meta robots Builder
Build a <meta name="robots"> tag from common directives.
Overview
The meta robots Builder assembles a <meta name="robots" content="..."> tag from the standard directives — index/noindex, follow/nofollow, noarchive, nosnippet, notranslate, noimageindex, plus max-snippet:, max-image-preview:, and max-video-preview: values. Tick the boxes you want and copy the tag.
Useful for SEO practitioners and developers learning how to write a meta robots tag for noindex or how to limit Google search snippet length. Reach for it when controlling how individual pages appear in search results, from full omission to fine-grained snippet sizing.
How it works
Search engines parse <meta name="robots"> to learn how to handle a page once they have already crawled it. Robots.txt controls crawl access; meta robots controls indexing and display. Directives are comma-separated; conflicting directives resolve to the more restrictive option (noindex always wins over index).
For Google-specific directives, the name is googlebot. The builder lets you choose between universal robots or Google-specific tags, and emits both when you need different settings per crawler.
Examples
- Block from search results →
<meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow">. - Allow indexing but no cached copy →
<meta name="robots" content="index,follow,noarchive">. - Limit Google's snippet →
<meta name="robots" content="index,follow,max-snippet:160,max-image-preview:large">. - Google-specific override →
<meta name="googlebot" content="noindex">.
FAQ
Meta robots or robots.txt?
Robots.txt controls whether the page is crawled. Meta robots controls whether a crawled page is indexed. To remove a page from search, allow it in robots.txt (so crawlers can read the meta) and use noindex on the page.
Does noindex work for images?
noimageindex blocks images on the page from image search, but only Googlebot honours it. For full image control, use the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header or robots.txt.
Difference between nofollow on meta and on a link?
Meta-level nofollow strips equity from every link on the page. A rel="nofollow" attribute on a single <a> only affects that one link.
Why isn't my noindex working?
Most often because the page is still blocked in robots.txt — the crawler never reads the meta. Open the page in robots.txt and add the meta, then resubmit in Search Console.