How to Bulk-Edit Index and Follow Settings for Many Posts at Once

Overview

You can change the Index, Follow, and Archive robots settings for many posts, pages, or terms at once directly from the WordPress admin list screens. There’s no need to open each item individually.

Where to Find It

Any post type or taxonomy list screen that supports SureRank (Posts, Pages, custom post types, Categories, Tags, etc.).

Bulk Actions Dropdown

• Go to the list screen (for example, Posts).
• Check the boxes next to the items you want to change.
• Check the boxes next to the items you want to change.

• Open the Bulk actions dropdown at the top of the list.
• Choose one of: Set to index, Set to noindex, Set to follow, Set to nofollow, Set to archive, or Set to noarchive.

• Click Apply.

A confirmation notice appears once the update finishes.

Each option in this dropdown only changes one setting at a time. For example, “Set to noindex” won’t also touch Follow or Archive.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many items can I update at once? 

There’s no SureRank-specific limit. It follows however many rows you’ve selected in the WordPress list table. To cover more items in one pass, raise “Number of items per page” under Screen Options (top-right of the list screen), or repeat the action across pages.

Does this work on categories and tags? 

Yes. The same Bulk Actions dropdown options are available on taxonomy list screens as well as post and page lists.

Troubleshooting

“SureRank Settings” section missing from Bulk Edit 

Confirm you used Bulk actions → Edit → Apply, not Quick Edit on a single row, and that the post type is registered as public. Non-public custom post types won’t show SureRank’s bulk fields.

One item in the batch didn’t update 

If another editor had that post locked at the same moment, its update can silently fail. Reopen that specific post and set it manually, or reapply the bulk action to just that item.