Is adding meta data to the 404 page in Webflow a safer and better method for no indexing compared to disallowing the 404 page?

Adding meta data to the 404 page in Webflow can be a good method for controlling indexing, but it has some limitations and may not be as effective as disallowing the 404 page.

First, let's clarify what we mean by "no indexing." When a search engine crawls a website, it indexes the pages to determine their relevance and rankings in search results. The meta tag "noindex" tells search engines not to include that particular page in their index, effectively removing it from search results.

Now, back to the question. Adding meta data to the 404 page allows you to specify that the page should not be indexed. This can be beneficial in cases where you want to prevent search engines from indexing the 404 page itself.

By using meta tags, you provide clear instructions to search engines that you don't want the 404 page to appear in search results. This can help prevent users from landing on a broken or non-existent page through search engine listings.

On the other hand, disallowing the 404 page entirely using the robots.txt file is a more comprehensive approach. When you disallow a page, you are telling search engines not to crawl or index that page at all. This ensures that the page is completely excluded from search results.

Disallowing the 404 page can be useful when you want to hide it from search engines and avoid any potential negative impact on your website's SEO. It's especially beneficial when you have many broken links on your site, and you don't want these pages to be indexed individually.

However, it's important to note that disallowing the 404 page means that search engines won't crawl it, so any useful information or navigation elements on the page won't be observed.

In summary, both adding meta data to the 404 page and disallowing it have their advantages and disadvantages. If you simply want to prevent the 404 page from appearing in search results, adding meta tags is a decent solution. But if you want to ensure that search engines completely ignore the 404 page and avoid any potential SEO consequences, disallowing it using the robots.txt file is a more comprehensive approach.