Why has Google indexed my hidden server?

Do you have a publicly visible web server, for example a staging platform, which you believe to be invisible to search engine robots because you haven’t told Google about it or published any links on the public web?

There is a chance you may still get indexed. How? If your private site has any outbound links to sites which publish their referrer logs publicly, Google will follow those referral links and index your server.

For example, if you link to any WordPress sites using the Referrer Plugin, your server address may be published and visible to robots.

Can I protect against this? Yes! Password protect your private servers or implement robots.txt telling robots and spiders to move on.

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