How to prevent directory from being accessed by search engines?
-
Pretty much as the question says, is there any way to stop search engines from crawling a directory? I am working on a Wordpress installation for my site but don't want it to be listed in search engines until it's ready to be shown to the world. I know the simplest way is to password-protect the directory but I had some issues when I tried to implement that so I'd like to see if there's a way to do it without passwords. Thanks in advance.
-
But don't forget to remove that Disallow out of Robots.txt when you go live - if you want those pages to be indexed (and also the Meta-robots noindex nofollow).
Otherwise you might be pulling your hair out trying to figure out why none of your pages are getting indexed in the SERPs.
-
You're absolutely right! I left that part out. Thanks
-
The robots.txt file does not guarantee that your pages will not show up in search results! Your best bet after password protection is adding a NoIndex meta tag to you page headers.
Google have openly said that they obey this tag (Matt Cutts).
-
Xee,
It always help, and it is very easy to implement. This function to show the path to the sitemap ir very good.
-
It's not required to have the ending slash. At least, it works for us without it.
-
As it is, my site is just phpBB3 forums (www.bearsfansonline.com); would a sitemap really help that much?
-
If you don't have an robot.txt file, you need to include some important stuff first.
First, do you have a sitemap.xlm for your website? If not, its very important and you should creat it at: http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
Create a robot.txt file and include the follow:
User-agent: * allow: / disallow: /directoryname
Sitemap: http://www.yousite.com/sitemap.xmlWith this you will inform all robots where is your sitemap. You should read more about robots.txt in this great post: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/robot-access-indexation-restriction-techniques-avoiding-conflicts
-
shouldn't you put a slash at the end of the directory in the robots file?
you can create the robots file through the Google Webmaster Tools
-
I don't have a robots.txt file in my root. Do I just create a text file, put the above lines into it, and upload it to my root after changing the name?
-
I'm assuming you want all search engines blocked from this directory. If so, edit your robots.txt file to state the following. This will block all bots from accessing a folder/directory on your site
User-agent: *
Disallow: /directoryname
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How do I access the old search console?
Hello, Moz community! I need to access the old search console in order to submit a change of address. I used to be able to switch from a toggle on the main menu, but I can't seem to find that anymore. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can access it?
Technical SEO | | eddiewang250 -
Issues with Google Search Console and rekeyed SSL certificate
Hi, Another newbie question please. I've recently changed the name of my business so bought a new domain and rekeyed the SSL certificate to the new domain. Let's say the old domain was called https://123.com and the new one is https://abc.com. I've set up a 301 redirect on 123.com to forward to abc.com and I've added the new domain to Google Search Console and verified it, however can't seem to use the Change of Address tool to move from the old domain to the new domain. I think its because my preferred property (https://123.com) technically no longer exists since I rekeyed the SSL certificate from the old site to the new one so the old site no longer has an SSL certificate. When I go to the old https domain it doesn't load, nor does it seem to forward to the new site. It just times out. Am I correct in assuming that since I rekeyed the SSL certificate, that my original preferred property on Google (https://123.com) no longer exists? And if so, is there a way to use the Change of Address tool or do I simply need to remove the old site from Google and go through a period where my (new) site builds it's ranking from scratch? Thanks in advance folks!
Technical SEO | | Veevlimike0 -
Would a Search Engine treat a sitemap hosted in the cloud in the same way as if it was simply on /sitemap.htm?
Mainly to allow updates without the need for publishing - would Google interpret any differently? Thanks
Technical SEO | | RichCMF0 -
Is there a reason why a host would be reluctant to give up Cpanel access info?
Granted, a strange question here... My client lost her cpanel login credentials, or never bothered to get them (she didn't even know she had a hosting account). Apparently she has a friend who is hosting her website for her, free of charge. I need to get into the cpanel, but they are being extremely difficult. The client asked them and they didn't want to give it to her either. Still trying, but is there any reason why they would be so difficult? How does it benefit them? It can't be because they're afraid of losing her account because she isn't paying them anything. Totally confused by this. Any ideas?
Technical SEO | | Masbro1 -
How to prevent duplicat content issue and indexing sub domain [ CDN sub domain]?
Hello! I wish to use CDN server to optimize my page loading time ( MaxCDN). I have to use a custom CDN sub domain to use these services. If I added a sub domain, then my blog has two URL (http://www.example.com and http://cdn.example.com) for the same content. I have more than 450 blog posts. I think it will cause duplicate content issues. In this situation, what is the best method (rel=canonical or no-indexing) to prevent duplicate content issue and prevent indexing sub domain? And take the optimum service of the CDN. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | Godad0 -
Google is indexing my directories
I'm sure this has been asked before, but I was looking at all of Google's results for my site and I found dozens of results for directories such as: Index of /scouting/blog/wp-includes/js/swfupload/plugins Obviously I don't want those indexed. How do I prevent Google from indexing those? Also, it only seems to be doing it with Wordpress, not any of the directories on my main site. (We have a wordpress blog, which is only a portion of the site)
Technical SEO | | UnderRugSwept0 -
Difference between search volume in KWT and Impressions in GWT
Hi there, Sorry I've been a bit quiet of late, we're going through a huge rebranding exercise as well as staying on top of client work. Anyway. I've got an issue with keyword research phase of a client remarketing. Trying to decide which keywords to target (aren't we all?) The client has 3 months of back data in Google Webmaster Tools, which helps us to see Impressions, CTR and actual click-throughs etc. Now, they rank #1 on Google.com for a certain keyword (logged out, of course). According to Google Keyword tool (Logged in) there are 2.7million searches per month for this keyword. With the average CTR being 18% for a #1 keyword that should be bringing in 400k visits. However, take the same keyword in Google Webmaster Tools and the impressions are actually around 1,600 per month with a CTR of 9%. Different CTR's for different sectors I can accept. What I don't get is the vast difference between the impressions in GWT compared to the alleged search volume coming from the Keyword tool. Really need to understand this so we can better select keywords and judge approximate traffic expected if ranking #1 for a keyword. Any help would be really useful. Thank you!
Technical SEO | | Nobody15609869897230 -
Canonical tags and internal Google search
Quick question: I want some pages that will have canonical tags, to show up in internal results for a Google site search that's built into the site. I'm not finished with the site, but is it correct to assume that pages with canonical will NOT show up in internal site search results, when powered by Google?
Technical SEO | | EricPacifico0