What is the recommended method for hiding CMS item pages from Google search results in Webflow? Can the NOFOLLOW meta tag be applied to all CMS pages or is a Robots.txt file the only option?
- Add
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">in the CMS Template’s Page Settings > Custom Code to prevent indexing. - Optionally update robots.txt to block crawling, but this doesn't guarantee exclusion from search results without the
noindextag.
To prevent Google from indexing CMS item pages in Webflow, the recommended approach is to use noindex meta tags, not nofollow, and optionally update the robots.txt file. Here's how to do it:
1. Understand the Difference: noindex vs nofollow
noindexprevents the page from appearing in search results.nofollowtells crawlers not to follow links on the page, but does not prevent indexing.- Therefore, to hide a CMS item page, you need to apply
noindex, notnofollow.
2. Add a noindex Meta Tag to All CMS Pages
- Go to any CMS Template page (e.g., Blog Post Template).
- In the Page Settings (gear icon next to the template page name), scroll to Custom Code → Inside tag.
- Insert this line:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"> - This will apply the tag on all pages using that CMS template.
- You can also conditionally show this tag using Webflow's conditional visibility, if only certain CMS items should be hidden.
3. Use robots.txt (Optional)
Go to Project Settings → SEO tab.
In the robots.txt field, you can disallow specific CMS paths, e.g.:
Disallow: /blog/However, robots.txt only blocks crawling, not indexing if another site links to the page.
Google may still index CMS pages if they’re linked externally unless a
noindexmeta tag is present.
Summary
To reliably keep CMS item pages out of Google search, use a <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"> tag inside the CMS Template's Page Settings > Custom Code section. You can optionally use robots.txt to prevent crawling, but it's not sufficient alone.