Keep my Wordpress blog out of search engines!
June 21, 2008 8:38 PM Subscribe
Why is my Wordpress blog showing up in Google when I have specifically chosen the option to keep it private from search engines?
I have a new Wordpress blog, hosted by Wordpress, that I'd like to keep from being indexed by search engines if possible. Under Settings: Privacy, I have selected "I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors". I have also password-protected all posts.
Yet the blog is showing up in Google. I put my own name in a post to see if it would show up, and a Google search for my name brings up the post, plus the usual Google blurb of one or two lines before or after where my name appears in the post. When you click through, you cannot read the post because of the password protection, but I'm troubled that the blog posts are being indexed b y Google when I've specified that they not be, and also that excerpts from my password-protected posts are showing up in the Google results. Please help! (Hosting the blog on my own server is not an option.)
I have a new Wordpress blog, hosted by Wordpress, that I'd like to keep from being indexed by search engines if possible. Under Settings: Privacy, I have selected "I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors". I have also password-protected all posts.
Yet the blog is showing up in Google. I put my own name in a post to see if it would show up, and a Google search for my name brings up the post, plus the usual Google blurb of one or two lines before or after where my name appears in the post. When you click through, you cannot read the post because of the password protection, but I'm troubled that the blog posts are being indexed b y Google when I've specified that they not be, and also that excerpts from my password-protected posts are showing up in the Google results. Please help! (Hosting the blog on my own server is not an option.)
Have you asked this in a wordpress.com support forum?
posted by Good Brain at 9:02 PM on June 21, 2008
posted by Good Brain at 9:02 PM on June 21, 2008
Yeah, if a company's product isn't doing what they say it does, you should talk to their support people first.
posted by winston at 9:20 PM on June 21, 2008
posted by winston at 9:20 PM on June 21, 2008
Skip the support forum, and just do what beaucoupkevin and brian puccio say. Meta tags (in the template for all your pages) and a robots.text are the industry standard way of keeping sites from indexing things, don't worry about what the wordpress software does.
Also, see google's page on the subject, which explains how to get out of their DB once you get the robots.text file in.
(assuming you're on your own domain here. if you're on wordpress.com, then you'll have to look at their docs.)
posted by paultopia at 6:12 AM on June 22, 2008
Also, see google's page on the subject, which explains how to get out of their DB once you get the robots.text file in.
(assuming you're on your own domain here. if you're on wordpress.com, then you'll have to look at their docs.)
posted by paultopia at 6:12 AM on June 22, 2008
In a hosted service it's unlikely that Drohan can create a robots.txt file, so yes, talk to their support.
posted by nev at 8:47 AM on June 22, 2008
posted by nev at 8:47 AM on June 22, 2008
Skip the support forum . . . assuming you're on your own domain here. if you're on wordpress.com, then you'll have to look at their docs.
First, was reading the question really that difficult? "I have a new Wordpress blog, hosted by Wordpress".
Second, the docs on this point are pretty pointless because the feature is not working as advertised.
The OP should check to make sure that they're not publishing excerpts of password protected posts in their RSS feed, but in any event they should report this to wordpress because it needs to be fixed and they're the only people who can fix it.
posted by toomuchpete at 9:11 AM on June 22, 2008
First, was reading the question really that difficult? "I have a new Wordpress blog, hosted by Wordpress".
Second, the docs on this point are pretty pointless because the feature is not working as advertised.
The OP should check to make sure that they're not publishing excerpts of password protected posts in their RSS feed, but in any event they should report this to wordpress because it needs to be fixed and they're the only people who can fix it.
posted by toomuchpete at 9:11 AM on June 22, 2008
Make sure your template has <?php wp_head(); ?> in the header.
That function is where Wordpress puts in the NOINDEX/NOFOLLOW settings.
Accidentally took that out on a blog and the site started getting indexed.
posted by mincus at 8:19 AM on June 23, 2008
That function is where Wordpress puts in the NOINDEX/NOFOLLOW settings.
Accidentally took that out on a blog and the site started getting indexed.
posted by mincus at 8:19 AM on June 23, 2008
Also, site up for Google webmaster tools - https://www.google.com/sitemaps - after you claim the site, they have a little tool in there that you have specify pages to be removed from the Google index.
posted by mincus at 8:25 AM on June 23, 2008
posted by mincus at 8:25 AM on June 23, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 8:42 PM on June 21, 2008