Meta Robots Tag Generator
The meta robots tag controls whether a page is indexed, whether its links are followed, and how it appears in results. Toggle the directives you need below and copy the tag - or the equivalent X-Robots-Tag header.
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow" />
<!-- Or as an HTTP header: -->
X-Robots-Tag: index, followHow to use the meta robots tool
- 1Choose index/noindex and follow/nofollow.
- 2Add snippet, archive, or image limits if needed.
- 3Copy the meta tag into the page's <head>.
- 4Use the X-Robots-Tag header for non-HTML files like PDFs.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between noindex and nofollow?
noindex keeps a page out of search results; nofollow tells engines not to pass ranking signals through the page's links. They're independent - use either, both, or neither.
When should I use noindex?
For pages you don't want in search: thank-you pages, internal search results, thin tag archives, and duplicate utility pages. Keep them crawlable so the noindex is actually seen.
What is the X-Robots-Tag header?
It's the HTTP-header equivalent of the meta robots tag. Use it to control indexing of non-HTML files like PDFs and images, where you can't add a meta tag.
Does noindex remove a page immediately?
No - Google must recrawl the page to see the directive, which can take days. Don't also block the page in robots.txt, or the crawler will never read the noindex.
What does max-snippet do?
It limits how many characters of your page Google can show in a snippet. -1 means no limit; 0 means no snippet at all.
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