I have an HTML/PHP/CSS site, very simple, and I have no robots.txt file for it. The site is indexed, it's all great.
But now I created a page for something I need, and I want to make that one page noindex.
Do I have to create a robots.txt file for it, or is there an easier way to do it without having to create a robots.txt?
Also, I did Google for this before asking, and I came across an article that instructed to put the following code on your page under the <head> code:
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">
I did that. However, after I checked the page here: http://www.seoreviewtools.com/bulk-meta-robots-checker/
It says: Meta robots: Not found Explanation: There are no restrictions for indexing or serving detected.
So then, how can I make that page noindex?
Although having a robots.txt file is the best you can do, there is never a guarantee that a search robot will not index that page. I believe most, if not all respectable search engines will follow the restrictions in that file but there are plenty of other bots out there that don't.
That said, if you don't link to the page anywhere, no search engine will index it - at least in theory: if you or other people access that page and their browser or an extension submits that page for indexing, it ends up being indexed anyway.