Google Search Console: What to do when a page is excluded by the “noindex” tag?

When you check the “Pages” report in Google Search Console, you often see the message: “Page excluded by the 'noindex' tag” . Should you be concerned? Is this a technical error? A decision that needs to be corrected? Here’s what you need to understand and how to take action based on your SEO strategy.

L'indexation par Google, c'est comme enregistrer un livre dans une bibliothèque : sera-t-il consultable, empruntable ?

1. What is a “noindex” tag?

The noindex tag is a directive inserted into the HTML code of a page . It tells search engine robots not to index the page in question , i.e. not to include it in Google search results .

It appears in the code as follows:

html

CopyEdit

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

Its role: to prevent certain pages from appearing in Google . This can be intentional or accidental.

2. Where can I find this information in Google Search Console?

In the Pages > Indexing Status report, you can view:

• the total number of excluded pages,

• the reasons for exclusion (including “Excluded by noindex tag”),

• the relevant URLs .

By clicking on an example, you can check whether the exclusion is relevant or not.

3. When is the “noindex” tag normal?

Some pages should not be indexed because they are of no interest to the user via Google. Examples:

• thank you page after form ,

• test or pre-production pages,

• internal pages without SEO content (shopping cart, customer account),

• sorting filters on a store .

In these cases, the noindex tag is intentional and justified.

4. When is the “noindex” tag problematic?

It is problematic if it prevents important pages from being visible in Google, such as:

• product pages,

• SEO optimized blog posts ,

• service pages you want to position.

In this case, it is necessary to:

• modify the SEO setting of the page concerned (in Wix: "SEO Settings" menu)

• remove the noindex tag from the HTML header

• request a reindex in Search Console once the correction is made

5. Customer example: bijouxfabricationfrancaise.com

During the SEO audit of this site, several category pages were mistakenly excluded via a noindex tag. Consequences:

• no category appeared on Google,

• loss of traffic on the keywords “French artisanal bracelet”, “handmade jewelry”.

Action: Removed noindex tags on the affected categories + requested indexing → the pages returned to the SERPs and gained visibility.

Conclusion

Not all pages excluded by noindex are problematic, but some are. Google Search Console allows you to pinpoint these cases. Fixing one inappropriate tag may be enough to reactivate a page that's important for your SEO traffic .

Would you like an audit to identify these blockages on your own site? Book an appointment online or contact me here . My Wix Partner Legend profile lists all my services.