One of the common SEO questions we see is related to the “Pragma No-Cache” metatag. Many webmasters and site owners may notice this in their source code and assume that it has an effect on search engine rankings, or is keeping Google from indexing pages. In fact, this tag has no effect on search engines, though it is generally unnecessary and can usually be deleted.
The “Pragma: No-Cache” tag is actually intended to keep browsers (and some proxies) from caching content on your web page. If you have a site where content is updated regularly, or if you are testing changes in real time, you don’t want the cached version of the page to be displayed. Depending on the situation, a browser/server may choose to ignore this command, so it is not a guarantee that someone will get a new page load every time.
One common issue in the SEO world is that people will confuse the Pragma No-Cache tag with the Robots No-Cache tag when looking at source code. In many cases people are wondering why pages aren’t being indexed, check the source code for “no-cache,” and see the Pragma tag in place. While this tag is something of an anachronism in the days of cheap bandwidth and faster download speeds, it is not harmful to search engine rankings. If anything, it could be a clear signal that the user should do a review of site functionality and dated metatags, since a Pragma No-Cache tag may be indicative of an older design that may not function optimally in the latest versions of Firefox, Internet Explorer, and any one of the mobile platforms that will dominate the browsing world in the coming years.
