Will password protecting my test sub-domain help keep the SEs from indexing it?

[Doc_Sheldon]

Hi, all. I'm working in an unfamiliar area here, so I hope someone can tell me if I'm out in left field.

I am building a sub-domain called http://test.mysite.com, so that I can upload a client's still-under-construction site while working on it. When completed, it'll go up on his server, replacing his old site. Obviously, I want to ensure that it doesn't get indexed while it's on my test platform.

A friend suggested that I password it with htaccess and htpasswd, since we can never be certain the SEs will obey site directives.

My question is, what do you think would be the best (and hopefully, simplest) way to accomplish this?

I'm no code-monkey, so "simple" is a big plus!

Doc

By the way, the platform will be Wordpress CMS.

[bloggidy]

htaccess is a very simple way to protect the site from crawlers. If they can't access the pages they certainly can't index them.

[Doc_Sheldon]

Thanks for the response, Matt. So you feel like that's a sure way? There seems to be some different opinions on whether or not all the SEs will respect that. I had always thought it was a solid way to do it,too. But some of the arguments I'm hearing have me in doubt, now.

[webseoservices]

Also, a good way to go is the following:

• tell search engines to go away in robots.txt
• to insert a meta noindex tag
• block in .htaccess as well

Matt Cutts stated that the only 100% sure way is to password protect the folder

[Doc_Sheldon]

Thanks, Darryl-

Passwording the site seemed like a good option, although I wasn't aware that Matt had ever stated that. That being the case, it would certainly seem like the way to go. Thanks for the input!

[bloggidy]

A different Matt but I have to/still agree that you need to password protect the site. This isn't just for a protection against crawlers but also anyone else who might be snooping around. Unless your client is okay with their work being released early into the wild you should password protect it.

The good news is that many hosting companies have tools that will automagically generate the .htaccess files for your.