some text
some text
This text can be shown in a snippet.
However, this is not in snippet.
- Stuff not in snippet
- More stuff not in snippet
Google typically renders pages in order to index them, however rendering is not guaranteed. Because of this, extraction of `data-nosnippet` may happen both before and after rendering. To avoid uncertainty from rendering, do not add or remove the `data-nosnippet` attribute of existing nodes through JavaScript. When adding DOM elements through JavaScript, include the `data-nosnippet` attribute as necessary when initially adding the element to the page's DOM. If custom elements are used, wrap or render them with `div`, `span`, or `section` elements if you need to use `data-nosnippet`.
Using structured data
---------------------
Robots `meta` tags govern the amount of content that Google extracts automatically from web pages for display as search results. But many publishers also use schema.org structured data to make specific information available for [search presentation](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/intro-structured-data)
. Robots `meta` tag limitations don't affect the use of that structured data, with the exception of `article.description` and the `description` values for structured data specified for other creative works. To specify the maximum length of a preview based on these `description` values, use the `max-snippet` rule. For example, `recipe` structured data on a page is eligible for inclusion in the recipe carousel, even if the text preview would otherwise be limited. You can limit the length of a text preview with `max-snippet`, but that robots `meta` tag doesn't apply when the information is provided using structured data for rich results.
To manage the use of structured data for your web pages, modify the structured data types and values themselves, adding or removing information in order to provide only the data you want to make available. Also note that structured data remains usable for search results when declared within a `data-nosnippet` element.
Practical implementation of `X-Robots-Tag`
------------------------------------------
You can add the `X-Robots-Tag` to a site's HTTP responses through the configuration files of your site's web server software. For example, on Apache-based web servers you can use .htaccess and httpd.conf files. The benefit of using an `X-Robots-Tag` with HTTP responses is that you can specify crawling rules that are applied globally across a site. The support of regular expressions allows a high level of flexibility.
For example, to add a `noindex, nofollow` `X-Robots-Tag` to the HTTP response for all `.PDF` files across an entire site, add the following snippet to the site's root `.htaccess` file or `httpd.conf` file on Apache, or the site's `.conf` file on NGINX.
### Apache
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noindex, nofollow"
### NGINX
location ~\* \\.pdf$ {
add\_header X-Robots-Tag "noindex, nofollow";
}
You can use the `X-Robots-Tag` for non-HTML files like image files where the usage of robots `meta` tags in HTML is not possible. Here's an example of adding a `noindex` `X-Robots-Tag` rule for images files (`.png`, `.jpeg`, `.jpg`, `.gif`) across an entire site:
### Apache
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noindex"
### NGINX
location ~\* \\.(png|jpe?g|gif)$ {
add\_header X-Robots-Tag "noindex";
}
You can also set the `X-Robots-Tag` headers for individual static files:
### Apache
\# the htaccess file must be placed in the directory of the matched file.
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noindex, nofollow"
### NGINX
location = /secrets/unicorn.pdf {
add\_header X-Robots-Tag "noindex, nofollow";
}
Combining robots.txt rules with indexing and serving rules
----------------------------------------------------------
robots `meta` tags and `X-Robots-Tag` HTTP headers are discovered when a URL is crawled. If a page is disallowed from crawling through the robots.txt file, then any information about indexing or serving rules will not be found and will therefore be ignored. If indexing or serving rules must be followed, the URLs containing those rules cannot be disallowed from crawling.
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. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2026-03-24 UTC.
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