--- title: SEO & Visibility description: Control which pages are indexed, hidden from navigation, and excluded from search engines. url: http://localhost:3040/guides/seo-and-visibility --- # SEO & Visibility Control which pages are indexed, hidden from navigation, and excluded from search engines. Thally gives you fine-grained control over which pages are visible in the sidebar, which are indexed by search engines, and which appear in the AI search context. ## Hidden pages Set `hidden: true` in a page's frontmatter to remove it from the sidebar and sitemap without making it inaccessible: ```mdx --- title: Internal Notes hidden: true --- ``` Hidden pages: - Are **not** listed in the sidebar navigation - Are **not** included in the sitemap - Automatically receive a `noindex` meta tag - Are still accessible by direct URL This is useful for staging pages, internal references, or partial drafts you're not ready to surface. ## `noindex` frontmatter To keep a page in the sidebar but exclude it from search engines, use `noindex: true`: ```mdx --- title: Legacy Reference noindex: true --- ``` This injects `` into the page ``. ## Difference between `hidden` and `noindex` | | Appears in sidebar | In sitemap | Robots noindex | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Default | ✓ | ✓ | — | | `noindex: true` | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | `hidden: true` | — | — | ✓ | ## Hidden groups and tabs You can also hide entire sidebar groups or tabs in `docs.json`: ```json { "tab": "Internal", "hidden": true, "groups": [ { "group": "Staff Only", "hidden": true, "pages": ["internal/roadmap"] } ] } ``` Hidden tabs and groups are filtered from the navigation but their pages remain accessible by URL. ## SEO indexing mode By default, hidden pages are excluded from the AI search context. To include them (for example, to make internal notes searchable within the ThallyAI chat), set: ```json "seo": { "indexing": "all" } ``` | Value | Behavior | | --- | --- | | `"navigable"` | Default. Excludes hidden pages from search and AI context. | | `"all"` | Includes all pages — including hidden ones — in search and AI context. |