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SearchAtlas Indexation Control Setup SOP

Overview​

  • What: Configure the SearchAtlas (MetaSync) plugin's Indexation Control page and Instant Indexing integrations to prevent low-quality archive pages from being indexed (diluting SEO) and to enable instant URL submission to Google + Bing on every publish.
  • When: Run after seo-one-time-setup.md Component 5 completes (SearchAtlas project + OTTO + GSC must already be connected). Can also be re-run on existing clients as a tune-up.
  • Who: Onboarding specialist or SEO technician. Requires WP admin access, SearchAtlas dashboard access, and (for Google Instant Indexing) Google Cloud Console access.
  • Time Required: 15–30 minutes per client (10 min for Indexation Control toggles; 15–20 min for Google Instant Indexing service-account setup; 2 min for Bing IndexNow).

Prerequisites​

  • WP Admin access at <domain>/wp-admin.
  • SearchAtlas plugin installed and connected (per seo-one-time-setup.md Components 1–2).
  • For Google Instant Indexing: a Google Cloud Console project with the Indexing API enabled, and the ability to create a service account.
  • For Bing Instant Indexing: nothing extra — IndexNow auto-activates when configured.

Procedure​

Part A — Indexation Control toggles (5 min)​

WP Admin → Search Atlas → Indexation Control.

Apply the per-site-type profile below — these are SC's recommended defaults. Override only with documented reason.

ToggleService business (default)Single-author blogMulti-author publicationLocal-business with strong categories
Disallow Empty Archives✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE
Disallow Date Archives✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE
Disallow Tag Archives✅ ENABLE⚠️ Disable if tags drive content discovery❌ DISABLE✅ ENABLE
Disallow Author Archives✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE❌ DISABLE (author pages are SEO assets)✅ ENABLE
Disallow Format Archives✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE
Disallow Category Archives⚠️ Disable by default (categories often valuable)⚠️ Disable❌ DISABLE❌ DISABLE (key SEO surface)
Add No-follow to External Links✅ ENABLE✅ ENABLE⚠️ Per editorial policy✅ ENABLE

Why each toggle matters​

  • Empty Archives: archive pages that auto-populate but have zero posts. Pure SEO noise — always disallow.
  • Date Archives (/2026/01/, /2026/01/15/): thin content; rarely match user search intent. Always disallow except for news sites.
  • Tag Archives (/tag/marketing/): can dilute SEO if tags are inconsistent. Disallow unless tags are a deliberate content-discovery surface.
  • Author Archives (/author/john-doe/): no SEO value for single-author sites (just duplicates the home/about). For multi-author publications, author pages are E-E-A-T signals → keep.
  • Format Archives (/type/aside/, /type/gallery/): rarely used; rarely useful. Always disallow.
  • Category Archives (/category/news/): often valuable for service businesses with vertical taxonomies. Default to allowing them; only disallow when consolidating SEO juice onto main pages.
  • Add No-follow to External Links: automatically adds rel="nofollow" to all external links in posts, pages, and post types rendered by OTTO. Preserves SEO juice on internal links and prevents passing equity to external sites.

Capture in client profile​

Record the chosen profile in <slug>-client-profile.md under the SearchAtlas / SEO Inputs section so the choices are auditable:

**indexation-profile:** service-business-default
**indexation-overrides:** (none) | (list any deviation + rationale)

Part B — Advanced Settings: Override Other Plugins' Robots Tags (1 min)​

WP Admin → Search Atlas → Indexation Control → Advanced Settings.

ScenarioSetting
Fresh install (no prior SEO plugin)OFF
Migrating from Yoast / Rank Math / AIOSEO and they're still installedON (temporarily)
Migration complete + old plugin uninstalledOFF

This toggle is only useful during migration when conflicting robots meta tags need a clear winner. Leave OFF in steady state.

Part C — Google Instant Indexing (15–20 min)​

This enables Google to receive URL change notifications instantly on publish, bypassing crawl wait times. Major SEO acceleration for new content.

C1. Create the Google Cloud service account​

  1. Open Google Cloud Console → Credentials.
  2. Select (or create) a Cloud project for SEO automations. Name suggestion: <client-slug>-seo-indexing (or for SC: sc-seo-indexing).
  3. Enable the Indexing API:
    • APIs & Services → Library → search "Indexing API" → Enable.
  4. Create a service account:
    • IAM & Admin → Service Accounts → Create Service Account.
    • Name: searchatlas-indexing-bot.
    • Skip granting access to the project (not needed).
  5. Create a key for the service account:
    • On the service account → Keys → Add Key → Create New Key → JSON → download.
  6. Add the service account as a Property Owner in Google Search Console for the client's domain:
    • GSC → Settings → Users and permissions → Add user → paste the service account email (format: <name>@<project>.iam.gserviceaccount.com) → grant Owner (required for Indexing API).

C2. Paste the JSON into SearchAtlas​

WP Admin → Search Atlas → Indexation Control → Google Instant Indexing section.

  • Check Enable Instant Indexing.
  • Either:
    • Paste the contents of the downloaded JSON file into the Service Account JSON textarea, OR
    • Use Upload JSON File to upload the downloaded file directly.
  • Post Types Configuration: check Posts + Pages. Leave Templates unchecked unless the site regenerates templates frequently (rare).

C3. Verify​

After saving, publish or update a single test post or page. Within seconds-to-minutes, GSC → URL Inspection → enter the test URL → should show recent crawl activity attributed to the Indexing API.

Part D — Bing Instant Indexing / IndexNow (2 min)​

WP Admin → Search Atlas → Indexation Control → Bing Instant Indexing section.

  • Check Enable Bing Instant Indexing. The plugin auto-generates an IndexNow API key and registers it with Bing, Yandex, and other IndexNow-supporting search engines.
  • No additional configuration needed; URL changes propagate automatically on publish.

Part E — Robots.txt sanity check (2 min)​

After Parts A–D, run a curl to confirm the resulting robots.txt is correct:

curl -s https://<domain>/robots.txt

Verify:

  • Disallow: lines reflect the toggles you set (e.g., if Date Archives is disallowed, you may see Disallow: /2026/ patterns or it may be handled via meta robots tags only).
  • Sitemap: https://<domain>/sitemap_index.xml is present and matches the publisher URL.
  • No leftover Disallow: / from staging.

Verification​

  • Indexation Control toggles match the chosen site-type profile in <slug>-client-profile.md
  • Override Other Plugins' Robots Tags is OFF (post-migration) or ON only with documented migration in flight
  • Google Instant Indexing: service account JSON saved + Posts + Pages checked
  • Service account added as Property Owner in GSC for the client domain
  • Bing Instant Indexing enabled
  • curl https://<domain>/robots.txt shows the expected Disallow lines + Sitemap reference
  • Test post/page publish triggers a fresh GSC crawl within minutes (Indexing API)

Common mistakes​

  1. Disabling Category Archives by default. Categories often carry significant SEO weight (especially for service businesses with vertical taxonomies). Disable only with explicit reason.
  2. Leaving "Override Other Plugins' Robots Tags" ON post-migration. Once the old plugin is uninstalled, this setting can mask future configuration drift. Turn off.
  3. Skipping the GSC Property Owner step for the service account. The Indexing API requires Owner permission, not just User. Service account calls will silently fail otherwise.
  4. Pasting the wrong JSON. The plugin expects the full service-account JSON (with type: "service_account", client_email, private_key, etc.), not just the key. Don't trim.
  5. Enabling Instant Indexing on Templates post type. Templates trigger on every visual edit if Elementor or a builder is in use → spam to Indexing API → quota risk.

Per-vertical defaults (cheat sheet)​

SC verticalProfileNotes
Home servicesservice-business-defaultCategory archives may map to service types — verify before disallowing
Real estateservice-business-defaultIf a listings-feed plugin generates auto-pages, audit before disallowing date archives
Legal / professional servicesservice-business-defaultAuthor archives often valuable (attorney bios) — consider keeping
Multi-author publicationmulti-author-publicationAuthor + tag archives are SEO surfaces; keep both
Local business with strong categorieslocal-business-with-strong-categoriesCategory archives are key landing pages — never disallow

Post-step — run Content Genius Sync​

After saving all Indexation Control + Instant Indexing changes, run Content Genius Synchronization to push the updated categories[LOCAL_PATH_REMOVED] compatibility | High — Elementor is in every SC client stack | | Edge Cache / CDN | Cache-tag credentials for proper sitemap/schema purging on CDN-fronted sites | High — every SC client has Cloudflare in chain | | Bot Detection & Filtering | Reduces OTTO API costs by filtering bot traffic; quota protection at scale | Medium — important once 10+ clients on plugin | | Open Graph | Controls OG/article meta tags emitted on every page; social sharing surface | Medium | | Content Rendering | How OTTO-synced content stores in WP database; critical for page-builder compatibility | High — Elementor is a known interaction point | | LLMs.txt | Publishes standards-compliant /llms.txt for AI search crawlers (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini). New SEO surface for AI-era discoverability. | High — global pivot makes AI search a strategic channel | | User Management for Content | Controls which WP users can author OTTO-synced content; governance + security | Low — relevant when team size grows | | Post/Page Editor Settings | Customizes meta boxes and editor UI for content team | Low | | Plugin Settings | System maintenance (cache reset, debug, etc.) | Low — runbook material | | Setup Wizard | Guided first-time setup. Worth comparing against the seo-one-time-setup.md procedure to see if any steps can be deferred to the wizard. | Medium |

Reference PDF capture of the Settings page: My Drive/symphony-core-documents-storage/05-platform/screenshots/2026-05-ref-searchatlas-plugin-settings-page.pdf.

  • One-Time SEO Setup — upstream; this SOP runs after Component 5
  • SearchAtlas Sitemap Troubleshooting — sibling diagnostic when sitemap URL returns 404 despite plugin saying "Generated"
  • Brand Vault Population SOP — sibling; populates the 5 BV tabs the plugin draws from
  • SearchAtlas WordPress Schema Markup Reference — companion reference for the plugin's other surfaces
  • Reference PDF (Indexation Control UI): My Drive/symphony-core-documents-storage/05-platform/screenshots/2026-05-ref-searchatlas-indexation-control-settings.pdf
  • Reference PDF (Settings page UI): My Drive/symphony-core-documents-storage/05-platform/screenshots/2026-05-ref-searchatlas-plugin-settings-page.pdf