Homepage Blocked by Meta Noindex
The primary URL has a meta robots noindex directive, which tells search engines not to include this page in their index. This effectively makes the page invisible in search results.
Use this article when
- You need deeper remediation guidance than the issue card can show.
- You want CMS-specific steps before handing the fix to a developer.
- You want a repeatable re-check path after shipping the change.
What this issue is
The primary URL has a meta robots noindex directive, which tells search engines not to include this page in their index. This effectively makes the page invisible in search results.
Why it matters
The primary URL has a meta robots noindex directive, which tells search engines not to include this page in their index. This effectively makes the page invisible in search results. This affects how clearly search engines understand the page and how persuasive it looks in search results.
How we detect it
- FreeSiteAudit flags this issue when the rule for CRAWL-META-NOINDEX-001 fails and the page evidence points to Head metadata.
- You can usually confirm this by checking the page source or the relevant page settings inside your CMS.
Evidence examples
How to fix it
- 1Remove the noindex directive from the <meta name="robots"> tag
- 2If using a CMS, check the "discourage search engines" or "noindex" setting
- 3Verify there is no X-Robots-Tag: noindex in HTTP headers
How to re-check it
- View page source and confirm the meta robots tag does not contain "noindex"
Related tools
This issue is best verified with the full FreeSiteAudit crawl rather than a single-point mini tool.