Why do my https pages index while noindexed?
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I have some tag pages on one of my sites that I meta noindexed. This worked for the http version, which they are canonical'd to but now the https:// version is indexing.
The https version is both noindexed and has a canonical to the http version, but they still show up! I even have wordpress set up to redirect all https: to http! For some reason these pages are STILL showing in the SERPS though. Any experience or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Example page: https://www.michaelpadway.com/tag/insurance-coverage/
Thanks all!
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That is true, but I also have them 301'd to the http version and canonicaled! That is pretty much every possible signal to tell them those pages aren't pages and don't index them.
I suppose we can submit the URLs, unfortunately there are a LOT of tag pages.
Thanks for the advice Dana!
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Hi Spencer,
I am an in-house SEO to a fairly large e-commerce site (4,000 SKUs) that has the same exact problem. As I am sure you are aware, the META robots noindex tag is only a suggestion to goooglebot. This is something the bot can easily choose to ignore, and it frequently does ignore it.
I would suggest submitting individual URLs that you would prefer to be removed from Google in Google Webmaster Tools to the "Remove URLS" tool - It's not instantaneous, but it does work.
I hope that helps. I know it's frustrating. We have tons of content that's indexed that we'd rather wasn't. It takes time, patience and intelligent work to get the job done.
Dana
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