Meta Robots Generator
Build a meta robots tag to control indexing on a per-page basis. Stop Google from indexing certain pages, follow or not follow links.
Pick index value
Should the page appear in search results?
Pick follow value
Should links on this page pass authority?
Optional extras
Hide from Google cache or block snippets.
Build meta robots tag
When to use noindex, nofollow, and friends
- noindex: The page should not appear in search results. Common for thank-you pages, login pages, internal search results, staging.
- nofollow: Search engines should not follow or pass authority through links on this page. Used for user-generated content or low-trust sections.
- noarchive: Hide the cached version of the page in Google. Useful for pages with time-sensitive content.
- nosnippet: Do not show a text snippet under the search result. Rare — most sites want the snippet.
Frequently asked questions
What is the default if I have no meta robots tag?
index, follow. Search engines crawl, index, and follow links by default.
Should I use robots.txt or meta robots?
Use robots.txt to block crawling, meta robots to prevent indexing. They serve different purposes. A page can be crawled but noindexed, or blocked entirely.
Will noindex remove a page from Google?
Eventually, yes. Google will drop it from the index after recrawling. Speed up by requesting removal in Search Console.
Can I noindex but still allow follow?
Yes: noindex, follow. The page itself does not show in results, but links on it still pass authority.
What is nofollow good for in 2026?
Mostly for user-generated content (comments, forums), sponsored links (use rel="sponsored"), and untrusted outbound links.