How to Add Custom Robots Header Tags in Blogger for Better SEO (2025 Guide)
Have you ever wondered how to control what parts of your Blogger site Google indexes and what it doesn’t? Custom robots header tags are a powerful tool to manage crawling and indexing without tweaking entire robots.txt or risking deleting content. In 2025, understanding and applying these tags correctly can help you prevent duplicate content issues, improve SEO, and ensure Google focuses on your most valuable pages. This step-by-step tutorial will guide you to add custom robots header tags in Blogger with clear examples and tips.
What Are Robots Header Tags and Why Are They Important?
Robots header tags are HTTP headers or HTML meta tags that provide crawl instructions to search engine bots on a page-by-page basis. They tell search engines whether to index the page, follow the links, or exclude it from search results.
- Index / Noindex: Whether the page should appear in search results.
- Follow / Nofollow: Whether links on the page should be followed.
- Noarchive, Nosnippet: Control caching and snippets in search results.
Default Robots Handling in Blogger
Blogger automatically adds basic robots tags. However, it does not allow direct editing of HTTP headers; therefore, customization is done via the HTML meta tag in your theme or individual posts.
Step-by-Step: How to Add Custom Robots Meta Tags in Blogger
1. Access Blogger Theme HTML
- Go to Dashboard > Theme.
- Click on Edit HTML.
2. Locate the <head> Section
Find the <head> tag where meta tags are declared.
3. Insert Custom Robots Meta Tag Code
Insert the following code snippet inside the head section:
<meta expr:name='robots' content='noindex, nofollow' />
Replace noindex, nofollow with the required directive for the page or section you want to control:
index, follow– Default, allows indexing and crawling.noindex, follow– Prevents page from appearing in search, but links still followed.noindex, nofollow– Prevents page indexing and link crawling.index, nofollow– Index page but don’t follow links.
4. Customizing Per Post Using Conditional Tags
Using Blogger’s conditional tags, you can add robots directives for specific pages:
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<meta name='robots' content='noindex, nofollow'/>
</b:if>
The above example adds the noindex, nofollow tag only to blog posts.
5. Add Robots Directives to Specific Pages
For example, prevent Blogger’s search results or label pages from being indexed:
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "search"'>
<meta name='robots' content='noindex, nofollow'/>
</b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "label"'>
<meta name='robots' content='noindex, follow'/>
</b:if>
Why Add Custom Robots Header Tags?
- Prevent low-value pages (like archive, search results) from hurting SEO.
- Manage duplicate content issues by noindexing similar or filtered pages.
- Improve crawler efficiency and boost core pages’ rankings.
Curiosity-Driven Tip
Want to take control beyond Blogger’s basic SEO? Imagine selectively telling Google which blog post drafts, archives, or even author pages deserve noindex while preserving your best posts' visibility. That’s the power of custom robots tags!
Real Example of Implementing Custom Robots Tags
I added noindex, nofollow tags to my Blogger search and label pages, which helped consolidate crawl budget on main content and boosted my homepage and key blog posts rankings within weeks.
FAQs – People Also Ask (SEO Optimized)
How to add noindex to specific Blogger pages?
Use conditional tags in your theme’s head section to add noindex robots meta tags to desired page types.
Does Blogger allow editing HTTP robots header?
No, Blogger only allows editing meta tags in HTML; HTTP header edits are managed server-side.
What is the difference between robots meta tags and robots.txt?
Robots.txt blocks crawling at the server level; robots meta tags control indexing or following at the page level.
Can I noindex my Blogger archive pages?
Yes, by adding appropriate conditional noindex meta tags to archive pages in your theme.
Will noindex tags hurt my blog traffic?
No, if applied to low-value or duplicate content pages, it helps SEO by focusing Google’s attention on important pages.
How do I verify if the noindex tag is working?
Use Google Search Console URL inspection or check the page source for the robots meta tag.
How to allow indexing but block link crawling?
Use index, nofollow in your robots meta tag.
Can I control robots tags on individual Blogger posts?
Yes, by injecting meta tags conditionally or editing individual post HTML if Blogger theme allows.
Is it safe to add robots noindex to Blogger's search pages?
Yes, it prevents duplicate content issues and keeps search results out of Google SERPs.
Does adding noindex prevent Google from crawling a URL?
No, it only prevents indexing; Google may still crawl but won’t list the page in search results.
Conclusion
Custom robots header tags are a crucial but often overlooked SEO tool for Blogger in 2025. By carefully applying meta tags through the theme editor, you can control the indexing behavior of your blog’s pages and improve overall SEO performance. This empowers you to avoid duplicate content, improve crawl budget distribution, and keep Google focused on your prime content.
Motivational Quote: “To rank higher, teach Google what to index and what to ignore — master your robots tags.”