the rest.

Bing Webmaster Tools: Site ExplorerChecked on October 8, 2026

By Bruno Amorim · ·

Where you see it

In Bing Webmaster Tools, open Site Explorer and apply the filter "URLs with NOINDEX tag". URL Inspection's Live URL test also reports it for one page.

What it means

The page has <meta name="robots" content="noindex">, or a similar rule. Bing's help says it will not add pages with this tag to its index.

Bing's guidelines say to use noindex when a page should not appear in Bing search, Copilot answers, or grounding results. So a noindex keeps the page out of all three.

Common causes

Most likely first.

  1. An SEO plugin or site builder setting hides a whole page type, such as tags, categories, or author pages.
  2. A "discourage search engines" or "hide from search" setting was left on after launch.
  3. A theme or template adds noindex to pages it treats as thin, such as pagination.
  4. A developer added the rule on staging, and it went live.

How to tell which cause applies

  1. Open the page, view the source, and search for noindex.
  2. Run the Live URL test in URL Inspection. It reads the page the way Bingbot does.
  3. Check the page's search setting in your plugin or site builder. On WordPress, also check Settings > Reading.
  4. Compare with Search Console's "Excluded by 'noindex' tag" list. The same pages usually show up in both.

How to fix it

  1. Decide page by page: should a searcher land here? Keep noindex on pages that are not useful from search.
  2. For pages you want on Bing, turn off the setting that adds noindex, or delete the tag from the template.
  3. Clear your site's cache and any CDN cache, so Bingbot gets the new page.
  4. Run the Live URL test again to check the tag is gone.
  5. Click Request indexing, or send the pages with IndexNow.

When you can ignore it

Ignore it for thank-you pages, account pages, internal search results, and other pages you keep out of search on purpose.

With CrawlCoach

CrawlCoach shows Google's "Excluded by 'noindex' tag" pages and flags any page in your sitemap that has a noindex rule. You fix the rule once, and it fixes Google and Bing at the same time.

Questions

Does Bing follow noindex on a page that robots.txt blocks?

Bing can't see a rule on a page it is not allowed to crawl. If you want a page off Bing, allow crawling and use noindex.

Does noindex also keep my page out of Microsoft Copilot?

Yes. Bing's guidelines say to use noindex when a page should not appear in Bing search, Copilot experiences, or grounding results.

Related guides

Sources

Checked on October 8, 2026. Vendors change their tools and docs, so check the source if something looks different.

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