The ability to control the visibility of web pages on search engines like Google is a powerful tool often overlooked by SEO managers. Whether it’s for removing outdated content, managing duplicate pages, or optimizing site SEO performance, efficiently bulk noindexing WordPress pages can save time and enhance overall site health.
There are a few tools SEO managers can use to handle noindex changes in WordPress, but there have not been independent plugins that can be used to manage bulk noindexing for larger websites. Because we have over 18 years of experience assisting companies with various SEO needs, we have extensive first-hand experience using noindexing to help companies overcome search engine penalties, clean up old content and navigate major site migrations.
We wanted to help make the process as easy and fool-proof as possible, so we went ahead and created a Bulk Noindex plugin to simplify the process. This tool is not the only resource for website managers, but it can be the most efficient under the right conditions.
What is a Noindex Tag?
A noindex tag is an on-page directive that uses the “robots” meta tag to instruct search engines like Google to exclude a page for the search engine’s index and keep that page out of the search results. When Googlebot crawls that page and extracts the tag or header, Google will drop that page entirely from Google Search results, regardless of whether other sites link to it. Check out Google’s Search Central for more information about how they interpret noindex tags.
Your Guide to Noindex Plugins
Outlined below are three available options for enhancing your SEO performance through the use of noindexing.
1) Mad Fish Digital’s Bulk Noindex WordPress Plugin for Enterprise SEO
When it comes to managing the SEO of a WordPress site, especially at an enterprise level, the Mad Fish Digital WordPress plugin is going to be the easiest to implement and use.
The plugin has a user-friendly interface and powerful capabilities, allowing users to easily apply noindex tags to pages in bulk. Unlike many other SEO plugins, like Noindex Pages and Noindex SEO, Mad Fish Digital’s solution is specifically designed with the needs of large-scale websites in mind.
Some of the biggest advantages we have seen with our work include:
- Reducing the time it takes to noindex/nofollow each page, post, or categorize manually
- Easily identifying thin content pages by quickly sorting posts and pages by word and character count
- Speeding up website search engine penalty recovery time by identifying and bulk noindexing large numbers of posts and pages
- Easily controlling the robots meta tag directives on large numbers of pages
- Ability to sync with the Yoast and the All in One SEO Pack (AIOSEO) plugins to maintain and manage existing noindex and nofollow posts and pages
2) SEO Plugins With Bulk Noindex Features
Outside of the Mad Fish Digital WordPress plugin, there are several other SEO plugins available for WordPress that provide bulk noindex functionalities. These plugins vary in complexity and feature sets, but they generally allow webmasters to add noindex tags to pages, posts, categories, and tags either individually or in bulk. While these tools can be effective for smaller to medium-sized websites, they often lack the specialized focus and efficiency found in Mad Fish Digital’s solution, especially when dealing with enterprise SEO challenges.
Few plugins address the need for bulk noindex effectively. NoIndex SEO and Duplicate Content Cure are close. Features such as bulk editing, ease of use, and compatibility with other WordPress plugins and themes should be top considerations. While SEO plugins can provide a good starting point for managing your site’s indexing, for extensive and nuanced control, the specialized capabilities of Mad Fish Digital’s plugin are unmatched.
3) Manual Editing via WordPress Bulk Actions
For those who prefer a hands-on approach or have smaller websites, WordPress has a built-in bulk actions feature that can be used to manually apply noindex tags to pages. This method involves editing the HTML of each page or post to include a meta noindex tag. Although this process provides the highest level of control, it is time-consuming and not feasible for larger sites with hundreds or thousands of pages.
Manual editing is best suited for specific situations where a few pages need to be hidden from search engines, rather than as a strategy for managing the site’s overall SEO. Additionally, it requires a basic understanding of HTML and the potential SEO implications of noindexing pages, making it less accessible to those without technical expertise or a deep understanding of SEO practices.
Connect With Us to Explore SEO Services Tailored to Your Business Goals
Mad Fish Digital offers a free WordPress plugin for bulk noindexing accessible to all WordPress sites. We encourage web and SEO managers to explore it and provide feedback. For inquiries about our SEO services or how we can help elevate your marketing, feel free to contact our team for a consultation.
