Noindex found on rel Next/Prev Paginated URL
This means that the URL in question is a pagination URL using rel="next" and rel="prev" link elements, yet is also noindex.
Why is this important?
Rel="next" and rel="prev" link elements are added to pages to indicate that they are part of paginated series. The point of this is to consolidate indexing properties from the component pages, and to encourage search engines to direct users to the most relevant URL (typically the first page).
The noindex directive also indicates to search engines not to index the page, but is not necessary if rel=next/prev is used. Also, based on this nugget shared by John Mueller, over time the noindex directive could cause Google to stop following the links on the paginated pages.
What does the Hint check?
This Hint will trigger for any internal URL which uses next/prev elements, and also uses the noindex directive.
Examples that trigger this Hint:
Consider the paginated URL: https://example.com/page-a?p=3
The Hint would trigger for this URL if it contained both rel=next/prev and a noindex in the <head>:
The above example shows the tags defined in the HTML, but this would also trigger if they were defined using HTTP headers (or some combination of the two methods).
Why is this Hint marked 'Potential Issue'?
This Hint is a 'Potential Issue', which means that it is unlikely to be affecting the site at the moment, but should be investigated as it could cause issues in the future.
You may wish to mark up a page as paginated, but also noindex it as you feel it offers a poor user experience. However, it is flagged in Sitebulb just in case this is not deliberate, and valuable content is being noindexed.
