Skip to content
crawlcoach.
Get my free report

"Indexing allowed? No: 'noindex' detected": how to fix it

Your page tells Google not to index it, with a noindex rule in a meta tag or an HTTP header. Google follows it.

In Search Console: Page indexing > Indexing
Indexing allowed?
No: 'noindex' detected in 'robots' meta tag
Indexing allowed?
No: 'noindex' detected in 'X-Robots-Tag' http header

By Bruno Amorim · ·

What it means

Indexing allowed? says whether the page blocks indexing. No means Google found a noindex rule, so it left the page out of search.

The words after No say where the rule is: in a robots meta tag in the page's HTML, or in an X-Robots-Tag header that your server sends.

If robots.txt blocks the page, this line always says Yes, because Google can't see the rule. So Yes is not proof the page has no noindex.

Where it shows: Page indexing > Crawl > Indexing allowed?

Which of your pages have this problem? Find out for free.

Get my free report

Common causes

  1. A site setting hides the whole site, such as WordPress's "Discourage search engines from indexing this site".
  2. An SEO plugin or theme adds noindex to a kind of page, such as tags, archives, or one page by mistake.
  3. A setting from the test or staging site stayed on after launch.
  4. A server or CDN rule adds X-Robots-Tag: noindex to a folder or a file type, such as PDFs.

How to check which cause applies

  1. Click Test live URL. If Indexing allowed? still says No, the rule is still live.
  2. Open View tested page and search the HTML for noindex.
  3. For the header version, open View tested page > More info and look for X-Robots-Tag in the HTTP response.
  4. Or run curl -sI with the page address and look for X-Robots-Tag.

How to fix it

  1. Find the setting that adds the rule: your CMS, SEO plugin, theme, or server config. Turn it off for this page.
  2. Click Test live URL. Indexing allowed? should say Yes.
  3. Click Request indexing.
  4. If many pages had the rule, fix them all. Then click Validate fix for Excluded by 'noindex' tag in the Page indexing report.

When you can ignore it

Thank-you, cart, login, and internal search pages should keep noindex. Take them out of your sitemap.

With CrawlCoach

CrawlCoach reads Google's indexing result for each page it checks. On paid plans, its fix list flags pages in your sitemap that carry noindex, because the sitemap asks Google to index a page the tag tells it to skip. Google makes the final call on what it indexes.

Related Page indexing reasons

Questions

What does "Indexing allowed? No: 'noindex' detected in 'robots' meta tag" mean?

The page's HTML has a robots meta tag with noindex, such as <meta name="robots" content="noindex">. Google follows it and leaves the page out of search.

What does the X-Robots-Tag version mean?

The rule is in an HTTP header your server sends, not in the HTML. Look in your server, CDN, or host settings.

I removed noindex. Why does it still say No?

The indexed result is from the last crawl. Click Test live URL to see the current page, then click Request indexing.

Indexing allowed? says Yes, but the page has noindex. Why?

robots.txt blocks the page, so Google can't see the tag. Google's help says the line then always says Yes. Check the Crawl allowed? line.

Sources

Checked on October 8, 2026. Google can change its tools and wording after that date.

See which of your pages Google left out, and why

Sign in with Google. CrawlCoach checks up to 500 pages for free, sorts the missing ones by reason, and shows the fix for each.

Get my free report

Free for up to 500 pages. No card needed. Sign in with the Google account you use for Search Console.

Related guides