The SEO Framework · KB

★︎ Start with TSF
  • Extensions
  • Documentation
  • Pricing
  1. Home
  2. Knowledge Base
  3. TSF
  4. Why aren’t my empty categories indexed?

Why aren’t my empty categories indexed?

Published on November 18, 2018
Revised on June 5, 2020

The noindex robots–meta value discourages search engine robots from indexing your page in the search engine.

When no posts are attached to a category, it’ll be discouraged from being indexed. WordPress can send out a 404 signal; but, this isn’t always the case. So, to improve your website’s SEO by removing thin content, empty categories automatically have the noindex robots–meta value set.

To remove this discouragement, you should assign posts to it. Alternatively, you can overwrite the indexing state via the archive’s visibility options.

Filed Under: Bing, Google, Search Engines, The SEO Framework

Other articles

  • The SEO Framework

    • Robots.txt blocks
    • Breadcrumb shortcode
    • Constant reference for The SEO Framework
    • Filter reference for The SEO Framework
    • Common plugin update issues
  • Google

    • All you must know about sitemaps
    • Why aren’t archives listed in the sitemap?

Commercial

The SEO Framework
Trademark of CyberWire B.V.
Leidse Schouw 2
2408 AE Alphen a/d Rijn
The Netherlands
KvK: 83230076
BTW/VAT: NL862781322B01

Twitter  GitHub

Professional

Pricing
About
Support
Press

Rational

Blog
Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions
Refund Policy

Practical

Documentation
TSF on WordPress
TSF on GitHub
TSFEM on here
TSFEM on GitHub
Feature Highlights

On the map in 2025 › The SEO Framework