Possible to remove "noindex" from html header, allow indexing of forum posts?

aarlof

👉🏽 What can I do / should I do(?), to allow my forum pages to be index-able by Google, et al.? Possible to change index settings via an extension or someone in site files? (I am not a JS developer)

OR is altering this functionality advised against, and if so, what is the reasoning?

Have a niche forum, trying to make it more discoverable. Default Flarum settings doesn't seem to allow search engines to index the pages.
Have FoF Sitemap and SEO extensions installed, robots.txt set up (contents below).
Google Console is set up for my top level domain (neostalgiatoys.com) with a sitemap.xml for the TLD and a sitemap.xml for neostalgiatoys.com/talk (folder containing Flarum install).

Flarum sitemap only shows the header info and lists no pages / urls
https://neostalgiatoys.com/talk/public/sitemap.xml

ROBOTS.TXT

User-agent: *
Disallow: /talk/public/admin
Disallow: /talk/public/admin/
Disallow: /talk/public/api
Disallow: /talk/public/api/
Disallow: /talk/public/settings
Disallow: /talk/public/notifications
Disallow: /talk/public/login
Disallow: /talk/public/logout
Disallow: /talk/public/reset
Disallow: /talk/public/confirm

Sitemap: https://neostalgiatoys.com/talk/public/sitemap.xml

Log for 2026/06/03

[2026-06-03 00:00:03] flarum.INFO: [FoF Sitemap] Generator.generate() started, deploy class: FoF\Sitemap\Deploy\Memory  
[2026-06-03 00:00:03] flarum.INFO: [FoF Sitemap] Generator resources count: 5

Above ^ repeats in log file

Flarum information

Flarum core: 1.8.14
PHP version: CLI: 8.3.31, Web: 8.3.31
PHP memory limit: CLI: 512M, Web: unable to detect
MySQL version: 5.7.44-48
Loaded extensions: Core, date, libxml, openssl, pcre, zlib, filter, hash, json, pcntl, random, readline, Reflection, SPL, session, standard, bcmath, bz2, calendar, ctype, curl, dom, mbstring, fileinfo, ftp, gd, gettext, gmp, iconv, imap, intl, exif, mysqlnd, odbc, PDO, pgsql, Phar, posix, pspell, SimpleXML, soap, sockets, sodium, sqlite3, tidy, tokenizer, xml, xmlwriter, xsl, zip, mysqli, pdo_mysql, PDO_ODBC, pdo_pgsql, pdo_sqlite, xmlreader, apcu, redis, imagick, monarxprotect, ionCube Loader, Zend OPcache
+--------------------------------+---------+--------+-------+
| Flarum Extensions              |         |        |       |
+--------------------------------+---------+--------+-------+
| ID                             | Version | Commit | Notes |
+--------------------------------+---------+--------+-------+
| flarum-flags                   | v1.8.2  |        |       |
| flarum-tags                    | v1.8.6  |        |       |
| flarum-approval                | v1.8.2  |        |       |
| flarum-mentions                | v1.8.5  |        |       |
| flarum-subscriptions           | v1.8.1  |        |       |
| fof-follow-tags                | 1.2.9   |        |       |
| flarum-suspend                 | v1.8.6  |        |       |
| v17development-seo             | v2.0.9  |        |       |
| fof-pages                      | 1.0.8   |        |       |
| sycho-profile-cover            | v1.3.5  |        |       |
| neoncube-private-messages      | 1.5.4   |        |       |
| nearata-embed-video            | 3.3.2   |        |       |
| justoverclock-hashtag          | 1.0.1   |        |       |
| ianm-follow-users              | 1.5.0   |        |       |
| huseyinfiliz-modern-footer     | v1.1    |        |       |
| fof-user-bio                   | 1.4.3   |        |       |
| fof-upload                     | 1.8.11  |        |       |
| fof-terms                      | 1.5.0   |        |       |
| fof-sitemap                    | 2.6.0   |        |       |
| fof-share-social               | 1.2.2   |        |       |
| fof-recaptcha                  | 1.3.5   |        |       |
| fof-reactions                  | 1.4.1   |        |       |
| fof-profile-image-crop         | 1.1.7   |        |       |
| fof-polls                      | 2.3.2   |        |       |
| fof-gamification               | 1.6.12  |        |       |
| fof-formatting                 | 1.1.2   |        |       |
| fof-drafts                     | 1.2.14  |        |       |
| fof-doorman                    | 2.0.0   |        |       |
| fof-analytics                  | 1.1.0   |        |       |
| flectar-fancybox               | 2.3.0   |        |       |
| flarum-sticky                  | v1.8.2  |        |       |
| flarum-statistics              | v1.8.1  |        |       |
| flarum-nicknames               | v1.8.3  |        |       |
| flarum-markdown                | v1.8.1  |        |       |
| flarum-lock                    | v1.8.2  |        |       |
| flarum-likes                   | v1.8.1  |        |       |
| flarum-lang-english            | v1.8.0  |        |       |
| flarum-extension-manager       | v1.0.8  |        |       |
| flarum-embed                   | v1.8.0  |        |       |
| flarum-bbcode                  | v1.8.0  |        |       |
| davwheat-share                 | v1.1.0  |        |       |
| davwheat-custom-sidenav-links  | 1.0.1   |        |       |
| datlechin-link-preview         | v1.6.1  |        |       |
| clarkwinkelmann-post-bookmarks | 1.0.0   |        |       |
| clarkwinkelmann-emojionearea   | 1.1.1   |        |       |
| askvortsov-categories          | v3.1.0  |        |       |
+--------------------------------+---------+--------+-------+
Base URL: https://neostalgiatoys.com/talk/public
Installation path: /home3/hxiplomy/public_html/neostalgiatoys.com/talk
Queue driver: sync
Session driver: file
Scheduler status: Inactive
Mail driver: mail
Debug mode: off

Thanks for any feedback on this topic!

Karl

aarlof I'm out and about right now, but I'm pretty sure the SEO extension needs Scheduler to build the sitemap in the background. Looking at your Flarum info, you do not have it configured.

Also want to note, you should not be exposing your root directory to the public. Meaning, the site domain should not be setup as https://neostalgiatoys.com/talk/public you're exposing vulnerabilities.

ernestdefoe

Karl you are absolutely right it does need it.