How to Identify and possible remove a "nonindex" tag and redirests.

[csmt2901]

Folks I am hoping to get some help from you here because I am frustrated with square. I have never worked with a platform before that only really cares about collecting the monthly payment for my subscription. I don't even know if what I need is something they can help me with, because nobody I have spoke with seems to know what "nonindex" tag and redirects are. Sorry for my venting but it has been a while now that I have been trying to get this taken care of. So, when I entered my website into Google Search Console, it says that I have 4 pages that are not indexed because one of them has a "nonindex" tag and the others have redirects on them. I know what those terms are but I don't know how to fix and why they are there in the first place. And it appears that the professionals at Square don't know either. So would anyone kindly direct me what I should do? Will I have to pay a web designer to look into that? If so, will the fact that Square online is the host of my website prevent the person to get access to the HTML of my website? Please note that I have very little knowledge about coding so I would need some detailed help. If anyone can help I would very much appreciate. Thank you so much.

[JTPets]

Hi there! You're correct that Square Online doesn't allow direct access to HTML or advanced code-level changes. Square intentionally manages noindex tags and redirects internally, which typically can't be edited manually. I recommend double-checking your SEO and page visibility settings in your Square dashboard. If you still can't resolve this, reaching out to Square Support for escalation is your best bet. Unfortunately, due to Square's platform limitations, deeper customization would require considering alternative hosting solutions. Hope this helps!

[csmt2901]

Hi @JTPets . Thank you for responding. I checked the SEO and page visibility and they are ok. I have already called Square three times to get assistance. Two of the three calls, they told me they would look into it and I never heard back. The third call, I simply hung up because the girl in whatever country outside USA she was speaking from seemed to have no clue about what I was saying. The platform is not very reliable. Again thank you for responding.

Thank you,

[TheRealChipA · Accepted solution]

Hi @csmt2901  Noindex tags are pretty common.  They are commonly used on pages that have no need to be indexed — and in some cases that SHOULD not be indexed.  Examples include “thank you” pages, pages with sensitive or confidential information, etc.  Interim pages — such as those used in online store checkout — often have noindex tags on them because indexing them would serve no purpose since they are transient in nature.  Lastly password protected pages almost always contain noindex tags.  

Anyway, since you know the pages that are causing problems, try this.  Edit your website and go to one of the pages.  Click the gear icon (settings) and select “view page settings.” Click the SEO tab.  At the bottom is “search visibility.”  It is possible that this is set to hidden somehow and, if so, change and save it, then republish.

Also, do you have any pages that simply redirect to another page on your site?  I used to have this because of QR codes I had sent out that were still in use and I didn’t want broken links.  Of course, since the page doing the redirecting is not really a page, noindex is standard practice.

Let’s start there.

[csmt2901]

Thank you so much @TheRealChipA for your response. I did what you asked me to and all the pages are set to be visible to SEO. As for the "nonindex" there will be no way for me to find out, as I don't know much about coding. You see I made a big mistake moving my website from GoDaddy to Square as a host platform. Square is very hard to work with and very limited. Everything about is very amateurish. The stuff don't seem to really know what to do when I contacted them. At least GoDaddy had a better customer service. I guess I will have to deal with some of my website pages not been able to be indexed, until I can find another host and remove my website from Square. And after I will also find another booking platform. Again, thank you for responding to my question. I really appreciate.

[TheRealChipA]

@csmt2901 I’m not sure the you do, yet.  I ended my last post with “let’s start there.”  I don’t have to be finished yet unless you want me to be.  Can you give me some pages that aren’t being indexed?  Of course, it’s up to you.  If you want to give up here without really trying further, I’ll drop this.  I just assumed that your post meant you wanted to explore this.  If I was wrong and all you wanted to do was vent, I’ll move on.