What is the difference between noindex and disallow?

• noindex: Implemented via a meta tag (<meta name="robots" content="noindex">) or HTTP header. It allows crawlers to visit the page but ensures it doesn’t appear in search results.

  
  

• disallow: Used in robots.txt to stop crawlers from accessing the page at all.

  
  

However, disallowed URLs may still appear in SERPs if they’re linked externally, but without snippets.

Rule of thumb: Use noindex if you want the page hidden from search. Use disallow when you don’t want search engines to even crawl it.