Set noindex and Canonical URLs in WordPress (Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO, SEOPress)

Two small fields decide whether a page can rank at all. Set them on purpose, not by accident.

10–20 minutes

Verified by Hassan Rawther ·

Hassan Rawther is the Founder, Unlearn Academy. Written by the Unlearn Academy team.

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The short answer

In WordPress, both settings are in your SEO plugin’s panel when you edit a page. Yoast: Advanced → “Allow search engines to show this content” = No, and the Canonical URL field. Rank Math: Advanced → Robots Meta → No Index, and Canonical URL. AIOSEO and SEOPress have the same options under Advanced. Use noindex to keep a page out of Google; use canonical to tell Google which of several similar URLs is the main one.

Before you start

By the end of this SOP

Thank-you, test and thin pages are noindexed, duplicate pages point to the right canonical URL, and Search Console confirms both.

Time
10–20 minutes
You’ll need
WordPress editor access and one SEO plugin: Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All in One SEO or SEOPress.
Who does this
The person managing the website’s SEO.
About this SOP: why it matters, where and when

Why it matters: Thank-you pages in Google bring fake conversions; duplicate pages split rankings. Both are fixed in minutes.

Where: WordPress → Pages or Posts → Edit → your SEO plugin’s panel, then Google Search Console.

When: When you publish thank-you, landing or test pages, and when an audit shows duplicates.

Stage 1

Decide which tool each page needs

  1. 1

    Use this rule:

    • noindex: the page must exist for visitors but shouldn’t appear in Google (thank-you pages, internal search, login, thin tag pages).
    • canonical to another URL: two pages are near-identical and both must stay live (a print version, a filtered product list).
    • 301 redirect: the old page should disappear and send everyone to the new one (SOP 316).
    • Leave it: every page you want to rank keeps a self-referencing canonical and index.
  2. 2

    Never noindex and canonical the same page to another URL. Choose one signal.

Stage 2

Set noindex

  1. 1

    Yoast SEO: edit the page → Yoast SEO panel → Advanced → “Allow search engines to show this content in search results?” → No.

  2. 2

    Rank Math: edit the page → Rank Math panel → Advanced tab → Robots Meta → tick No Index.

  3. 3

    All in One SEO: edit the page → AIOSEO Settings → Advanced → turn off “Use Default Settings” under Robots Setting → tick No Index.

  4. 4

    SEOPress: edit the page → SEO metabox → Advanced → tick “Do not display this page in search engine results”.

  5. 5

    Update the page. Don’t also block it in robots.txt, or Google can’t see the noindex.

Stage 3

Set a canonical URL

  1. 1

    Open the duplicate (not the main) page in the editor.

  2. 2

    Find the Canonical URL field in the same Advanced section of your plugin, and paste the full URL of the main page, for example https://www.yoursite.in/implants/.

  3. 3

    Leave the field empty on the main page itself. The plugin adds a self-referencing canonical automatically.

  4. 4

    Make sure internal links and the XML sitemap use the main URL too; Google treats canonicals as a strong hint, not an order.

Stage 4

Check it

  1. 1

    Open the page in a browser, right-click → View page source, and search for noindex and rel="canonical".

  2. 2

    In Search Console, inspect the URL (SOP 208). For noindex: “Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag” after the next crawl. For canonical: “User-declared canonical” should match “Google-selected canonical”.

  3. 3

    For a page you want removed quickly, click Request indexing after adding noindex so Google recrawls it.

Practice & check

Now do it for real

Reading is not doing. Open your own account and complete this task before you move on.

Practice task (5 min)

On a test WordPress site, noindex the thank-you page and set a canonical on a duplicate page, then show both in view-source.

Prove it

1. A thank-you page is showing in Google. What should you do?
2. What should the main page’s canonical be?

Two questions. Get both right and this SOP is done.

Common questions

How long does noindex take to work?

Until Google recrawls the page, usually a few days to a few weeks. Request indexing in URL Inspection to speed it up.

Can I noindex a whole category or tag archive?

Yes. In Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO and SEOPress, the global settings for taxonomies let you noindex all tag or category pages at once.

Should I use canonical or 301 redirect for an old page?

Use a 301 redirect if visitors no longer need the old page. Use a canonical only when both pages must stay live.

Done. That’s a real skill, not a certificate.

Next: SOP 316 — Create and Test 301 Redirects in WordPress →

Want to do this on real client budgets, with a mentor checking your work? That’s Level 2 at Unlearn. See the Digital Marketing track