X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP header used to communicate to web robots (such as search engine crawlers) how they should interact with a web page or website. It is used to provide instructions to robots on whether they should crawl, index, or ignore certain pages or resources on a website.
The X-Robots-Tag header is typically used in conjunction with the Robots Exclusion Standard, which is a protocol that allows webmasters to specify which parts of their website should be crawled or indexed by search engines. The X-Robots-Tag header provides a way to implement the Robots Exclusion Standard at the HTTP header level, rather than in the HTML content of a web page.
Several directives can be used in the X-Robots-Tag header, including:
“robots”: This directive specifies whether a web page or resource should be crawled or indexed by search engines. Valid values include “index”, “follow”, “noindex”, “nofollow”, and “none”.
“noydir”: This directive specifies whether a web page or resource should be crawled or indexed by search engines that are not in the “ydir” (yellow pages) category. Valid values include “index”, “follow”, “noindex”, “nofollow”, and “none”.
“noodp”: This directive specifies whether a web page or resource should be crawled or indexed by search engines that are not in the “odp” (Open Directory Project) category. Valid values include “index”, “follow”, “noindex”, “nofollow”, and “none”.
“nosnippet”: This directive specifies whether a web page or resource should have a snippet (a summary or preview) displayed in search engine results. Valid values include “index”, “follow”, “noindex”, “nofollow”, and “none”.
“noimage”: This directive specifies whether a web page or resource should have its images crawled or indexed by search engines. Valid values include “index”, “follow”, “noindex”, “nofollow”, and “none”.
It’s important to note that while the X-Robots-Tag header can be used to provide instructions to search engines, it is not a guarantee that those instructions will be followed. Search engines may choose to ignore the directives in the X-Robots-Tag header if they feel that it is in the best interest of their users.
