NOODP Tag

The NOODP tag means NO Open Directory Project and ensures that search engines display the title and description of the web page and not the ODP entry.

Definition and background

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Some search engines – such as Google – may display the title and/or description of the ODP instead of the page title and description. Since not every webmaster wants this, you can prevent this with the meta NOODP tag.

With the NOODP tag you could instruct search engine robots in the source code of your web page (HTML) not to use the web page data stored in the Open Directory Project (ODP) to display meta title and meta description in the snippet of the search result lists. This made sense especially if you wanted to keep the option open to assign your own Meta Titles as well as Meta Descriptions. Thus, you could store information that is understandable and relevant for the users. These add value and spur people to click on the link to the website, which can increase the click-through rate of the website. Also, you can use especially the Meta Title and place there important keywords that have a positive impact on the ranking of the website.

Which meta tag you insert in the source code depends on the search engine robots for which access is to be blocked. If you only want to deny access to the Googlebot, the syntax looks like this:

The NOODP tag for the Microsoft bot looks like this:

If you want to tell all search engines not to use the ODP record, the syntax is like this:

In the meantime, however, the meta tag has become obsolete because the operator AOL shut down the DMOZ project on March 17, 2017.

NOODP Tag and SEO

Once upon a time, the NOODP tag in the Open Directory Project (ODP) was a guarantee of a trust link. However, the webmaster then only had an indirect influence on the use of meta title and meta description. If an entry existed in DMOZ, it was a good idea to set the entry “noodp” to use individual page titles and meta descriptions.

In June 2017, Google’s Gary Illyes told the community that the search engine operator would no longer consider the NOODP listing in the future for obvious reasons. The directory entries and the corresponding meta tags are therefore no longer relevant for search engine optimization.

Conclusion

To avoid having the title and/or description of the ODP displayed by certain search engines, you could use the NOODP tag. Nowadays, however, the meta tag no longer plays a role.