Meta Robots Tag
The meta robots tag is an HTML tag placed in the <head> section of a webpage. It tells search engine crawlers how to treat the page — whether to index it, follow the links on it, or ignore it entirely.
This tag gives website owners more control over their SEO strategy, especially when they want to prevent certain pages from appearing in search results or passing link equity.
Common meta robots directives
Here are the most frequently used values you can assign in a meta robots tag:
| Directive | What It Does |
|---|---|
index | Allows the page to be indexed in search results (default) |
noindex | Prevents the page from appearing in search results |
follow | Allows search engines to follow links on the page (default) |
nofollow | Prevents search engines from following any links on the page |
noarchive | Prevents search engines from showing a cached version |
nosnippet | Prevents showing a snippet or preview in search results |
You can combine multiple directives for more specific control, such as noindex, nofollow.
HTML example of a meta robots tag
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">
This tells search engines not to index the page and not to follow any links on it.
When to use the meta robots tag
You might use the meta robots tag in cases like:
- Thank you pages or confirmation screens you don’t want indexed
- Login or admin pages that should stay private
- Duplicate content pages to avoid SEO issues
- Outdated pages you don’t want appearing in search results
- Low-value pages like printer-friendly versions or filter URLs
Best practices for using meta robots tags
- Place the tag in the
<head>section of your HTML - Use
noindexsparingly — only on pages you truly don’t want shown - Avoid
nofollowon internal pages unless absolutely necessary - Check your robots tag settings in SEO audits to avoid accidental blocking
- Combine with
robots.txtand canonical tags for complete control
In summary, the meta robots tag is a useful SEO tool for managing how search engines interact with specific pages on your site. By using it correctly, you can protect sensitive pages, prevent duplicate content issues, and ensure search engines focus on your most important content.