There are three site environments to consider when using the WPengine keyword in site domains:

Production is the live site that a user in the public would view and use.
Staging includes small updates and testing to a site.
Development is for bigger development projects like building a site or making large changes.

Whenever we create any install, the domain of that install has the “wpengine” keyword in it. This keyword in the domain labels the environment to “noindex/nofollow”. No matter what the environment we are working in (Production, Staging, or Development), the use of “wpengine” will allow development work to continue unhindered in those sites.

We need to make sure the setting in Reading Settings is not checked in Production. Staging and Development sites are always set to “noindex/nofollow” due to the keyword “wpengine” so in those environments, the setting in the Reading tab is not applicable.

Once the site is ready to launch, we can move it from the “wpengine” domain to the live domain. As soon as we add the correct domain onto the site, the site starts indexing and following outside of the “noindex/nofollow” label.

https://wpengine.com/support/environments/