How to Use Meta Robots Tags in Vue · Nuxt SEO
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# How to Use Meta Robots Tags in Vue
Control page-level indexing with meta robots tags. Block search results pages, manage pagination, and prevent duplicate content in Vue apps.
[Harlan Wilton](https://x.com/harlan-zw)9 mins read Published Nov 3, 2024 Updated Jan 29, 2026
What you'll learn
- `noindex` prevents page from appearing in search results
- `data-nosnippet` blocks specific text from AI Overviews
- Use X-Robots-Tag HTTP header for non-HTML files (PDFs, images)
Meta robots tags give page-level control over search engine indexing. While
, the robots meta tag lets you handle individual pages differently.
Use them to block filtered pages from indexing, prevent duplicate content issues on pagination, or control snippet appearance. For non-HTML files (PDFs, images) use [X-Robots-Tag HTTP headers](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag#xrobotstag) instead. For site-wide rules stick with
.
## [Setup](#setup)
Add the robots meta tag using [Unhead](https://unhead.unjs.io/) in your Vue components. Must be
or crawlers won't see it.
Block Indexing
```
```
Control Snippets
```
```
Vue apps need [manual Unhead installation](https://unhead.unjs.io/guide/getting-started/installation). Nuxt includes it by default.
## [How Meta Robots Tags Work](#how-meta-robots-tags-work)
The robots meta tag goes in your page's `` and tells crawlers what to do with that specific page ([Google's documentation](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag)):
```
```
Without a robots meta tag, crawlers assume `index, follow` by default ([MDN reference](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Elements/meta/name/robots)).
### [Common Directives](#common-directives)
- `noindex`: Exclude from search results
- `nofollow`: Don't follow links on this page
- `noarchive`: Prevent cached copies
- `nosnippet`: No description snippet in results (also opts out of AI Overviews)
- `max-snippet:[number]`: Limit snippet to N characters
- `max-image-preview:[setting]`: Control image preview size (none, standard, large)
- `max-video-preview:[number]`: Limit video preview to N seconds
Combine multiple directives with commas. When directives conflict, the [more restrictive one applies](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag).
### [Critical Requirements](#critical-requirements)
Must be server-side rendered. Google can execute JavaScript but does so in a [second rendering wave](https://medium.com/@emironic/server-side-rendering-ssr-vs-client-side-rendering-csr-why-it-matters-more-than-ever-for-ai-4dbf65142abc), which can delay or prevent proper indexing. SSR puts the tag in the HTML response immediately.
If you block the page in robots.txt, crawlers [never see the meta tag](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/block-indexing). Don't combine robots.txt blocking with noindex; the noindex won't work.
Target specific crawlers by replacing `robots` with a user agent token like `googlebot`. More specific tags override general ones.
## [Controlling AI Overviews](#controlling-ai-overviews)
As of 2026, there is no single meta tag to opt-out of AI Overviews (SGE) without also affecting standard search snippets. However, you can control how your content appears in AI-generated answers.
### [`max-snippet`](#max-snippet)
Use `max-snippet` to limit the length of text Google can display. This indirectly limits how much text AI can "quote" or summarize.
```
```
### [`data-nosnippet`](#data-nosnippet)
For granular control, use the `data-nosnippet` HTML attribute to exclude specific text from snippets or AI answers. This is perfect for pricing tables, proprietary data, or internal codes.
```