Robot meta tags
Robot meta tags are special tags that are integrated into the header area of the HTML code of a website. They play a crucial role in technical search engine optimization by giving search engines such as Google specific instructions for crawling and indexing the URL. These tags are an essential tool in building an effective web presence, as they are used in conjunction with the robots.txt file to control crawl frequency and avoid duplicate content.
The different types of robot meta tags and their functions
At first glance, the structure of the robot meta tag may appear complex. It is therefore important to take a closer look at the various attributes behind it. The main attributes are „name“ and „content“, each of which must be assigned a specific value.
The structure and use of the „name“ attribute
The „name“ attribute is responsible for ensuring that the bots and crawlers follow the instructions contained in the robots meta tag. A typical structure could look like this:
name="robots"
However, it is also possible to issue different commands for each crawler. For example, you could use this robots meta tag:
<meta name="googlebot" content="noindex">
prevent indexing by the Google search engine.
The „content“ attribute and its meaning
The „content“ attribute is used to provide the user agent with specific information. The user agent is part of the HTTP header that is transmitted with a request. On the Internet, clients, such as your browser, communicate with web servers via the HTTP protocol. The user agent provides the server with certain information about the client. If the robots meta tag of a website is not specified, it remains in the default setting and is indexed regularly.
Control of indexing by search engines
It is not necessary for every piece of content on your website to be indexed by a search engine. By using robots meta tags, you can prevent certain information from being indexed by search engines such as Google and displayed in the search results. This is achieved by including specific instructions in the source code of your website, such as
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
This code prevents the page from appearing in the search results by storing it in the robots.txt file of your website. This file allows you to define various instructions for bots, such as the crawling frequency, the location of the sitemap or preventing the indexing of duplicate content.
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At Apalion AG, we are committed to making your online presence visible and attractive to your target audience. We focus on the correct implementation and application of relevant metadata to achieve the best possible results. Our approach is not only search engine oriented, but also user friendly, with a focus on content creation and technical customization developed by people for people.
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