Indexing is a Constitutional question, not an SEO question. Constitution §2 principle 8 (Public data and personal data are not the same thing) and principle 2 (Location is used for presence, not surveillance) draw the line. The SEO and Public Indexing Policy defines what is indexable by default, what is opt-in, what is permanently noindex (sensitive locations, personal civic reports, anything involving minors), and how Map.ca treats AI crawlers given the doctrine’s position on AI training without consent.
It applies to Map.ca’s SEO and engineering teams, Pin owners with privacy preferences, and any user who wants their content discoverable on terms they control.
Requirements
- Respect noindex declarations on opted-out content.
- Configure robots.txt to align with the AI Training and Data Use Policy.
- Structure URLs for permanence so deletions and updates do not break inbound links.
- Provide users with documented indexing controls in account settings.
Prohibitions
- Do not index sensitive-location content.
- Do not index personal civic reports.
- Do not allow indexing of content involving minors without explicit authorization.
- Do not optimize indexing in ways that defeat the platform’s privacy posture.