Feed URL in GSC: Should we noindex, disallow or remove feeds

Technical SEO / By / September 16, 2025
Should we no index, disallow or remove feed urls

Have you ever seen /feed and .atom URLs in the Google Search Console under the “Not Indexed” pages section? Don’t worry; these are feed URLs used for multiple purposes by search engines like Google, Bing, and others. However, you don’t want your clients to visit feed pages, as they often contain code that may not be helpful for the average reader. That’s why Google typically decides not to serve these feed URLs in search results (with the exception of podcasts or feeds with multimedia enclosures).

Should We Noindex or Disallow /feed or .atom URLs?

No-Index Feed URL in the Google Search Console

Our practice is to add the /feed URL of the homepage in the blog posts and pages for many of our blog websites. This ensures that our main feed URL is included in the link tag, as seen below. We observed this practice being used by SearchEngineLand. These feed URLs are available for indexing, so we should not noindex the /feed or .atom URLs considering their benefits.

Whether you should noindex or disallow feed URLs depends on your specific goals for your website and how you want search engines to interact with your content. Here are some considerations:

Noindex vs. Disallow

  • noindex: This directive tells search engines to exclude the page from search results but still allows them to crawl the page. Use noindex if you want search engines to access the content for any reason (e.g., to find links to other content) but not display the feed URLs in search results.
  • disallow: This directive in your robots.txt file tells search engines not to crawl the specified pages or directories at all. Use disallow if you want to prevent search engines from accessing your feed URLs entirely.

Considerations for Feeds

  1. User Experience: If your RSS feed URLs are not intended for public consumption (e.g., they are primarily for syndication purposes), it may make sense to noindex them to prevent them from appearing in search results.
  2. Duplicate Content: RSS feeds can sometimes create duplicate content issues, as the same content might be accessible through both the main site and the feeds. noindex can help mitigate this by keeping the feed content out of search results.
  3. Crawl Budget: If you have a large site with many pages, you might want to use disallow to ensure that search engines focus their crawling resources on your primary content rather than your feeds.

Recommendations

  • For Most Sites: noindex the feed URLs to keep them from appearing in search results while still allowing search engines to crawl and discover the content through the feeds.
  • For Sites with Crawl Budget Concerns: disallow the feed URLs if you want to ensure that search engines focus on your main content and you don’t need them to access the feed URLs at all.

How to Implement

Using noindex: Add a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag to the <head> section of your feed templates.

Example:

htmlCopy code<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

Using disallow: Add a Disallow directive to your robots.txt file.

Example:

txtCopy codeUser-agent: *
Disallow: /feed/
Disallow: /rss/

By carefully considering your needs and implementing the appropriate directives, you can optimize how search engines interact with your feed URLs.

Should We Redirect /feed or .atom URLs?

Feed urls are redirecting in Google search console issue

We found that some websites redirect /feed URLs to the homepage or non-feed URLs. However, if your site benefits from using feed URLs, it is not recommended to redirect feed URLs to non-feed URLs. Our practice is to keep the /feed URLs available and accessible for your website posts.

Should We Delete /feed or .atom URLs?

It depends on the usage and benefits of the feed and atom URLs. If your website does not benefit from RSS/Atom features, you can remove the /feed or .atom URL links and restrict access to the feed urls or .atom urls. Our practice is to keep the /feed URLs available and accessible for your website posts.

Where Google Uses Feeds (RSS/Atom)

Indexing with RSS feed

Google uses feed URLs in several ways to enhance its crawling and indexing processes. Here’s a detailed look at how Google leverages feed URLs:

1. Discovering New Content

Google’s crawlers, including Googlebot, can use feed URLs to discover new content on your site. This is especially useful for sites that frequently update their content or add new articles, products, or posts.

  • RSS Feeds: Googlebot can crawl RSS feeds to find new URLs and updates. RSS feeds are often used by news sites, blogs, and other content-heavy sites to syndicate their latest content. When these feeds are linked from a site, Google may use them to discover and index new pages.
  • Google News: For news sites, RSS feeds and news sitemaps are particularly important. Google News uses these feeds to aggregate and display fresh news content, ensuring that the latest articles are indexed and featured in news searches.

2. Sitemaps

While RSS feeds are a way to syndicate content, XML sitemaps are more commonly used for SEO purposes. XML sitemaps provide a comprehensive list of a website’s pages and their updates.

  • XML Sitemaps: Google uses XML sitemaps to get a structured list of pages on your site. This helps Google understand the structure of your site and ensures that important pages are crawled and indexed.

3. Content Updates

When you update content on your site, updating your feed URLs or sitemap URLs can help Google recognize and index these changes faster.

  • Feed Updates: If you maintain a feed URL with up-to-date content, Google can detect changes and updates more promptly, leading to more current content in search results.

4. Structured Data and Rich Results

Feeds can sometimes include structured data that helps Google understand the content and context of your pages.

  • Rich Results: While RSS feeds themselves do not directly impact rich results, the content discovered through feeds can be used to populate rich snippets if structured data is present on the pages linked from those feeds.
  • Google Discover: Google Discover leverages content feeds and structured data to present personalized content recommendations. While Google Discover does not directly use RSS feeds, it relies on the quality and relevance of content, which can be informed by feed URLs.

5. Merchant Center Feeds

For e-commerce sites, Google Merchant Center allows you to submit product feeds containing detailed information about your products.

  • Product Feeds: These feeds help Google understand the specifics of your products, including pricing, availability, and attributes, which can influence product listings in Google Shopping and other Google services.

6. Indexing New Pages

If you have a site with dynamic content or frequently updated sections, providing Google with access to feed URLs can help in quicker indexing of new or updated pages.

  • Dynamic Content: For sites with rapidly changing content, using feeds to highlight new additions or updates can ensure that Google’s crawlers are aware of the latest content.

Google uses feed URLs to enhance content discovery, update indexing, and support structured data and rich results. By leveraging RSS feeds, XML sitemaps, and product feeds, you can help Google more effectively crawl and index your site’s content. Additionally, for news sites, RSS feeds and news sitemaps are crucial for timely content discovery, while Google Discover uses content feeds and structured data to offer personalized recommendations. Proper management of these feeds can ultimately improve visibility and performance in search results.

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