If you’ve been using the SEO Action Plan extension and noticed it says “robots meta tag is missing” on some of your pages, or any SEO tools have reported that your page is missing the robots meta tag, or you want to know how to properly add the robots meta tag on your website? Then don’t panic. It’s a common thing, especially on older or auto-generated pages. The good news? It’s super easy to fix, and you don’t need to be a developer to sort it out.
Let’s walk through what this tag does, why it’s helpful, and how you can add it using tools or by editing the HTML directly.
What is the Robots Meta Tag? #
The robots meta tag is a small line of code you place inside the <head> of your HTML. Its job is to guide search engines like Google on how they should handle a page.
Here’s what it looks like:
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
This line tells search engines they can index the page and follow all the links on it. Without this tag, most search engines will assume they should index and follow by default, but that might not always be what you want.
Why This Tag Matters #
There are times you might want a page not to appear in search results. Examples include:
- Thank you after any submission/purchase, or for the confirmation pages
- Log in or account dashboards
- Duplicate or filtered product pages
- Staging or development pages
Without setting the right robots tag, search engines might index things you’d prefer to keep out of search results. That can affect your site’s clarity and SEO performance.
Understanding Robots Meta Tag Values #
Here are the most common values you can use and what they mean:
| Value | What it does |
|---|---|
index | Allows the page to be indexed by search engines |
noindex | Prevents the page from appearing in search results |
follow | Tells search engines to follow all links on the page |
nofollow | Tells search engines not to follow any links on the page |
noarchive | Stops search engines from showing a cached version of the page |
nosnippet | Prevents search engines from showing a snippet or preview in search results |
noimageindex | Prevents images on the page from being indexed |
nocache | Same as noarchive (used by some other search engines) |
You can combine them like this:
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
That one would hide the page from search results but still allow Google to crawl and follow the links on it.
How to Check If It’s Missing #
The easiest way is to open your site and launch the SEO Action Plan browser extension. Go to the SEO tab and look for the “Robots Meta Tag” section. If it’s missing, you’ll see a notice that it’s not found on the page.
You can also view the page’s source code. Right-click on the page, choose View Page Source, and check if there’s any <meta name="robots" tag inside the <head> section.
How to Add or Edit the Robots Meta Tag #
On WordPress #
Most WordPress users can do this using SEO plugins:
- Yoast SEO: Edit any post or page, scroll to the Yoast settings below the content, click the Advanced tab, and choose if the page should be indexed and whether links should be followed.
- Rank Math: Similar setup as above, open a post or page, find the Advanced section, and set your robot rules.
- All in One SEO: Go to the page’s Search Appearance settings, and you’ll see the robots options.
On Shopify #
You’ll need to edit your theme.liquid file. Open Online Store → Themes → Edit Code, then find theme.liquid and paste the tag inside the <head> section.
On Webflow #
Go to the page settings, scroll down to Custom Code, and paste your robots meta tag inside the Head Code section.
On Wix or Squarespace #
Wix: Open SEO Basics for a page and look for advanced SEO settings.
Squarespace: Use Page Settings → SEO → Advanced to add a custom meta tag.
Adding It Manually #
If you’re editing raw HTML, add your preferred tag inside the <head> section like this:
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
Save and upload the file, then refresh your site and check with the SEO Action Plan extension to confirm the tag appears.
Final Thoughts #
Not every page needs to be indexed. Adding a robots meta tag gives you control over how search engines treat your content. Whether you’re using WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, or hand-coding your site, it only takes a minute to fix.
Once you’ve added the tag, open your site again in a new tab after clearing the cache. Then open the SEO extension, go to the SEO tab, and verify the change. If it’s showing up correctly, you’re good to go.
If you’re ever unsure which value to use, stick with:
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
That’s a safe default for most public-facing content.
Let me know if you’d like help picking the right setting for a specific type of page