Google updates spam guide with indexing advice for shareable pages

Google's October 26, 2026 documentation update adds an "Only index content meant for Search" section advising platforms to decide deliberately whether link-shared, generated and collaborative pages should be discoverable. It recommends noindex via meta tag or X-Robots-Tag, default robots.txt crawl blocks, and closer Search Console monitoring of indexing patterns.

• Google advises noindex or robots.txt for pages built for sharing rather than search
• robots.txt alone does not keep a linked URL out of search results
• Platforms should watch Search Console for unexpected growth in indexable URLs
• The documentation update is dated October 26, 2026