Google PSA: Noindex Trumps Index Robots Directive

Oct 10, 2016 - 7:58 am 0 by

Brick Google 1900px

Every now and then, a Googler will say something fairly obvious to most SEOs and webmasters, it would make you scratch your head. Gary Illyes from Google did that on Twitter on Friday, saying "Reminder: if you have both "noindex" and "index" on the page, noindex will win. It's always the most restrictive robots directive that wins."

Here is the tweet:

It makes you wonder how many sites he saw recently with both directives on the site?

In any event, clearly it is not such an uncommon issue and he felt the need to post it on Twitter.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Updates

Google Search Ranking Volatility Remains Heated Through The Weekend

Feb 15, 2026 - 9:45 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: February 13, 2026

Feb 13, 2026 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Volatility, Bing AI Performance Reports, New AI Mode Retail Ads, UCP Checkout & ChatGPT Ads Go Live

Feb 13, 2026 - 8:01 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Where Are Those New Google Search Console Features?

Feb 13, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Product Eligibility View Across Campaigns

Feb 13, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Still Recommends You Focus On Visible Anchor Text For Links

Feb 13, 2026 - 7:31 am
 
Previous Story: Google Panda Algorithm Does Adjust Rankings Down Unlike Penguin