Unindexing

Unindexing refers to the process of removing or excluding information, particularly from a search engine's index or a catalog. This action renders specific content, websites, or data invisible in search results or unavailable within the indexed resources. It involves deleting entries, altering metadata to discourage indexing, or implementing technical measures to block access from index crawlers. The aim is typically to protect privacy, comply with legal requirements, or manage content visibility for various reasons. This action may influence SEO strategies, data accessibility, and information discovery.

Unindexing meaning with examples

• Following a privacy breach, the company chose to pursue Unindexing certain customer data from their website search to prevent further accidental exposure. This was performed by updating the robots.txt file and removing specific entries from their site maps, and any content that might identify at risk customers, to safeguard consumer information and comply with GDPR and other relevant regulations, which would otherwise be considered personally identifiable information.
• After a legal dispute, the website owner proceeded to unindex the controversial articles on their website. They did so to comply with court orders and protect themselves from ongoing litigation threats, they also added a no-index meta tag to the HTML header of the pages in question to ensure search engines would not display the content in search results.
• During a website redesign, the development team had to implement Unindexing for the development site pages before the site's official launch. This prevented the staging area's duplicate content from appearing in search results, ensuring the production site was the only accessible site for search engines. The goal was to protect the integrity of the original site, and also reduce the risk of user confusion.
• A publisher might choose to unindex a particular book's metadata if it's discovered to contain inaccurate or outdated information. They might alter the schema, which in turn prevents it from returning to the index again. They also may choose this route if the book is not suitable for public audiences or if the book is no longer in print to prevent potential customer dissatisfaction.
• In the wake of a major content update, the blog administrator chose to temporarily unindex older articles until they were fully reviewed and updated to maintain freshness and quality. This strategy helped to focus user traffic and resources to the newer, more relevant content, improving the user experience and search engine rankings for the site as a whole.