To restrict indexing on one store of your multistore website, you can use various methods depending on your website platform and configuration. Here are a few general approaches you can consider:
- Robots.txt file: You can use the robots.txt file to control search engine indexing. In the root directory of your website, create or modify the robots.txt file and specify directives to disallow indexing of specific URLs or directories for the store you want to restrict. For example:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /store1/
This will instruct search engines not to crawl and index the content under the /store1/ directory.
- Meta tags: Another approach is to use meta tags in the HTML of your web pages. You can add the following meta tag to the pages of the store you want to restrict:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
This tells search engines not to index the page where this tag is placed.
HTTP header: You can also use HTTP headers to control indexing. Set the X-Robots-Tag header to noindex for the pages of the store you want to restrict. This can be done through server-side configuration or using plugins/extensions specific to your website platform.
Canonical tags: You mentioned that you are already using canonical tags to indicate the correct Google version. However, it's important to note that canonical tags primarily help with duplicate content issues rather than indexing restrictions. While they can guide search engines towards the preferred version, it doesn't guarantee that other versions won't be indexed. Using canonical tags alone may not fully prevent indexing of the restricted store.
It's recommended to implement a combination of these methods to ensure better control over indexing for the specific store you want to restrict. Additionally, regularly monitor your website's indexing status using tools like Google Search Console to identify and address any potential indexing issues.
