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Keep your short links out of search results

How Search Engine Indexing works on a CodeQR short link, what the noindex header does, and when to let a link be found on Google.

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CodeQR Team
Content Team

Short links on your own domain are hidden from search engines by default. Search Engine Indexing is the switch that changes that, one link at a time — worth turning on for a link in a bio, worth leaving off for everything else.

Availability

  • Plan: Starter and above.
  • Where: Search Engine Indexing in the link builder, below the Optional divider.

What the switch actually does

With the switch off, a short link on your own domain answers every request with a header telling Google not to index that address:

x-robots-tag: googlebot: noindex

Turning it on removes that header, and the short link becomes a normal, indexable address.

Two boundaries matter:

  • It applies to the short link, never to the destination. Your landing page is indexed according to its own rules; nothing here changes them. A destination you want out of Google needs its own noindex.
  • Links on CodeQR's shared domains are indexable regardless of this switch. Those domains keep their reputation with search engines, so the header is not added there. The switch is about links on a domain you connected.

Steps

  1. Open the link builder for the link you want to change.
  2. Turn on Search Engine Indexing to allow indexing, or leave it off to keep the link hidden.
  3. Save.

The Search Engine Indexing switch in the link builder

When to turn it on

  • The short link is the address people see — in a social bio, on a printed card, in an ad — and you would rather it be findable by name.
  • You are replacing an old page with a short link and want it to answer searches for that page.

Leave it off when the short link exists to be clicked, not found: campaign links, one-off shares, links inside e-mails, anything with a password or an expiry date.

Do the same with the API

doIndex is the field, and it defaults to false:

curl -X PUT https://api.codeqr.io/links/<linkId> \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer codeqr_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"doIndex": true}'

Verify it works

Ask for the headers of the short link and look for the robots line:

curl -sSI https://go.example.com/summer-menu | grep -i x-robots-tag
x-robots-tag: googlebot: noindex

A line means the link is hidden from Google. No line means it is indexable — either because you turned the switch on, or because the link lives on a CodeQR shared domain.

Troubleshooting

My short link shows up in Google anyway

Indexing is not instant and neither is removal: a page Google already knows about stays in the index until it is recrawled. To take an address out sooner, use the Removals tool in Search Console for a URL you own. Also check that the link is not on a shared domain, where the header is not added.

I turned the switch on and the link is still not in Google

Nothing forces a search engine to index an address. A short link that redirects has little of its own to index; if being found matters, the page that should rank is the destination.

The header is not there and the switch is off

The link is on a CodeQR shared domain. Move the link to your own domain if it must stay out of search results.

Does noindex hide the link from people?

No. Anyone with the address opens it as usual. To restrict access, use password protection or an expiration date.

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