Template:INDEX/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:INDEX.
It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

Usage[edit]

This template sets the __INDEX__ behavior switch, a magic word which instructs search engines to index the page. The only difference between the template and the magic word is that the template may optionally display a message.

On English Wikipedia, __INDEX__ and {{INDEX}} should only be used on User and User talk pages, where they override the default, which is not to index these pages.

Optional parameters[edit]

|visible = yes : makes the template display a line of plain text to inform editors that the page is included in search engine indexing, e.g. {{INDEX|visible = yes}} shows the message:

This page has been added to search engine indexes.

Note: regardless of this parameter, if the template is used in an unsupported namespace, the following will be displayed instead:

Please use {{INDEX}} only within the User and User talk: namespaces, as those are the only two in which it has an effect.

|demo = yes : makes {{INDEX}} work even if it is placed in the wrong namespace so that examples of the template can function, e.g. on this doc page – {{INDEX|visible = yes|demo = yes}} renders as:

This page has been added to search engine indexes.

Technical details[edit]

__INDEX__ overrides $wgNamespaceRobotPolicies, but not robots.txt. It obeys the $wgExemptFromUserRobotsControl variable. On English Wikipedia, MediaWiki:Robots.txt is used in lieu of $wgArticleRobotPolicies.

On English Wikipedia, the default robot policy for the entire wiki is to index all pages. This default has been overridden in these namespaces:

User talk is not indexed, as of September 2008
Draft and Draft talk are not indexed, as of December 2013
User is not indexed, as of November 2015

Additionally certain selected pages, primarily in Wikipedia and Wikipedia talk, are not indexed, as defined in MediaWiki:Robots.txt.

Mainspace, Draft and Draft talk are exempt from user control, so __INDEX__ is disabled in these namespaces; such use is not tracked (see below), and this template consequently has no effect there.

As all other namespaces are indexed by default, and robots.txt cannot be overridden by __INDEX__, the only namespaces where it overrides the default are User and User talk; however use in other namespaces is tracked.

Usage tracking[edit]

This template was originally used as a tracking mechanism for __INDEX__ usage; valid uses are now tracked by Category:Indexed pages.

History[edit]

Added $wgNamespaceRobotPolicies to allow customisation of robot policies on a per-namespace basis (June 4, 2006)
Added $wgContentNamespaces, which allows for articles to exist in namespaces other than the main namespace, and still be counted as valid content in the site statistics (June 12, 2006)
Added $wgArticleRobotPolicies (May 31, 2007)
These override the per-namespace robot policies; en.wiki uses MediaWiki:Robots.txt in lieu of this configuration setting
The default robot policy for the entire wiki is now configurable via the $wgDefaultRobotPolicy setting (February 6, 2008)
The default policy is to encourage indexing and following of links: $wgDefaultRobotPolicy = 'index,follow';
Wikimedia blog: robots.txt (April 29, 2008)
Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 25 § Stopping search engines from indexing the user talk namespace? (April 29–30, 2008)
T15890: add user talk namespace of En.Wikipedia to Robots.txt (April 30, 2008)
Added $wgExemptFromUserRobotsControl (July 23, 2008)
New magic words __INDEX__ and __NOINDEX__ control whether a page can be indexed by search engines, Wikipedia Signpost, July 28, 2008
Template:NOINDEX is created on August 9, 2008‎
Template:INDEX is created on August 30, 2008‎
Search engine indexing updates (Sept 13, 2008)
1. Control en.wiki's robots.txt file from the wiki at MediaWiki:Robots.txt
2. Update InitialiseSettings.php: 'wgNamespaceRobotPolicies' => array('enwiki' => array(NS_USER_TALK => 'noindex,follow',)), implementing T15890
Wikipedia:Search engine indexing, a January 2009 proposal which failed to achieve consensus
T18979: Tracking category for the NOINDEX and INDEX behavior switches (Jan. 11, 2009)
On February 22, 2009, {{NOINDEX}} begins populating Category:Wikipedia noindex pages. {{INDEX}} does not populate any categories
Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 44 § Require use of NOINDEX template instead of directly using magic word (Feb. 27–March 5, 2009)
Add tracking categories for __INDEX__ and __NOINDEX__ • code review (Sept. 20, 2009)
Category:Noindexed pages is created on October 7, 2009; concurrent with this discussion. See also: Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 66 § Noindex categories
Category:Indexed pages is created on October 9, 2009
Per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2010 June 15 § Noindexed pages, Category:Wikipedia noindex pages is deleted on July 18, 2010
Create "Draft" namespace on the English Wikipedia (Dec 17, 2013)
T104797: prevent search engines from indexing userspace on enwiki (July 5, 2015)
noindex user namespace on en.wikipedia.org (Nov 23, 2015)