This article is designed to guide configuring a page to "index, follow," detailing the fundamental principles of web crawling and SEO best practices involved in the process. We will cover the following topics:

Understanding Robots Meta Tags and Directives

Robot meta tags and directives guide search engine bots in crawling and indexing web pages. These snippets of HTML code, placed in the header section of a webpage, communicate with web crawlers to include or exclude pages from their indexes and whether to follow links on those pages.

The "index" directive tells search engines that a page should be added to their searchable index, making it discoverable to users. Conversely, the "noindex" directive prevents a page from being indexed. Similarly, the "follow" directive encourages search engines to follow the links on a page, potentially indexing those linked pages, while "nofollow" stops search crawlers from following links. Understanding and effectively using these tags and directives is essential for SEO, allowing website owners to influence and optimize their site's visibility and interaction with search engines.

How to Set a Page to "index, follow": Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Understand What "index, follow" Means

Before making any changes, it's important to understand what the "index, follow" directive does. The "index" part instructs search engines to add the page to their searchable web index, making it possible for your page to appear in search results. The "follow" directive tells search engines to follow the links on your page, which can help discover new pages and distribute link equity.

Step 2: Access Your Page's HTML

You must access the page's HTML code to set it to "index, follow." This can be done through your website's content management system (CMS) or by directly editing the HTML file if your website is static.

Step 3: Insert the Meta Tag

Within the <head> section of your page's HTML, you'll need to insert the following meta tag:

<meta name="robots" content="index,follow">

This tag tells search engine crawlers to index the page and follow its links. If your page already has a meta robots tag, check its content and update it to "index, follow" if necessary.

Step 4: Save and Publish Your Changes

After inserting or updating the meta tag, save your changes and publish the updated page. If you're using a CMS, this might involve clicking a "save" or "update" button. You must upload the updated file to your server for static websites.

Step 5: Verify Your Changes

It's a good practice to verify that your changes are correctly implemented. You can view the page's source code in a browser (usually accessible via right-click > "View Page Source") and ensure the meta tag appears correctly in the <head> section.

Step 6: Use Tools for Further Verification

Consider using tools like Google Search Console to verify further that your page is recognized as "index, follow." These tools can also help identify if there are any issues with how search engines are crawling and indexing your page.

Best Practices for "index, follow"

While "index, follow" is beneficial for most of your content, it's essential to apply it selectively. Prioritize content that provides value to search engines and users. For instance, high-quality blog posts, articles, and product pages should be indexed. Conversely, private, duplicate, or thin content pages might be better served with a "noindex" directive to conserve the crawl budget and improve site quality in the eyes of search engines.