Meta Robots Tag Generator
Build the right meta robots tag — index/noindex, follow/nofollow plus advanced directives — with checkboxes.
What each checkbox adds to the tag
The generator starts with index and follow ticked, which gives <meta name="robots" content="index, follow" />. That is the same as having no tag at all, so you only need to paste a tag when you change something. Unticking a box writes the negative form: noindex or nofollow.
The six optional boxes add one directive each, in the order you tick them:
| Directive | What it asks search engines to do |
|---|---|
| noarchive | Don't keep a cached copy of the page for visitors to view. Google no longer uses this rule, but some other search engines still do. |
| nosnippet | Don't show a text or video preview under the result. |
| noimageindex | Don't index the images on this page. |
| notranslate | Don't offer a translated version of the page in results. |
| max-snippet:-1 | Allow a text snippet of any length (-1 means no limit). |
| max-image-preview:large | Allow large image previews. |
Settings for common page types
These are the outputs for three typical cases:
- Thank-you or order-confirmation page. Untick index:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow" />. The page stays out of results, but links on it are still followed. - Internal search results. The same
noindex, follow, so endless search-query pages don't fill the index while crawlers can still reach the products they link to. - An article you want shown with a full preview. Leave index and follow ticked and add the two preview boxes:
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large" />.
Avoid ticking boxes that pull in opposite directions. With nosnippet and max-snippet:-1 together, the stricter rule wins and you get no snippet.
Mistakes that stop the tag from working
- The page is also blocked in robots.txt. A crawler that may not fetch the page never reads its noindex. If you want a page out of results, let it be crawled and use noindex.
- A staging noindex goes live. Sites built on a test server with noindex sometimes launch with the tag still in place, and the new pages never appear in search. Check the page source of your home page after every launch.
- Two robots tags on one page. A theme or plugin may already print one. If they disagree, the more restrictive directive is applied, so search the page source for
name="robots"before adding yours. - The tag sits in the body. Paste it inside the
<head>section with your other meta tags.
PDFs, images and single-crawler rules
A meta tag only works in an HTML page. A PDF or an image has nowhere to put it. For those files, the same directives go in an HTTP response header set on your server, for example X-Robots-Tag: noindex. Copy the directive list from the generator's output and use it as the header value.
The generated tag uses name="robots", which addresses every crawler. To give an instruction to Google's crawler alone, change the name to googlebot and leave the content as it is.
Frequently asked questions
How soon does noindex remove a page from Google?+
Only after Google crawls the page again and sees the tag. There is no fixed delay. For an urgent removal, add the tag first, then use the Removals tool in Google Search Console to hide the page temporarily while you wait for the recrawl.
Does the order of directives matter?+
No. Search engines read the comma-separated list as a set. The generator lists them in the order you tick them, which has no effect on how they are applied.
Is nofollow in the robots tag the same as rel="nofollow" on a link?+
No. The robots tag applies to every link on the page. The link attribute applies to a single link. Use the link attribute when only one or two outbound links need it.
Embed this tool on your website
Free to use on blogs, school sites and intranets. Paste this code into your page's HTML; please keep the credit line.
<iframe src="https://utilityapp.lat/embed/seo/meta-robots-tag-generator" title="Meta Robots Tag Generator" width="100%" height="600" style="border:0;max-width:760px" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p style="font-size:13px"><a href="https://utilityapp.lat/seo/meta-robots-tag-generator">Meta Robots Tag Generator</a> by UtilityApp</p>