Noindex Checker
Check a URL or paste a page's HTML source to see every indexing signal it sends — meta robots and crawler-specific tags, the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header, and the site's robots.txt rules — and whether Google may index it.
Most third-party sites block this kind of direct cross-origin request. If fetching fails, switch to "Paste source instead".
About this tool
Checks every signal that decides whether Google may index a page: the meta robots and crawler-specific meta tags (googlebot, bingbot and others), the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header (including user-agent-specific values such as googlebot: noindex), and the site’s robots.txt rules for the URL. It also flags conflicting rules, typos such as “no-index” that search engines ignore, and expired unavailable_after dates.
How to use it
- Enter a page URL and click Fetch & Analyze, or switch to "Paste source instead" and paste the page's HTML.
- If the X-Robots-Tag header could not be read, copy the curl command shown and paste its output (or the headers from your browser's DevTools Network tab) to complete the check.
- robots.txt is checked automatically after a fetch. If it can't be read, paste its contents.
- Read the status, the table of every signal found, and each finding.
What each directive means
- noindex — don't include this page in search results.
- none — the same as noindex, nofollow.
- nofollow — don't follow links found on this page.
- noarchive — don't show a cached copy of this page.
- nosnippet — don't show a text snippet or video preview.
- noimageindex — don't index images on this page.
- max-snippet:N — limit the snippet to N characters (0 = none, -1 = no limit).
- max-image-preview:size — none, standard or large image previews.
- max-video-preview:N — limit a video preview to N seconds.
- unavailable_after:date — stop showing the page after this date.
- indexifembedded — allow indexing when embedded in another page by an iframe, despite noindex.
FAQ
What does noindex do?
A noindex directive (in a <meta name="robots"> tag or an X-Robots-Tag HTTP header) tells search engines not to include that page in their search results. It's commonly used for thank-you pages, internal search results, staging content, or duplicate pages.
Why can't this tool always confirm a page is indexable?
A server can send a noindex instruction as an HTTP response header instead of (or as well as) a meta tag. Browsers hide that header from other websites unless the server explicitly exposes it, and pasted HTML has no headers at all. When the header can't be read, this tool says so, shows a curl command to get the headers, and lets you paste them to finish the check — it never guesses that the page is indexable.
What's the difference between meta robots and X-Robots-Tag?
They carry the same set of directives, but meta robots lives inside the page's HTML while X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP response header — useful for non-HTML files like PDFs where a <meta> tag isn't possible.
What does "conflicting directives" mean?
It means one rule allows indexing (for example <meta name="robots" content="index">) while another blocks it (a googlebot tag or the X-Robots-Tag header says noindex). Google follows the most restrictive rule, so the page is treated as noindex. Keep one clear instruction per page.
Why does robots.txt matter for noindex?
robots.txt controls crawling, not indexing. If it blocks a page, Googlebot never fetches it, so it can't see a noindex tag — and the bare URL can still appear in results if other sites link to it. To remove a page from Google, allow crawling and use noindex. This tool checks the site's robots.txt rules for the URL the way Google does (the most specific matching rule wins).
Can X-Robots-Tag target one search engine?
Yes. A value such as "googlebot: noindex" applies only to Google, and "bingbot: noindex" only to Bing; a value without a name applies to every crawler. This tool reads each part separately and shows who each rule applies to.
Is "no-index" the same as noindex?
No. Search engines only recognise the exact directive names, so "no-index", "no index" or "noindexx" are ignored and the page stays indexable. This tool flags such typos and suggests the correct directive.
Does this replace Google Search Console?
No. Search Console shows Google's own record of how it actually crawled and indexed a page, which can differ from what a live check shows today. Use this tool for a quick, independent read of the directives currently being served.
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