Meta Robots Tag Generator
Meta Robots Tag Generator is a free tool that builds the tag telling Google whether to show a page in search, with a plain-English check of what it will do.
- Free
- No sign-up
- Runs in your browser
The robots meta tag is one line in a page's code that tells Google whether to show that page in search results and how much of it to preview. It is the right way to keep thank-you pages, test pages and private offers out of Google — and a leftover noindex from a website redesign is one of the most common reasons a whole site disappears. Choose what you want, see in plain English what the tag will do, and copy both the HTML tag and the matching X-Robots-Tag header.
Your workspace
Show this page in search results?
Follow the links on this page?
Fill in the details above, then press the button to see your result.
Guide
How to use it
- 1Choose which search engines the rule is for — usually all of them.
- 2Decide whether the page should appear in search results, and whether Google should follow its links.
- 3Add preview limits or an expiry date only if you have a specific reason to.
- 4Read the plain-English summary and any warnings, then copy the tag into the <head> of that one page.
What the results mean
- noindex
- Asks search engines not to show this page in results at all. Use it for thank-you pages, login pages and duplicates — never on pages you want customers to find.
- nofollow
- Asks search engines not to follow the links on this page or pass any credit through them. Rarely useful for a whole page; most sites should leave it on follow.
- max-snippet and max-image-preview
- Limits on how much text and how big an image Google shows under your result. "large" image previews help you stand out in Google Discover, so most sites should allow them.
- X-Robots-Tag
- The same instruction sent by the server instead of written in the page. It is the only way to noindex files that have no HTML, such as PDFs and images.
Common questions
Do I need a robots meta tag on every page?
No. Without a tag, Google indexes the page and follows its links — which is what you want for almost every page. Add a tag only where you want something different, such as noindex on a thank-you page.
Can I use robots.txt instead of noindex?
Not for keeping a page out of Google. If robots.txt blocks a page, Google never reads it, so it never sees the noindex — and it can still list the address. Leave the page readable and use noindex.
I added noindex by mistake. How do I get the page back?
Remove the tag or switch it to index, then use URL Inspection in Google Search Console and click Request indexing. Pages usually return within a few days, though rankings can take a little longer to settle.