Hiding Page Content — in-site search vs. Google search

[OTSHA]

I want to hide certain site pages (e.g., those with member lists with contact information) from Google and other search engines but keep that information visible/available to site visitors who search for it using the site's Weebly search bar.

How can I do this? 

From this Weebly explanation, it appears checking the "Hide This Page from Search Engines" box hides page content from ALL searches, both within the site and on the web:

"The Search bar uses the text content found in paragraph, title, and eCommerce elements; in page names, descriptions, and keywords; and in picture captions / alt tags to determine which results should be displayed. If you want to exempt a page from the search results (so that it won't show if someone searches for it), choose that page from the list found under the Pages tab, click the Advanced Settings link, then check the provided "Hide This Page from Search Engines" box."

Can I do it by adding a noindex meta tag (as described in this Google support article) and NOT checking the page's "Hide This Page from Search Engines" box?

Thanks.

[Adam7]

That might work, @OTSHA. I would add a test page to your site and add that, and then see if it works. If you ask Google to crawl the page it should give you an error saying that it can't crawl the page. We queue up a site for indexing when it's published, so it might not be instant but you could test your site search after day has passed.

[OTSHA]

Thanks Adam. The meta tag aproach didn't work. However, I think I solved the issue—I didn't realize there was a "Hide site from search engines" toggle on the Settings/SEO page (doh!).

So, if I toggle that witch to ON, then go into my site pages and unclick "Hide this page from search engines" can I assume:

1. my site content will, in fact, be hidden from search engines? Is it 100% effective?

2. my in-site search bar will now work as it should?

Thanks,

John

[Adam7]

Using that option will definitely hide it from search engines like Google, although I'm pretty sure it will also hide it from our own search tool.

[gpn1]

Hi @Adam,

Could you tell me how long it would take for the search engine to hide the selected pages?
Please let me know

[Bernadette3]

Hi there. We don't have a way of telling you 100% when Google will or will not hide a page, but it would definitely help to resubmit your site to them after making any major changes. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6065812?hl=en