SEO Framework Bulk NoIndex
•
By
Jasper Frumau
SEO
Sometimes you realize you need to prune your blogs. This as you are trying to focus on a specific field or fields . You sometimes need to get rid of posts that are not related to your core work. With the SEO Framework you can go through your posts and do this manually post by post. That works if there are not too many posts.
WP CLI
But this can be a lot of work. Easier is to do this with WordPress CLI . You of course first need to backup your site and then use the cli tool You also may have to double check once work is done because most commands if you search for a specific keyword in the post and noindex you get some false positives.
WP Eval
The script we use is the following here below. At the end of the day it runs a backup when you do a live run and then users wp eval to run a database query on the server to updated posts to noindex based on keyword you use. Here first two examples of the eval usage if you would not use my script. Keep in mind we add --path only because we work with Trellis & Bedrock.
First the example to do a dry run to see what we got:
# Dry run — count posts
wp eval '
$posts = get_posts(array(
"s" => "laravel",
"post_type" => "post",
"post_status" => "publish",
"numberposts" => -1,
"fields" => "ids"
));
echo count($posts) . " posts\n";
' --path=web/wp
and for a live run
# Live — noindex them
wp eval '
$posts = get_posts(array(
"s" => "laravel",
"post_type" => "post",
"post_status" => "publish",
"numberposts" => -1,
"fields" => "ids"
));
foreach ($posts as $id) {
update_post_meta($id, "_genesis_noindex", 1);
}
echo count($posts) . " noindexed\n";
' --path=web/wp Automation with Commands
And here is the actual script. It does the same as the wp eval examples above but in an easier way. When I wanted to noindex Vue posts I just ran:
./tools/scripts/bulk-noindex-category.sh --run --search="vue"
==========================================
Bulk Noindex - imagewize.com
Date: Sun Apr 5 11:36:24 WIB 2026
Mode: LIVE RUN
Method: keyword search for "vue"
==========================================
[1/3] Backing up database...
Success: Exported to '/tmp/backup-before-noindex-20260405_113624.sql'.
✓ Backup saved to /tmp/backup-before-noindex-20260405_113624.sql on production server
[2/3] Processing posts...
--- Keyword search: "vue" ---
Noindexed: 31 published posts
[3/3] Summary
==========================================
Done. Total posts noindexed: 31
Next steps:
1. Verify in wp-admin: check SEO column on affected posts
2. Submit updated sitemap to Google Search Console
3. DB backup is at: /tmp/backup-before-noindex-20260405_113624.sql (on production server)
==========================================Full Script
Here the full script below. Check it. Adjust it to your liking. Use it at your own risk. Do backup before usage just in case. Works really well for me. Hope it helps others.
#!/bin/bash
#
# Bulk Noindex Posts by Category or Keyword Search for imagewize.com
# Purpose: Set _genesis_noindex=1 (The SEO Framework) on all posts in given
# categories or matching a keyword search term.
# This removes non-WordPress content from Google's index to improve SEO relevance.
#
# Usage:
# ./bulk-noindex-category.sh # dry run, default categories
# ./bulk-noindex-category.sh --run # apply to default categories (DB backup included)
# ./bulk-noindex-category.sh --run --cat="Laravel" # apply to single category
# ./bulk-noindex-category.sh --search="laravel" # dry run, keyword search
# ./bulk-noindex-category.sh --run --search="laravel" # apply by keyword search
#
# Requires: SSH access to web@imagewize.com, WP-CLI on production
set -e
# Configuration
WP_PATH="web/wp"
WP_DIR="/srv/www/imagewize.com/current"
SSH_USER="web@imagewize.com"
BACKUP_DIR="/tmp"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
# Default categories when no --cat or --search is given
DEFAULT_CATEGORIES=("Laravel" "DevOps")
# Parse arguments
DRY_RUN=true
CUSTOM_CAT=""
SEARCH_TERM=""
for arg in "$@"; do
case $arg in
--run)
DRY_RUN=false
;;
--cat=*)
CUSTOM_CAT="${arg#*=}"
;;
--search=*)
SEARCH_TERM="${arg#*=}"
;;
esac
done
echo "=========================================="
echo "Bulk Noindex - imagewize.com"
echo "Date: $(date)"
echo "Mode: $([ "$DRY_RUN" = true ] && echo 'DRY RUN (no changes)' || echo 'LIVE RUN')"
if [ -n "$SEARCH_TERM" ]; then
echo "Method: keyword search for \"${SEARCH_TERM}\""
elif [ -n "$CUSTOM_CAT" ]; then
echo "Method: category \"${CUSTOM_CAT}\""
else
echo "Method: default categories (${DEFAULT_CATEGORIES[*]})"
fi
echo "=========================================="
echo ""
# Step 1: Backup database (only when applying changes)
if [ "$DRY_RUN" = false ]; then
BACKUP_FILE="${BACKUP_DIR}/backup-before-noindex-${DATE}.sql"
echo "[1/3] Backing up database..."
ssh "$SSH_USER" "cd ${WP_DIR} && wp db export ${BACKUP_FILE} --path=${WP_PATH}"
echo "✓ Backup saved to ${BACKUP_FILE} on production server"
echo ""
else
echo "[1/3] Skipping backup (dry run)"
echo ""
fi
echo "[2/3] Processing posts..."
TOTAL_AFFECTED=0
# --- Keyword search mode ---
if [ -n "$SEARCH_TERM" ]; then
echo ""
echo "--- Keyword search: \"${SEARCH_TERM}\" ---"
if [ "$DRY_RUN" = true ]; then
COUNT=$(ssh "$SSH_USER" "cd ${WP_DIR} && wp eval '
\$posts = get_posts(array(
\"s\" => \"${SEARCH_TERM}\",
\"post_type\" => \"post\",
\"post_status\" => \"publish\",
\"numberposts\" => -1,
\"fields\" => \"ids\"
));
echo count(\$posts);
' --path=${WP_PATH}")
echo " Would noindex: ${COUNT} published posts"
TOTAL_AFFECTED=$((TOTAL_AFFECTED + COUNT))
else
RESULT=$(ssh "$SSH_USER" "cd ${WP_DIR} && wp eval '
\$posts = get_posts(array(
\"s\" => \"${SEARCH_TERM}\",
\"post_type\" => \"post\",
\"post_status\" => \"publish\",
\"numberposts\" => -1,
\"fields\" => \"ids\"
));
foreach (\$posts as \$id) {
update_post_meta(\$id, \"_genesis_noindex\", 1);
}
echo count(\$posts);
' --path=${WP_PATH}")
echo " Noindexed: ${RESULT} published posts"
TOTAL_AFFECTED=$((TOTAL_AFFECTED + RESULT))
fi
# --- Category mode ---
else
if [ -n "$CUSTOM_CAT" ]; then
CATEGORIES=("$CUSTOM_CAT")
else
CATEGORIES=("${DEFAULT_CATEGORIES[@]}")
fi
for CAT_NAME in "${CATEGORIES[@]}"; do
echo ""
echo "--- Category: ${CAT_NAME} ---"
if [ "$DRY_RUN" = true ]; then
COUNT=$(ssh "$SSH_USER" "cd ${WP_DIR} && wp eval '
\$cat = get_term_by(\"name\", \"${CAT_NAME}\", \"category\");
if (! \$cat) { echo 0; exit; }
\$posts = get_posts(array(
\"cat\" => \$cat->term_id,
\"post_type\" => \"post\",
\"post_status\" => \"publish\",
\"numberposts\" => -1,
\"fields\" => \"ids\"
));
echo count(\$posts);
' --path=${WP_PATH}")
echo " Would noindex: ${COUNT} published posts"
TOTAL_AFFECTED=$((TOTAL_AFFECTED + COUNT))
else
RESULT=$(ssh "$SSH_USER" "cd ${WP_DIR} && wp eval '
\$cat = get_term_by(\"name\", \"${CAT_NAME}\", \"category\");
if (! \$cat) { echo \"Category not found: ${CAT_NAME}\"; exit; }
\$posts = get_posts(array(
\"cat\" => \$cat->term_id,
\"post_type\" => \"post\",
\"post_status\" => \"publish\",
\"numberposts\" => -1,
\"fields\" => \"ids\"
));
foreach (\$posts as \$id) {
update_post_meta(\$id, \"_genesis_noindex\", 1);
}
echo count(\$posts);
' --path=${WP_PATH}")
echo " Noindexed: ${RESULT} published posts"
TOTAL_AFFECTED=$((TOTAL_AFFECTED + RESULT))
fi
done
fi
echo ""
# Step 3: Summary
echo "[3/3] Summary"
echo "=========================================="
if [ "$DRY_RUN" = true ]; then
echo "DRY RUN complete."
echo "Posts that would be noindexed: ${TOTAL_AFFECTED}"
echo ""
echo "To apply changes, run:"
echo " ./bulk-noindex-category.sh --run # default categories"
echo " ./bulk-noindex-category.sh --run --search=\"laravel\" # by keyword"
echo " ./bulk-noindex-category.sh --run --cat=\"Laravel\" # by category"
else
echo "Done. Total posts noindexed: ${TOTAL_AFFECTED}"
echo ""
echo "Next steps:"
echo " 1. Verify in wp-admin: check SEO column on affected posts"
echo " 2. Submit updated sitemap to Google Search Console"
echo " 3. DB backup is at: ${BACKUP_FILE} (on production server)"
fi
echo "=========================================="