Google: Staging Sites Should Use Authenticated User/Passwords To Block Indexing

Apr 7, 2021 - 7:31 am 1 by

Google User Pass Block

Google's John Mueller said again that the best method to block Google from crawling and then indexing your staging site is to block GoogleBot and other humans with authentication. Prompt the access request to the staging site by requiring them to enter a valid username and password to access the staging environment.

I believe most developers and SEOs know this by now, but it is the best solution by far.

Here is John Mueller saying this on Twitter:

Just be careful with your staging sites, you don't generally want Google to index them and you don't want to accidentally push up to production the mechanism you use to block the on staging to production.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 18, 2025

Jul 18, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google June Core Update Done, Local Ranking Update, AI Mode Updates & AI Calling Businesses

Jul 18, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Maps

New Google Business Profile Check Edit Status

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Login Service Pages Are Hard To Rank In Search

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

Google AI Overviews For Movie Queries

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Rolling Out Smart Bidding Exploration To Some Advertisers

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Is Yahoo Answers Shutting Down An Opportunity For SEOs?