Robots meta tags infographic: an example meta tag and data-nosnippet code, indexing rules (noindex, nofollow, none, indexifembedded, unavailable_after), snippet and preview rules (nosnippet, max-snippet, max-image-preview, max-video-preview, noimageindex, notranslate), four gotchas, and three steps on what to do.

Oct 6, 2026

Robots Meta Tags and Snippet Controls (Infographic)

Every robots meta tag Google supports, from noindex to max-snippet, what each does, how they affect AI Overviews, and the mistakes that make them stop working.

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<a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/robots-meta-tags"><img src="https://searchinsider.io/research/robots-meta-tags/robots-meta-tags-infographic.png" alt="Robots meta tags infographic: an example meta tag and data-nosnippet code, indexing rules (noindex, nofollow, none, indexifembedded, unavailable_after), snippet and preview rules (nosnippet, max-snippet, max-image-preview, max-video-preview, noimageindex, notranslate), four gotchas, and three steps on what to do." style="max-width:680px;width:100%;height:auto;" /></a><p>Source: <a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/robots-meta-tags">Robots meta tags infographic</a> by Search Insider.</p>

Which robots meta tags control how Google shows your page?

The short answer: Robots meta tags tell Google whether to index a page and how much of it to show. nosnippet and max-snippet also limit what AI Overviews and AI Mode can use. Google has to crawl the page to see any of them.

Based on Google Search Central.

What it shows

noindex keeps a page out of search results; nofollow tells Google not to follow its links.
nosnippet blocks text snippets and video previews and stops the content being a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode.
max-snippet limits snippet length and how much content AI Overviews and AI Mode can use directly.
data-nosnippet works on span, div and section elements.
If a page is blocked in robots.txt, Google can't see its robots rules.
When rules conflict, the more restrictive one applies.
Google Search no longer uses noarchive, because cached links no longer exist.

What to do

Removing pages: Use noindex and allow crawling.
Limiting quotes: Use max-snippet or data-nosnippet.
Images: Allow max-image-preview:large.

The walkthrough

What are robots meta tags?

Robots meta tags are page-level rules that control how Google indexes and serves a page in search results ^[1]. Any rule that works in a robots meta tag can also be sent as an X-Robots-Tag HTTP header, which is useful for non-HTML files such as PDFs ^[1].

Which robots meta tags control indexing?

noindex keeps the page out of search results; nofollow tells Google not to follow its links; none equals noindex, nofollow; indexifembedded allows indexing of content embedded through iframes despite noindex; and unavailable_after removes the page from results after a date ^[1].

Which tags control snippets and previews?

nosnippet shows no text snippet or video preview; max-snippet caps the snippet at a number of characters; max-image-preview sets image previews to none, standard or large; max-video-preview caps video previews in seconds; noimageindex stops images on the page being indexed; and notranslate stops Google offering a translation ^[1].

Do snippet controls affect AI Overviews?

Yes. Google says nosnippet also prevents content being used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode, and max-snippet limits how much content may be used as a direct input ^[1].

What is data-nosnippet?

data-nosnippet is an HTML attribute that keeps part of a page out of snippets, and it works on span, div and section elements ^[1].

Why isn't my noindex tag working?

If a page is disallowed in robots.txt, Google can't crawl it, so any indexing or serving rules on the page aren't found and are ignored ^[1]. When rules conflict, the more restrictive one applies ^[1].

Does Google still use noarchive?

No. Google Search no longer uses noarchive, because the cached link feature no longer exists ^[1].

Sources

Robots meta tag, data-nosnippet, and X-Robots-Tag specifications, Google Search Central

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