WordPress is one of the easiest content management systems in the world. It is affordable and simple but it also has advanced features that can be used for extensive websites. WordPress has its share of limitations too. One common problem with WordPress sites is the indexing of all generated pages that are taken into consideration for search engine optimization. Webmasters should have control over which pages get seen in SEO. There are a few simple solutions for the problem.

Webmasters can use SEO plug-ins such as Yoast. WordPress allows automatic indexing of all the pages hosted on a site. This includes archives and effectively every piece of content that has been published on a site since its inception. The old content does not need to be ranked anymore. The latest contents should be the priority. This can be done easily if there is a turnoff switch. Yoast offers just that. It allows webmasters to disable archives and it can stop indexing of pages. The functionality that enables automatic indexing is disabled in effect. Yoast also enables webmasters to create and edit a robots.txt file without FTP. Yoast is a free plug-in. It is compatible with all types of WordPress sites, regardless of theme.

Webmasters can create and edit a robots.txt file to prevent all generates pages on a WordPress from being seen in SEO. The robots.txt file basically allows web browsers to understand the rules and security measures in place and accordingly the content is searched for, filtered or sorted and displayed. If a webpage has private information and the robots.txt file indicates that to the browser, such a page will not be indexed and hence not show up on SEO. Webmasters can decide as few or as many pages as they want to remain un-indexed. This step is not as simple as using Yoast. The Yoast plug-in does not require any coding. Editing or even creating robots.txt without tools such as Yoast requires a fair understanding of how WordPress works. Websites that have a robots.txt file should have it edited. Those that do not have one must create a robots.txt file and then edit it accordingly.

There is another simple way to block all WordPress generated pages from being seen in SEO. Go to the reading settings of WordPress and tick the option that reads “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”. The problem with this option is that it blocks the entire site and not just individual pages.