“Submitted URL Marked ‘noindex’”: Noindex Pages in Your Sitemap
Short answer: you listed a page in your XML sitemap (“please index this”), but the page itself carries a noindex rule (“don’t index this”). Google follows the noindex and leaves the page out. Fix the side that is wrong: if the page should rank, remove the noindex; if it shouldn’t, take it out of the sitemap.
Where this status went
“Submitted URL marked ‘noindex’” was an error in Search Console’s old Index Coverage report. The current Page indexing report no longer splits statuses into “submitted” and “not submitted” versions. Instead it has a sitemap filter. To see the same list today:
- Open Indexing → Pages.
- In the dropdown above the chart, choose All submitted pages, or pick one sitemap.
- Open the noindex reason. Google’s help calls it “URL marked ‘noindex’”; the report table shows “Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag”.
Every URL in that list is both in your sitemap and noindexed. Google’s help notes that a URL counts as submitted if it is in a submitted sitemap, even if Google first found it through a link.
Why it happens
- The sitemap tool ignores noindex. Some generators and plugins list every published URL, including pages you set to noindex elsewhere. Thin archives, tag pages and thank-you pages are typical.
- Noindex was added by mistake. A site-wide “discourage search engines” setting, a staging leftover, or a per-page SEO setting put noindex on pages that should rank.
- A header you can’t see in the HTML. A server, CDN or plugin sends
X-Robots-Tag: noindex. - An old crawl. The noindex is already gone, but Google hasn’t crawled the page since.
Step 1: decide which side is wrong
Go through the URLs by type. For each group, ask one question: should these pages appear in Google?
- Yes (articles, products, categories, key landing pages): the noindex is the mistake. Go to step 2.
- No (thank-you pages, internal search, thin archives, account pages): the sitemap is the mistake. Go to step 3.
Step 2: remove a noindex that shouldn’t be there
Check where the rule comes from. Look in the raw page source, not the browser’s element view, and check the headers:
curl -s https://example.com/page | grep -io '<meta[^>]*noindex[^>]*>' curl -sI https://example.com/page | grep -i x-robots-tag
Then remove it at the source: the CMS or SEO plugin setting, the template, or the server or CDN rule. Removing it with JavaScript is not reliable, because Google may skip rendering a page whose original HTML says noindex. Our Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag guide lists the WordPress, Yoast and Rank Math settings to check.
Step 3: take noindexed pages out of the sitemap
Google’s sitemap docs say to include the URLs you want to see in search results. A noindexed page is, by definition, not one of them. Yoast SEO and Rank Math leave noindexed content out of their sitemaps. If your tool doesn’t, exclude those URLs in the sitemap settings or in the code that builds the sitemap. Keep the noindex on the page.
For sitemaps built in code, filter with the same rule that sets noindex, so the two can never drift apart again. Our free sitemap generator already works this way: it leaves out any page with a noindex meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header.
Step 4: confirm
Run URL Inspection with a live test on a fixed URL. Then use Validate fix on the noindex reason in the Page indexing report (with the sitemap filter still on). The free sitemap checker tests 30 URLs from your sitemap and flags any that carry noindex, in a robots meta tag or the X-Robots-Tag header.
Frequently asked questions
Where is "Submitted URL marked 'noindex'" in the new Search Console?
The old status name is gone. Open Indexing → Pages, set the sitemap filter to "All submitted pages", and look at the "URL marked 'noindex'" reason (shown in the table as "Excluded by 'noindex' tag").
Is a noindex page in the sitemap harmful?
It is a contradiction, not a penalty. The sitemap asks Google to index the page and the page says not to. Google follows the noindex. The cost is wasted crawling and a sitemap report full of noise that hides real problems.
Which one should I change, the sitemap or the page?
Ask whether the page should appear in Google. If yes, remove the noindex. If no, remove the URL from the sitemap and keep the noindex.
Why does Google say noindex when I can’t find it in the code?
Check the HTTP headers for X-Robots-Tag, check the raw HTML source rather than the browser’s element view, and check plugin or CMS settings. Also clear page and CDN caches: Google may have crawled an old version.
I fixed it. How do I tell Google?
Run a live test in URL Inspection, then click Request indexing for important pages. For many URLs, use Validate fix in the Page indexing report. Google says validation usually takes up to about two weeks.