If you think meta robots tag and x-robots-tag are two of the most complicated terms in search engine optimization, then buckle up and get comfortable because we’re about to simplify them for you.
First, let’s define what these two terms mean.
Meta robots tag is an HTML tag that provides instructions to web crawlers or search engine robots about whether to index or noindex a webpage. Since search engines crawl and index millions of web pages every day, the meta robots tag helps webmasters control how the search engine crawlers interact with the pages on their website.
On the other hand, x-robots-tag represents an HTTP header that provides machine-readable instructions to web robots visiting a page. It is used for responding to the search engine robots’ queries in real-time, allowing the webmaster to instruct search engines more specifically how to interact with a website.
Here are some of the most common values included in this tag.
- INDEX: This value indicates that the search engine robots can crawl and index the content of the page.
- NOINDEX: This value tells Google to avoid indexing the page’s content.
- FOLLOW: This value instructs Google to follow the links on the page.
- NOFOLLOW: This value tells Google to not follow the links on the page
Now that you understand the concept, let’s talk about how to use these tags.
First, identify which pages on your website need indexing and which need to be noindexed. If you have pages containing duplicate content or thin content, these need to be noindexed as they might be considered as spam content by Google.
Next, use the meta robots tag to add the tag to the head section of your HTML code. Here’s how to write the meta robots tag: where “INDEX” can be replaced with “NOINDEX” and “FOLLOW” with “NOFOLLOW”.
You can also use the x-robots-tag to give more specific instructions to search engine robots on various parts of the site. Use this tag when you want to control the search engine robots’ actions on specific files, folders, or URLs.
Here are some examples of how to set the x-robots-tag:
- X-Robots-Tag: nofollow: Tells the search engine bots to not follow the links on this webpage.
- X-Robots-Tag: noindex: This instruction tells search engine bots not to show the page in search results.
- X-Robots-Tag: noarchive: Tells search engines not to show the cached version of the webpage in search results.
In conclusion, meta robots tag and x-robots-tag are essential tools for search engine optimization. They help you control how the search engine robots index your website and allow you to give more specific instructions to robots visiting a page. Always remember to be cautious when using these tags and to ensure that the tags are implemented correctly.
We want to thank the thought leader as the source for this content and such awesome teachings on the subject, and we hope that this article can help you and your business! Here’s the link to his post https://www.semrush.com/blog/robots-meta.
