Google robots directives

Google robots meta tag
directives, explained

Each robots meta tag and X-Robots-Tag directive Google documents, in Google's own words. Verified from Google's page on 2026-10-07.

Google says to place the robots meta tag in the head section of a page. For files that have no HTML head, such as images, the same rules can be sent as an X-Robots-Tag HTTP header. This page lists each directive Google documents, what Google says it does, and short examples.

The directives Google documents

Directive	What Google says	Source
`all`	“There are no restrictions for indexing or serving.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`noindex`	“Do not show this page, media, or resource in search results.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`nofollow`	“Do not follow the links on this page.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`none`	“Equivalent to noindex, nofollow.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`nosnippet`	“Do not show a text snippet or video preview in the search results for this page.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`indexifembedded`	“Google is allowed to index the content of a page if it's embedded in another page through iframes or similar HTML tags, in spite of a noindex rule.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`max-snippet:[number]`	“Use a maximum of [number] characters as a textual snippet for this search result.”Google: 0 is equivalent to nosnippet; -1 lets Google choose the snippet length it believes is most effective.	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`max-image-preview:[setting]`	“Set the maximum size of an image preview for this page in search results.”Settings per Google: none (no image preview), standard (a default image preview may be shown), large (a larger image preview, up to the width of the viewport, may be shown).	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`max-video-preview:[number]`	“Use a maximum of [number] seconds as a video snippet for videos on this page in search results.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`notranslate`	“Don't offer translation of this page in search results.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`noimageindex`	“Do not index images on this page.”	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07
`unavailable_after:[date/time]`	“Do not show this page in search results after the specified date/time.”Google: the date/time must be in a widely adopted format including, but not limited to, RFC 822, RFC 850 and ISO 8601.	Google docs Verified 2026-10-07

Quoted from Google's page, read on 2026-10-07 (Google showed it as last updated 2026-03-24 UTC). Separate multiple directives with commas. Other search engines may support different directives; this page covers only what Google documents.

Examples

Meta tags go in the head. Use robots for all crawlers or a specific token: Google documents googlebot for text results and googlebot-news for news results.

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
<meta name="googlebot" content="nosnippet">
<meta name="robots" content="max-snippet:160, max-image-preview:large">

The header form, for non-HTML files. The first two lines follow Google's pattern for all crawlers and for one named crawler; the last is Google's own unavailable_after example.

X-Robots-Tag: noindex
X-Robots-Tag: googlebot: nofollow
X-Robots-Tag: unavailable_after: 25 Jun 2010 15:00:00 PST

Build the right tag or header, including Apache and nginx snippets, with the free robots meta tag generator, then check a live page's tags with the meta tag checker, or the X-Robots-Tag in pasted response headers with the HTTP header checker.

Rules to remember

Google says these settings can be read and followed only if crawlers are allowed to access the pages that include them.
Google says that when robots rules conflict, the more restrictive rule applies.
Google says the header, the user agent name and the values are not case sensitive.

How snippets are built and controlled: Google snippet and meta description guidelines.

Questions

Why is my noindex not working?

Google says these settings can be read and followed only if crawlers are allowed to access the pages that include them. If robots.txt blocks the page, Googlebot cannot see the noindex. Check the page is crawlable and test the live URL in Search Console.

Which wins when rules conflict?

Google says that in the case of conflicting robots rules, the more restrictive rule applies.

When should I use X-Robots-Tag instead of a meta tag?

Google says you can use the X-Robots-Tag for non-HTML files like image files where the usage of robots meta tags in HTML is not possible. The same directives apply.

Are the directives case sensitive?

No. Google says the HTTP header, the user agent name and the specified values are not case sensitive.

Can I target only Google News?

Google documents two user agent tokens for the meta tag: googlebot for text results and googlebot-news for news results. Use that name in place of robots to target one crawler.

How current is this page?

Every row was read from Google's page on 2026-10-07, where Google showed a last-updated date of 2026-03-24 UTC. Google can change its documentation, so treat the linked page as the final word.

Sources

Robots meta tag, data-nosnippet, and X-Robots-Tag specifications (Google Search Central), read on 2026-10-07

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