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  4. Removing CSS & JS Files from Index

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Removing CSS & JS Files from Index

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  • kirmeliux
    kirmeliux last edited by Dec 2, 2015, 10:18 PM

    Hi,

    Google has indexed a few .CSS and .JS files that belong to our WordPress plugins and themes. I had them blocked via robots, but realized this doesn't prevent indexation (and can likely hurt us since Google wants to access these files).

    I've since removed the robots instructions, submitted a removal request via Search Console, but want to make sure they don't come back.

    Is there a way to put a noindex tag within .CSS and .JS files? Or should I do something with .htaccess instead?

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
    • kirmeliux
      kirmeliux @Niels.V last edited by Dec 3, 2015, 8:23 PM Dec 3, 2015, 8:23 PM

      I figured .htaccess would be the best route. Thank you for researching and confirming. I appreciate it.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • kirmeliux
        kirmeliux @TimHolmes last edited by Dec 3, 2015, 8:22 PM Dec 3, 2015, 8:22 PM

        Hi Tim,

        Assigning a noindex tag to these files will not block them, only prevent them from showing in SERPs. This is the intended goal and the reason I deleted my robots.txt file which prevented crawling.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Niels.V
          Niels.V @TimHolmes last edited by Dec 3, 2015, 6:01 PM Dec 3, 2015, 6:01 PM

          There's quite a big difference between crawling directives, which block and indexing directives. This article by (former?) Moz user S_ebastian_ is a good foundation read.

          This article at developers.google.com is a good second read. If I'm understanding it right, Google thinks in terms of crawling directives vs indexing / serving directives.

          My attempt at <tl rl="">:</tl>

          crawling = looking, using in any way :: controlled via robots.txt

          indexing / serving = indexing, archiving, displaying snippets in results, etc :: controlled via html meta tags or web server htaccess (or similar for other web servers).

          I'm not convinced yet, that asking for noindex via htaccess causes the same sort of grief that deny in robots.txt causes.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • TimHolmes
            TimHolmes last edited by Dec 3, 2015, 7:57 AM Dec 3, 2015, 7:57 AM

            I would seriously think again when it comes to blocking/no-indexing your CSS and JS files - Google has in the past stated that if they cannot fully render your site properly then this could lead to poorer rankings.

            You will also likely get notifications in your Search Console as errors for this too.

            Check out this great article from July this year which goes into more details. 

            Niels.V kirmeliux 2 Replies Last reply Dec 3, 2015, 8:22 PM Reply Quote 1
            • Niels.V
              Niels.V @kirmeliux last edited by Dec 3, 2015, 1:56 AM Dec 3, 2015, 1:43 AM

              I haven't encountered undesirable .css or .js indexing myself (yet), but as you surmised, maybe this htaccess directive might be worth trying?

              <filesmatch ".(txt|log|xml|css|js)$"="">Header set X-Robots-Tag "noindex"</filesmatch>

              Google seems to support it

              kirmeliux 1 Reply Last reply Dec 3, 2015, 8:23 PM Reply Quote 2
              • kirmeliux
                kirmeliux @Mobilio last edited by Dec 2, 2015, 11:56 PM Dec 2, 2015, 11:56 PM

                Unless I'm severely misreading the links provided, which I've read before, it seems Google is stating that they read, render, and sometimes index .CSS and .JS files. Here's an article written a week after the second article you posted.

                The aforementioned WordPress plugin and theme files hosted on my server are indeed showing up in Google SERPs.

                I do not want to prevent Googlebot from reaching these files as they're needed for optimal site performance, but I do want them to be no-indexed. Thus, I don't want robots.txt to prevent crawling, only indexing.

                Let me know if I'm misunderstanding.

                Niels.V 1 Reply Last reply Dec 3, 2015, 1:43 AM Reply Quote 0
                • Mobilio
                  Mobilio last edited by Dec 2, 2015, 11:14 PM Dec 2, 2015, 11:14 PM

                  TL;DR - You're hesitated about problem that doesn't exist.

                  Googlebot doesn't index CSS or JS files. They index text files, HTML, PDF, DOC, XLS, etc. But doesn't index style sheets or javascript files.

                  All you need in WordPress is to create blank robots.txt file where WP is installed with this content:

                  User-agent: *
                  Disallow:
                  Sitemap: http://site/sitemap-file-name.xml

                  And that's all. This is explain many times:

                  http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.bg/2014/05/understanding-web-pages-better.html
                  http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.bg/2014/10/updating-our-technical-webmaster.html

                  kirmeliux 1 Reply Last reply Dec 2, 2015, 11:56 PM Reply Quote -1
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