Noarchive tag

What is a noarchive tag?

The noarchive tag is an HTML meta directive that tells search engines not to store a cached version of your webpage in their index. When you add this tag to your site, search engines like Google will still index and display your page in search results, but they won't offer users the option to view an archived or cached version of it. This gives you more control over how and when your content is accessed, ensuring visitors always see the current version directly from your server rather than potentially outdated cached copies.

How does the noarchive tag work?

To implement the noarchive tag, you add a specific meta tag in the head section of your HTML document. There are two common methods:

Using the robots meta tag: <meta name="robots" content="noarchive">

Or targeting specific search engines: <meta name="googlebot" content="noarchive">

You can also combine it with other directives: <meta name="robots" content="noindex, noarchive">

Alternatively, you can specify this directive in your robots.txt file or through HTTP headers. Once implemented, search engines will honor this instruction during their next crawl of your page.

When should you use a noarchive tag?

The noarchive tag is particularly valuable in several scenarios:

For time-sensitive content that changes frequently, such as news articles, stock prices, or inventory levels, where cached versions could mislead users with outdated information.

When displaying personalized content based on user accounts or sessions, where a cached version might expose private information or create confusion.

For legal or compliance reasons, especially with financial, healthcare, or other regulated content where displaying outdated information could create liability issues.

During website redesigns or content updates, when you want to ensure users only see your most current version.

What are the SEO implications of using a noarchive tag?

Implementing a noarchive tag has several SEO considerations. It doesn't directly impact your search rankings, as Google has confirmed that preventing caching doesn't affect how they evaluate your page's relevance or authority.

However, there are indirect effects to consider. Without cached versions, users can't access your content if your server goes down, potentially increasing bounce rates during outages. The cache also helps search engines understand your content, so in rare cases, preventing caching might slightly affect how well search engines comprehend complex pages.

The noarchive tag can be beneficial for SEO when you're frequently updating content and want to ensure users only see the latest version, preventing confusion from outdated cached copies appearing in search results.

How does noarchive differ from other robots meta directives?

The noarchive tag serves a specific purpose that distinguishes it from other common directives:

Unlike noindex, which prevents a page from appearing in search results altogether, noarchive still allows your page to be indexed and found—it just prevents the cached version from being stored and displayed.

While nofollow instructs search engines not to follow links on a page or pass link equity, noarchive has no impact on link evaluation or crawling behavior.

The nosnippet directive prevents search engines from displaying descriptive text snippets in search results, whereas noarchive only affects the availability of cached versions.

The nocache tag (primarily for Internet Explorer) functions similarly to noarchive but is recognized by different browsers rather than search engines.

Understanding these distinctions helps you implement the right combination of directives to achieve your specific content control objectives.