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Noindex xml RSS feed
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Hey,
How can I tell search engines not to index my xml RSS feed?
The RSS feed is created by Yoast on WordPress.
Thanks, Luke.
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Hi there! It sounds like there is something wrong with the plugin (either the installation or configuration). I know there was an issue about a year ago where the Yoast plugin was creating some weird links in sitemaps, but have not heard of anything like that recently. Do you have the most recent version of both the plugin and WordPress installed? Also, are you able to share the URLs of your problematic site map and a few of the broken links reported in GWT?
Thanks
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Hey,
The reason is that I want to no index the actual .xml file because it causes a 404 error in Google Web Master Tools.
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Hi there, thanks for your question! I am curious, do you mean to have your entire feed no-indexed? If so, why?
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