meta robots for site map

keeps showing up in serps

[Powdork]

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow">

Like that?

[keyplyr]

Yes, that's correct if you do not wish the page indexed but you do wish the links followed. Sometimes it takes a couple updates for the page to drop out of the index.

[Powdork]

Yup, Thats what I want. Just added the page and only now realized how well a page of links can rank.
Glad you're working WW. Sorry you're working so hard mods. Keep up the good work.

[nancyb]

I see lots of sites whose sitemap comes up in the serps, sometimes as the main entry and often as an indented page.

Is there a reason you would not want the sitemap indexed since it is usually full of kw's and, therefore, probably additional listings?

Just wondering if I am missing something I should know :)

[Powdork]

I don't want people to enter my site there. It's usually showing up as the indented result along with the page that perfectly matches the query, so there is no need for it. Its purpose for me is as a backup to make sure pages get crawled in case their normal way in is down for some reason. Additionally, it can help out pages that might not get crawled because of low pr.
For instance
index(pr4)links to a.htm who links to b.htm who links to c.htm to d.htm. d.htm may not get crawled. With a site map linked to from index that links to d.htm, it probably will.