Search Engine Indexation for eDirectory Custom Pages

Introduction

Creating custom pages within your eDirectory platform offers a fantastic way to showcase unique content, highlight specific information, or build out dedicated sections tailored to your audience. However, you might not always want every single custom page you create to be discoverable by search engines like Google, Bing, or others. Fortunately, eDirectory provides granular control over the indexation of these custom pages, allowing you to strategically manage their visibility in search results. This article will guide you through the simple steps to enable or disable search engine indexing for your custom-built pages.

By default, you might want your key informational pages, such as "About Us," "Tutorials," or specific service offerings, to be indexed so potential customers can easily find them through search engines. Conversely, you might have internal-use pages, promotional landing pages with a limited lifespan, or pages containing sensitive information that you prefer not to appear in public search results. eDirectory's built-in setting empowers you to make these crucial decisions on a page-by-page basis.

Here's how you can control whether a specific custom page you've created in eDirectory is indexed by search engines:

Step 1: Navigate to the Page Editor

The control center for managing your website's pages within eDirectory is the "Page Editor." To access this section, log in to your eDirectory Site Manager. Once you're in the backend, locate the Design tab in the main navigation menu and click on it. From the dropdown menu that appears, select Page Editor.

Step 2: Locate and Edit Your Custom Page

Within the Page Editor, you will see a list of all the pages currently on your eDirectory website, including both system-generated and custom-built ones. Carefully find the specific custom page for which you want to adjust the search engine indexation settings. Once you've located the correct page, click on the Edit button associated with that page. This action will open the page's configuration settings.

Step 3: Reveal SEO and Advanced Options

On the page editing screen, you'll typically see basic content editing options. To access the settings related to search engine optimization (SEO) and other advanced configurations, you need to reveal these options. Look for a button or a link that says something similar to "Show SEO and Advanced Options". Click on it to expand the section containing these additional settings.

Step 4: Manage the Sitemap Indexation Setting

Within the expanded "SEO and Advanced Options" section, you will find various settings related to how search engines interact with your page. Look for an option labeled "Sitemap: Allow this page to be indexed by search engines".

• To enable indexation: If you want search engines to crawl and include this custom page in their search results, ensure that the checkbox next to this option is checked (selected).
• To disable indexation: If you want to prevent search engines from indexing this specific custom page, make sure that the checkbox next to this option is unchecked (deselected).

By unchecking this box, you are essentially telling search engine crawlers not to include this page in your website's sitemap, which is a key file that guides search engines through your site's structure and content. While this doesn't guarantee that a search engine will never find the page through other means (like external links), it significantly reduces its discoverability and likelihood of appearing in search results.

Step 5: Save Your Changes

Once you have made your desired selection regarding the "Sitemap: Allow this page to be indexed by search engines" option, it is crucial to Save Changes to the page. Look for a "Save" button, typically located at the top or bottom of the page editing screen, and click it. This action will apply your chosen indexation setting to the custom page.

Conclusion

By following these simple steps, you gain precise control over which of your eDirectory custom pages are visible to search engines. This allows you to strategically manage your website's online presence, ensuring that the right content is discoverable while keeping other pages private or hidden from public search results. Regularly reviewing these settings for your custom pages can contribute to a more effective and targeted SEO strategy for your eDirectory platform.