Google updated its JavaScript SEO documentation to warn against using a noindex tag in the original page code on JavaScript pages. Google wrote, "if you do want the page indexed, don't use a noindex tag in the original page code."
Google said, "While Google may be able to render a page that uses JavaScript, the behavior of this is not well defined and might change. If there's a possibility that you do want the page indexed, don't use a noindex tag in the original page code."
The updated text says:
When Google encounters the noindex tag, it may skip rendering and JavaScript execution, which means using JavaScript to change or remove the robots meta tag from noindex may not work as expected. If you do want the page indexed, don't use a noindex tag in the original page code.
The old version said:
If Google encounters the noindex tag, it skips rendering and JavaScript execution. Because Google skips your JavaScript in this case, there is no chance to remove the tag from the page.Using JavaScript to change or remove the robots meta tag might not work as expected. Google skips rendering and JavaScript execution if the robots meta tag initially contains noindex. If there is a possibility that you do want the page indexed, don't use a noindex tag in the original page code.
Here is a screenshot of the before and after:
This is different from never using JavaScript for schema for Google Shopping. As a reminder, Google had a bug with noindex ags on JavaScript pages. The recommendations on this topic has changed over the years.
Forum discussion at X.
