How can we set noindex for all topics in a specific category? I know you can hide a category from public view, but that’s a workaround, not the goal. Thanks so much!

So you want everyone except for search engines to be able to see topics in that category? What’s the use case? You’ll need a custom plugin if I understand what you’re wanting.

Hey Jay, hope you’re well. I don’t mind if search engines crawl the content, no problem. I just don’t want them to index it. It makes little sense for a Bible forum to have garden, recipes, lounge talk, and what not indexed. Those are just off topic items that do not reflect what the forum is about…

[image] Brandon007: I figured there must be a setting somewhere and keep missing it… I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. I suspect making your off-topic stuff accessible only to people who are logged in is the way to go. And here’s this from ask.discourse.com ▶ Setting Noindex for Discourse…

Thanks for the information. I might end up doing that, I’ll have to think about this one.

[image] pfaffman: I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. I suspect making your off-topic stuff accessible only to people who are logged in is the way to go. It’s a shame to be forced to hide content from visitors to also hide it from indexing robots. You may want your visitors to discover this …

Hey thanks for chiming in folks. I figured there would be a setting, this is really basic stuff, and Discourse is so advanced. @chapoi thanks for the note, I voted on that, but it’s a different use case. I imagine that’s why there are so few votes.

[image] Brandon007: but it’s a different use case What do you mean? [image] Brandon007: How can we set noindex for all topics in a specific category? [image] Need a way to add "meta robots noindex" in topics from a category a simple checkbox in the category configuration box: [ ]…

Definitely buddy. I should have been more clear, the users main concern was with his integration with Wordpress (which I use) so perhaps people see that and look away from the thread. I just have a hard time understanding how only 3 people voted for it. So my rationalization showed up. :grin:

[image] Salocin: It’s a shame to be forced to hide content from visitors to also hide it from indexing robots. but it’s not “visitors” – it’s “visitors who don’t care enough about your site to register for an account” – and the request is not for it to be hidden, but to let the bots see it, u…

How to noindex topics within a specific category?

Support

chapoi December 31, 2025, 10:21am 8

A good way to support that feature request is to add your vote to it btw

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How to noindex topics within a specific category?

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