What is X-Robots-Tag Header Generator?
X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP response header that tells search engines how to handle a resource in their index. It is the HTTP equivalent of the robots meta tag but works on any file type 閳ユ摨DFs, images, videos, feeds, JSON responses, and HTML pages alike. The header accepts the same directives as the meta tag: noindex, nofollow, noarchive, nosnippet, noimageindex, notranslate, and others.
quickAnswer
X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP header that controls search engine indexing for any file type 閳ユ摨DFs, images, feeds, and HTML. Use it when you need indexing control over non-HTML resources or when you cannot add a meta tag to the page. It accepts the same directives as the robots meta tag.
Last updated: 2026-05-28
limitations
- Some bots and crawlers ignore X-Robots-Tag entirely. It is a hint, not a binding directive, and there is no enforcement mechanism beyond voluntary compliance by search engines.
- If a page is blocked by robots.txt, crawlers cannot see the X-Robots-Tag header at all. Use robots.txt and X-Robots-Tag as complementary layers, not alternatives.
- X-Robots-Tag is not an official IETF standard 閳ユ攰t is a de-facto convention supported by Google, Bing, and most major search engines. Smaller or niche crawlers may not recognize it.
Sources:MDN Web Docs · W3C Specifications · jquery.app on GitHub
How to use this tool
- Select the directives you want to apply 閳ユ攦ommon combinations are noindex, nofollow for pages to be excluded, and noarchive for content that should not be cached by search engines.
- Optionally specify a user-agent to target specific crawlers, or leave it empty for all bots.
- Copy the HTTP header and/or the HTML meta tag into your server configuration or page markup.
What you can use it for
- Noindex PDFs and other downloadable files that should not appear in search results.
- Prevent search engines from caching sensitive content with noarchive.
- Add noimageindex to a gallery page to prevent individual image indexing while keeping the page indexed.