## **🧭 Overview**

When you import your Yoast SEO data into the Search Atlas plugin, most settings transfer automatically. However, in some cases, pages that were previously set to **noindex** in Yoast may appear to lose that setting after the import. This article explains why this happens and how to fix it.



## **⚠️ Why This Happens**

The most common cause is a known issue with how Yoast stores advanced robots directives. Yoast saves these settings in a WordPress database field called **\_yoast\_wpseo\_meta-robots-adv**. In some installations, this field contains an array instead of a plain text string.

When Search Atlas runs its import process (**import\_yoast\_indexation()**), it expects this field to be a string. If it receives an array instead, the import step fails silently and the noindex directive is not applied in Search Atlas — leaving those pages indexable.

This affects only the advanced robots directives (such as noindex applied via Yoast's **Advanced** tab per post or page). Standard on/off indexing controlled through Yoast's main SEO settings may import correctly.



## **🛠️ How to Fix Affected Pages**

Follow these steps to manually restore noindex settings for any pages that were affected after the import.

1. **Identify affected pages:** Review your site for pages that should be noindex. You can cross-reference your original Yoast settings or use a crawl tool to find pages that are now being indexed unexpectedly.
2. **Open the Search Atlas plugin in WordPress:** Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to the Search Atlas plugin settings.
3. **Go to the affected post or page:** Open the individual post or page editor in WordPress.
4. **Locate the Search Atlas SEO meta box:** Scroll down to the Search Atlas SEO section below the content editor.
5. **Set the robots directive to noindex:** In the Search Atlas SEO Meta Box (MetaSync plugin), note that no Robots/No-Index control is available; only a **Disable SEO Meta Box** toggle exists.
6. **Save the page:** Click **Update** or **Publish** to save your changes.
7. **Repeat for all affected pages:** Go through each page that needs the noindex tag restored and apply the same steps.

## **✅ How to Verify the Fix**

After saving, confirm that the noindex tag is being applied correctly:

- Visit the page in your browser and view the page source (right-click → **View Page Source**).
- Search for **noindex** in the source code. You should see a meta tag such as: **`<meta name="robots" content="noindex">`**
- If your site uses the **X-Robots-Tag** HTTP header instead of a meta tag, use a tool like Google's URL Inspection tool or a browser extension to check response headers and confirm the noindex directive is present.

## **🔄 Re-Running the Import**

If you have a large number of affected pages, you may want to re-run the Yoast import from within the Search Atlas plugin after the underlying data issue is resolved. Before doing so:

- Ensure your Search Atlas plugin is updated to the latest version, as a fix for this import bug has been released.
- Back up your WordPress database before re-importing to avoid overwriting any settings you have already corrected manually.
- After updating the plugin, navigate to the Search Atlas import settings and run the Yoast data import again. The updated import process handles non-string values in the robots field correctly.

## **🚫 A Note on X-Robots-Tag HTTP Headers**

If your site's noindex directives were set via the **X-Robots-Tag HTTP header** rather than a standard meta tag, these are managed at the server or plugin level and are separate from Yoast's per-post settings. Search Atlas does not currently raise a distinct warning when noindex is set only via this method. Check your server configuration or any additional plugin managing HTTP headers to ensure this directive is still active after your migration.



## **💡 Best Practices Going Forward**

- After any plugin migration or data import, audit your most important noindex pages to confirm directives are in place.
- Keep the Search Atlas plugin updated to benefit from the latest import compatibility fixes.
- Use Google Search Console's URL Inspection tool periodically to spot any pages that should not be indexed.

## **🙋 Need More Help?**

If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type **human teammate** to be connected with a member of our team.