An SEO glossary of terms every marketer should know in 2026
A practical, current glossary covering the essential SEO terminology every marketer should be comfortable with, from foundational concepts to 2026-specific terms.
6 min read
Noindex and nofollow are two distinct directives that are frequently confused, despite controlling entirely different things. Noindex controls whether a specific page can appear in search results at all. Nofollow controls whether a specific link passes ranking credit to its destination.
Noindex: controlling whether a page appears in search results
A noindex meta tag or HTTP header tells Google not to include a specific page in its search index — the page can still be crawled and links on it followed, but the page itself will not appear in search results. This is the correct tool for pages you want to exist and be crawlable, but never shown in search.
- Thank-you pages after a form submission.
- Internal search result pages.
- Duplicate or thin pages you want excluded from the index without removing entirely.
- Staging or test pages that must remain technically accessible for other reasons.
Nofollow: controlling whether a link passes ranking credit
A nofollow attribute on a specific link tells Google not to treat that link as an endorsement passing ranking credit to its destination. Google has also introduced related attributes: sponsored (for paid or affiliate links) and ugc (for user-generated content links, like blog comments), both variants of the same underlying signal.
- nofollow: a general signal not to pass ranking credit.
- sponsored: specifically for paid, affiliate or advertising links.
- ugc: specifically for user-generated content links, like forum posts or comments.
Noindex is about the page's own visibility. Nofollow is about a specific link's endorsement value. Confusing the two leads to exactly the kind of mistake — like combining noindex with a robots.txt block — that quietly breaks the intended outcome.
The critical mistake: combining noindex with a robots.txt block
A noindex tag only works if Google can actually crawl the page to see it. If the same page is also blocked in robots.txt, Google never crawls it, never sees the noindex tag, and the page can still potentially appear in search results (often with minimal information) purely based on external signals like links pointing to it — the opposite of the intended outcome.
Frequently asked questions
Does a nofollow link still get crawled?
Google has stated it may still crawl nofollow links in some cases, using them as a signal, though it generally will not pass ranking credit through them as it would a normal, followed link.
Can I use noindex to remove a page from search results immediately?
Adding the tag itself is immediate, but Google needs to recrawl the page to notice the change — for urgent removal, Search Console's Removals tool provides a faster, temporary hiding option while the noindex tag propagates.
Should internal links to a noindexed page still be followed (not nofollow)?
Generally yes, if the noindexed page still links to other content you want discovered and indexed — noindex and nofollow are independent decisions that do not need to be paired together.
If you are unsure which directive is right for a specific page, contact our team for guidance.
The takeaway
Never combine a noindex tag with a robots.txt block on the same page — Google needs to crawl the page to see the noindex tag at all, and blocking crawling defeats its own purpose.
Written by Fibvo — Bengaluru and Erode, India — working with clients in other time zones. Questions, or think we have it wrong? Tell us.
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