SEO Robots Meta Tag
The “robots meta tag” is an HTML tag that provides instructions to search engine crawlers about how they should index and follow links on a particular webpage. This tag is used to control the behavior of search engine bots and can have an impact on how your web pages are indexed and displayed in search results. The “robots meta tag” is a part of on-page optimization in search engine optimization (SEO).
The “robots meta tag” has several attributes that allow you to specify different instructions:
indexAttribute: This attribute tells search engines whether the page should be indexed or not. It has two main values:
index: Indicates that the page should be indexed and included in search engine results.noindex: Instructs search engines not to index the page and not to include it in search results.
followAttribute: This attribute tells search engines whether they should follow the links present on the page. It has two main values:
follow: Indicates that search engines should follow the links on the page and consider them for crawling.nofollow: Instructs search engines not to follow the links on the page.
- Combining Attributes: You can combine the
indexandfollowattributes to specify various combinations, such asindex, follow,noindex, follow,index, nofollow, andnoindex, nofollow.
Here are some scenarios where you might use the “robots meta tag” to optimize your SEO:
- Preventing Indexing: If you have certain pages that you don’t want search engines to index (e.g., duplicate content, private pages), you can use
noindex. - Crawling But No Indexing: You might want search engines to crawl certain pages for link purposes but not index them. In this case, you’d use
index, noindex. - Page Removal: If you want to remove a page from search engine results temporarily, you can use
noindex, follow. This allows search engines to follow links on the page but not index it. - Paginated Content: For paginated content, you can use
nextandprevattributes to guide search engines through the series of pages.
The syntax for adding the “robots meta tag” to a webpage’s HTML code is:
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">This tag is usually placed within the <head> section of the HTML code on the page.
Remember that while the “robots meta tag” can guide search engines, it doesn’t prevent determined users or bots from accessing the page’s content. For more comprehensive control over crawling and indexing, you can also use the robots.txt file and the Google Search Console’s “URL Inspection” tool.
It’s essential to use the “robots meta tag” judiciously and align its usage with your SEO goals and the overall structure of your website.