🤖 Meta Robots Tag Generator
By ToolNimba SEO Team · Updated 2026-06-19
Blank uses the generic robots name. A value uses that bot name instead, for example googlebot or bingbot.
Pick your directives, then copy the tag.
The robots meta tag is a small instruction you place in the head of a page that tells search engines what they may do with it: whether to show it in results, whether to follow its links, and how to handle snippets and image previews. This generator lets you tick the directives you want (index or noindex, follow or nofollow, plus options like noarchive and max-snippet) and gives you the exact content string and a ready-to-paste meta tag. You can also target a single crawler by name instead of all of them. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing is sent anywhere.
What is the Meta Robots Generator?
The robots meta tag controls how a search engine treats one specific page, and it lives in the head section of that page. Its two best-known values are noindex, which asks engines to keep the page out of their results, and nofollow, which asks them not to follow the links on the page. When neither is set the defaults apply, which are index and follow, meaning the page is eligible for results and its links can be crawled. Because index and follow are the defaults, you only really need a robots tag when you want to switch one of them off or add a more specific directive.
Beyond indexing and following, a family of finer directives shapes how your result looks. The noarchive value removes the cached copy link, nosnippet hides the descriptive snippet and the preview, and noimageindex stops the page images from being indexed. Three sized directives give you dials rather than switches: max-snippet sets the maximum number of characters in a text snippet (use 0 for none and -1 for no limit), max-image-preview sets the largest image preview as none, standard or large, and max-video-preview sets the maximum video preview length in seconds. These let you keep a page indexed while still controlling exactly how much of it is exposed.
A key detail is who the directive is addressed to. The generic name robots applies to all compliant crawlers, but you can name one bot instead, such as googlebot or bingbot, and that line then overrides the generic robots line for that crawler only. This is how you tell, say, Google to do one thing while leaving every other engine on the default. Remember that the robots meta tag only works if the crawler can actually read the page: if the same URL is blocked in robots.txt, the engine may never fetch the page and so never see your noindex, which is a common reason a page that should be hidden keeps appearing.
When to use it
- Hiding thin or private pages (login screens, internal search results, thank-you pages) from search engines with noindex.
- Keeping a page indexed but stopping engines from following its outbound links using a follow-to-nofollow switch.
- Limiting how much of a page is exposed in results with max-snippet, max-image-preview, or nosnippet.
- Giving one crawler different instructions from the rest by targeting it by name instead of the generic robots value.
How to use the Meta Robots Generator
- Choose index or noindex to decide whether the page can appear in search results.
- Choose follow or nofollow to decide whether links on the page are crawled.
- Tick any extra directives you need, such as noarchive, nosnippet, or the max-snippet and preview limits.
- Optionally enter a single crawler name to target only that bot, or leave it blank for all bots.
- Copy the content string or the full meta tag and paste the tag into the head section of your page.
Formula & method
Worked examples
You want to hide a thank-you page from search but still let engines crawl its links.
- Set indexing to noindex.
- Leave link following on follow.
- No extra directives are needed.
- The content string becomes noindex, follow.
Result: A robots meta tag with name robots and content noindex, follow.
You want a news article indexed but limited to a 160 character snippet and a large image preview, for Google only.
- Keep indexing on index and following on follow.
- Set max-snippet to 160.
- Set max-image-preview to large.
- Enter googlebot as the target crawler.
- The content string becomes index, follow, max-snippet:160, max-image-preview:large.
Result: A meta tag with name googlebot and content index, follow, max-snippet:160, max-image-preview:large.
Common robots meta directives and what they ask crawlers to do
| Directive | Effect |
|---|---|
| index / noindex | Allow or disallow the page in search results (index is the default). |
| follow / nofollow | Crawl or do not crawl the links on the page (follow is the default). |
| noarchive | Do not offer a cached copy link for the page. |
| nosnippet | Do not show a text snippet or a preview for the page. |
| noimageindex | Do not index images hosted on the page. |
| notranslate | Do not offer a translation of the page in results. |
| max-snippet:[n] | Limit the text snippet to n characters (0 for none, -1 for no limit). |
| max-image-preview:[setting] | Limit the image preview size to none, standard, or large. |
| max-video-preview:[n] | Limit the video preview to n seconds (0 for none, -1 for no limit). |
Common mistakes to avoid
- Blocking the page in robots.txt and adding noindex too. If a URL is disallowed in robots.txt, the crawler may never fetch the page, so it never reads your noindex. The page can then linger in results. To remove a page reliably, allow it to be crawled so the noindex can be seen.
- Putting the robots meta tag in the body. The robots meta tag must sit in the head section of the page. A robots directive placed in the body is generally ignored, so the page keeps its default index and follow behaviour.
- Expecting noindex to remove the page instantly. A page is only dropped after a crawler recrawls it and sees the new directive. This can take days or weeks. Use the search engine removal tools if you need a faster takedown of a sensitive URL.
- Confusing nofollow on links with the page-level nofollow. A robots meta nofollow tells engines not to follow any links on the whole page. A nofollow on a single link only affects that one link. They are different controls, so do not use one when you mean the other.
Glossary
- Robots meta tag
- A page-level instruction in the head that tells search engines how to index and display the page.
- noindex
- A directive asking search engines to keep the page out of their search results.
- nofollow
- A directive asking search engines not to follow the links on the page.
- Crawler (bot)
- An automated program that fetches and reads web pages, such as Googlebot or Bingbot.
- Snippet
- The short descriptive text a search engine shows under a result title.
- max-snippet
- A directive that caps how many characters of text a search engine may show in the snippet.
Frequently asked questions
What is the robots meta tag?
It is a small tag in the head of a page that tells search engines how to treat that page: whether to index it, whether to follow its links, and how to handle snippets and previews. It controls one page at a time, unlike robots.txt which works at the site or directory level.
What does noindex, nofollow mean?
noindex asks search engines to keep the page out of their results, and nofollow asks them not to follow any links on the page. Together they ask an engine to neither list the page nor crawl onward from its links. Use them only when you genuinely want a page kept out of search.
Do I need a robots tag if I want a page indexed normally?
No. The defaults are index and follow, so a page with no robots tag is already eligible to be indexed and have its links crawled. You only need the tag when you want to change a default or add a finer directive such as max-snippet.
Why is my noindex page still showing in search?
The most common reason is that the URL is blocked in robots.txt, so the crawler cannot fetch the page and never sees the noindex. Removal also takes time because the page must be recrawled. Make sure the page is crawlable and then wait for the next crawl, or use a removal tool.
What is the difference between the robots meta tag and robots.txt?
robots.txt is a single site-wide file that controls which URLs crawlers may request. The robots meta tag lives on an individual page and controls indexing and display once the page has been fetched. To keep a page out of results, the meta tag is usually the more reliable choice because the page can still be crawled and read.
Can I give Google and other engines different instructions?
Yes. Use the generic robots name for all crawlers, or name a specific bot such as googlebot to target only that one. A bot-specific line overrides the generic robots line for that crawler, so you can set one rule for Google and leave the rest on the default.
Sources
- Robots meta tag, data-nosnippet, and X-Robots-Tag specifications , Google Search Central
- Block search indexing with noindex , Google Search Central