> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hadoseo.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Blocked Paths

> Keep pages like dashboards and admin areas out of prerendering

## Overview

Not every page on your site needs to be prerendered. Logged-in dashboards, admin panels, account settings and login pages show content that is personal or private, and there's no reason for search engines or AI crawlers to read them.

Blocked paths tell Hado SEO to leave those pages alone. A blocked path is never prerendered, even if it appears in your sitemap.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Blocked paths are available on every plan.

## What blocking a path does

When a page matches one of your blocked paths:

* **Hado SEO doesn't prerender it.** Crawlers that request it get your site's normal response, the same one they would get without Hado SEO.
* **It doesn't use renders.** Blocked pages are skipped during sitemap syncs and recrawls, so they never count against your plan's renders.
* **Your visitors aren't affected.** People using your site see exactly what they saw before.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Blocking a path keeps it out of prerendering, but on its own it doesn't remove the page from search results. To ask search engines not to index a page, turn on **noindex** for the rule (see [Search engine directives](#search-engine-directives) below).

## Accessing Blocked Paths

1. Go to your [Dashboard](https://hadoseo.com/dashboard)
2. Select your domain
3. Click the **Blocked Paths** tab

The first time you open the tab, a short guide explains the basics. You can show or hide it again with **Show Guide**.

## Adding a blocked path

1. Click **Add Blocked Path**
2. Enter a **path pattern** (it must start with `/`)
3. Optionally turn on **noindex** and/or **nofollow**
4. Optionally add a **note** so your team knows why the path is blocked
5. Click **Block Path**

Changes take effect within about a minute.

## Path patterns

| Pattern | Matches | Doesn't match |
| - | - | - |
| `/admin` | `/admin` only | `/admin/users` |
| `/app/*` | `/app`, `/app/settings`, `/app/projects/42` | `/apply` |
| `/` | Your homepage only | Any other page |

Matching rules:

* **Exact match:** a pattern without `/*` matches that one page and nothing below it.
* **Wildcard:** a pattern ending in `/*` matches the path itself and everything under it.
* **Not case-sensitive:** `/Admin` and `/admin` are treated the same.
* **Query strings and trailing slashes are ignored:** `/pricing/?ref=ad` matches `/pricing`.

### Common examples

| Pattern | Use it for |
| - | - |
| `/dashboard/*` | Logged-in user dashboards |
| `/admin/*` | Admin and internal tools |
| `/auth/*` | Login, signup and password reset pages |
| `/account/*` | Account and billing settings |
| `/internal-tool` | A single page, without affecting pages below it |

## Search engine directives

Each blocked path can also tell search engines how to treat the page:

| Option | What it tells crawlers |
| - | - |
| **noindex** | Don't show this page in search results. |
| **nofollow** | Don't follow the links on this page. |

These are sent to crawlers as an `X-Robots-Tag` header. They never change what your visitors see.

Blocked paths always keep their own noindex setting. If you turn on **Override noindex on origin** in [Domain Settings](https://docs.hadoseo.com/dashboard/domain-settings.md), it doesn't apply to blocked paths.

> [!TIP]
>
> If you use the [Cloudflare Worker](https://docs.hadoseo.com/integrations/cloudflare-worker.md), your Worker serves blocked paths itself and receives these directives in the `x-hadoseo-robots` response header. The example Worker in that guide already copies it onto your response as `X-Robots-Tag`.

## Managing blocked paths

From the Blocked Paths tab you can:

* **Search** your blocked paths by pattern
* **Edit** a rule to change its pattern, directives or note
* **Delete** a rule you no longer need, or select several and delete them together

Each pattern can only be added once per domain.

## Blocked paths vs. robots.txt

They solve different problems:

* **Blocked paths** control what Hado SEO prerenders. Crawlers can still request the page.
* **robots.txt** asks crawlers not to request a page at all. Well-behaved crawlers follow it, but it's a request, not a lock.

For private pages, block the path, turn on **noindex**, and keep the pages behind a login. Don't also disallow them in robots.txt: a crawler that can't request a page never sees its noindex, so the page can still show up in search results.

## Related

> **[Routing Rules](https://docs.hadoseo.com/dashboard/routing-rules.md)**
>
> Set up redirects and proxies

> **[Domain Settings](https://docs.hadoseo.com/dashboard/domain-settings.md)**
>
> Configure robots.txt, sitemap and locale


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.