---
title: "Config Using Route Rules"
description: "Learn how to configure robots through route rules."
canonical_url: "https://nuxtseo.com/docs/robots/guides/route-rules"
last_updated: "2026-05-09T21:45:15.286Z"
---

If you prefer, you can use route rules to configure how your routes are indexed by search engines.

You can provide the following rules:

- `{ robots: false }` - Will disable the route from being indexed using the [robotsDisabledValue](/docs/robots/api/config#robotsdisabledvalue) config.
- `{ robots: '<rule>' }` - Will add the provided string as the robots rule
- `{ robots: { /* directives */ } }` - Will use object syntax to define robot directives

The rules are applied using the following logic:

- `X-Robots-Tag` header - SSR only,
- `<meta name="robots">`
- `/robots.txt` disallow entry - When [disallowNonIndexableRoutes](/docs/robots/api/config#robotsdisabledvalue) is enabled

## Inline Route Rules

Requires enabling the experimental `inlineRouteRules`, see the [defineRouteRules](https://nuxt.com/docs/api/utils/define-route-rules) documentation
to learn more.

```vue
<script lang="ts" setup>
defineRouteRules({
  robots: false,
})
</script>
```

## Nuxt Config

```ts [nuxt.config.ts]
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  routeRules: {
    // use the `index` shortcut for simple rules
    '/secret/**': { robots: false },
    // add exceptions for individual routes
    '/secret/visible': { robots: true },
    // use the `robots` rule if you need finer control
    '/custom-robots': { robots: 'index, follow' },
    // use object syntax for more complex rules
    '/ai-protected': {
      robots: {
        index: true,
        noai: true,
        noimageai: true
      }
    },
    // control search result previews
    '/limited-preview': {
      robots: {
        'index': true,
        'max-image-preview': 'standard',
        'max-snippet': 100,
        'max-video-preview': 15
      }
    }
  }
})
```