feat(http): Add X-Robots-Tag header

files/en-us/glossary/robots.txt/index.md

@@ -6,13 +6,21 @@ page-type: glossary-definition
 
 {{GlossarySidebar}}
 
-Robots.txt is a file which is usually placed in the root of any website. It decides whether {{Glossary("crawler", "crawlers")}} are permitted or forbidden access to the website.
+A **robots.txt** is a file which is usually placed in the root of a website (for example, `https://www.example.com/robots.txt`).
+It specifies whether {{Glossary("crawler", "crawlers")}} are allowed or disallowed from accessing an entire website or to certain resources on a website.
+A restrictive `robots.txt` file can prevent bandwidth consumption by crawlers.
 
-For example, the site admin can forbid crawlers to visit a certain folder (and all the files therein contained) or to crawl a specific file, usually to prevent those files being indexed by other search engines.
+A site owner can forbid crawlers to detect a certain path (and all files in that path) or a specific file.
+This is often done to prevent these resources from being indexed or served by search engines.
+
+If a crawler is allowed to access resources, you can define [indexing rules](/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/X-Robots-Tag#directives) for those resources via `<meta name="robots">` elements and {{HTTPHeader("X-Robots-Tag")}} HTTP headers.
+Search-related crawlers use these rules to determine how to index and serve resources in search results, or to adjust the crawl rate for specific resources over time.
 
 ## See also
 
+- {{HTTPHeader("X-Robots-Tag")}}
+- {{Glossary("Search engine")}}
+- {{RFC("9309", "Robots Exclusion Protocol")}}
+- [How Google interprets the robots.txt specification](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/robots_txt) on developers.google.com
+- https://www.robotstxt.org
 - [Robots.txt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robots.txt) on Wikipedia
-- <https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/robots_txt>
-- Standard specification: [RFC9309](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309.html)
-- <https://www.robotstxt.org/>

files/en-us/web/html/element/meta/name/index.md

@@ -241,10 +241,10 @@ The [WHATWG Wiki MetaExtensions page](https://wiki.whatwg.org/wiki/MetaExtension
   >
   > - Only cooperative robots follow these rules. Do not expect to prevent email harvesters with them.
   > - The robot still needs to access the page in order to read these rules. To prevent bandwidth consumption, consider if using a _{{Glossary("robots.txt")}}_ file is more appropriate.
-  > - The `robots` `<meta>` tag and `robots.txt` file serve different purposes: `robots.txt` controls the crawling of pages, and does not affect indexing or other behavior controlled by `robots` meta. A page that can't be crawled may still be indexed if it is referenced by another document.
+  > - The `<meta name="robots">` element and `robots.txt` file serve different purposes: `robots.txt` controls the crawling of pages, and does not affect indexing or other behavior controlled by `robots` meta. A page that can't be crawled may still be indexed if it is referenced by another document.
   > - If you want to remove a page, `noindex` will work, but only after the robot visits the page again. Ensure that the `robots.txt` file is not preventing revisits.
   > - Some values are mutually exclusive, like `index` and `noindex`, or `follow` and `nofollow`. In these cases the robot's behavior is undefined and may vary between them.
-  > - Some crawler robots, like Google, Yahoo and Bing, support the same values for the HTTP header `X-Robots-Tag`; this allows non-HTML documents like images to use these rules.
+  > - Some crawler robots, like Google, Yahoo and Bing, support the same values for the HTTP header {{HTTPHeader("X-Robots-Tag")}}; this allows non-HTML documents like images to use these rules.
 
 <!-- ## Technical summary -->
 

files/en-us/web/http/headers/x-robots-tag/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+---
+title: X-Robots-Tag
+slug: Web/HTTP/Headers/X-Robots-Tag
+page-type: http-header
+status:
+  - non-standard
+---
+
+{{HTTPSidebar}}
+
+The **`X-Robots-Tag`** {{Glossary("response header")}} defines how {{glossary("Crawler", "crawlers")}} should index URLs.
+While not part of any specification, it is a de-facto standard method for communicating with search bots, web crawlers, and similar user agents.
+Search-related crawlers use the rules from the `X-Robots-Tag` header to adjust how to present web pages or other resources in search results.
+
+Indexing rules defined via `<meta name="robots">` elements and `X-Robots-Tag` headers are discovered when a URL is crawled.
+Specifying indexing rules in a HTTP header is useful for non-HTML documents like images, PDFs, or other media.
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> Only cooperative robots follow these rules, and a crawler still needs to access the resource to read headers and meta elements (see [Interaction with robots.txt](#interaction_with_robots.txt)).
+> If you want to prevent bandwidth consumption by crawlers, a restrictive {{Glossary("robots.txt")}} file is more effective than indexing rules as it blocks resources from being crawled entirely.
+
+<table class="properties">
+  <tbody>
+    <tr>
+      <th scope="row">Header type</th>
+      <td>{{Glossary("Response header")}}</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <th scope="row">{{Glossary("Forbidden header name")}}</th>
+      <td>No</td>
+    </tr>
+  </tbody>
+</table>
+
+## Syntax
+
+One or more indexing rules as a comma-separated list:
+
+```http
+X-Robots-Tag: <indexing-rule>
+X-Robots-Tag: <indexing-rule>, <indexing-rule>, …
+```
+
+An optional `<bot-name>:` specifies the user agent that the subsequent rules should apply to:
+
+```http
+X-Robots-Tag: <indexing-rule>, <bot-name>: <indexing-rule>
+X-Robots-Tag: <bot-name>: <indexing-rule>, <indexing-rule>, …
+```
+
+See [Specifying user agents](#specifying_user_agents) for an example.
+
+## Directives
+
+Any of the following indexing rules may be used:
+
+- `all`
+  - : No restrictions for indexing or serving in search results.
+    This rule is the default value and has no effect if explicitly listed.
+- `noindex`
+  - : Do not show this page, media, or resource in search results.
+    If omitted, the page, media, or resource may be indexed and shown in search results.
+- `nofollow`
+  - : Do not follow the links on this page.
+    If omitted, search engines may use the links on the page to discover those linked pages.
+- `none`
+  - : Equivalent to `noindex, nofollow`.
+- `nosnippet`
+  - : Do not show a text snippet or video preview in the search results for this page.
+    A static image thumbnail (if available) may still be visible.
+    If omitted, search engines may generate a text snippet and video preview based on information found on the page.
+    To exclude certain sections of your content from appearing in search result snippets, use the [`data-nosnippet` HTML attribute](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag#data-nosnippet-attr).
+- `indexifembedded`
+  - : A search engine is allowed to index the content of a page if it's embedded in another page through iframes or similar HTML elements, in spite of a `noindex` rule.
+    `indexifembedded` only has an effect if it's accompanied by `noindex`.
+- `max-snippet: <number>`
+  - : Use a maximum of `<number>` characters as a textual snippet for this search result.
+    Ignored if no valid `<number>` is specified.
+- `max-image-preview: <setting>`
+  - : The maximum size of an image preview for this page in a search results.
+    If omitted, search engines may show an image preview of the default size.
+    If you don't want search engines to use larger thumbnail images, specify a `max-image-preview` value of `standard` or `none`. Values include:
+    - `none`
+      - : No image preview is to be shown.
+    - `standard`
+      - : A default image preview may be shown.
+    - `large`
+      - : A larger image preview, up to the width of the viewport, may be shown.
+- `max-video-preview: <number>`
+  - : Use a maximum of `<number>` seconds as a video snippet for videos on this page in search results.
+    If omitted, search engines may show a video snippet in search results, and the search engine decides how long a preview may be.
+    Ignored if no valid `<number>` is specified.
+    Special values are as follows:
+    - `0`
+      - : At most, a static image may be used, in accordance to the `max-image-preview` setting.
+    - `-1`
+      - : No video length limit.
+- `notranslate`
+  - : Don't offer translation of this page in search results.
+    If omitted, search engines may translate the search result title and snippet into the language of the search query.
+- `noimageindex`
+  - : Do not index images on this page.
+    If omitted, images on the page may be indexed and shown in search results.
+- `unavailable_after: <date/time>`
+
+  - : Requests not to show this page in search results after the specified `<date/time>`.
+    Ignored if no valid `<date/time>` is specified.
+    A date must be specified in a format such as {{RFC("822")}}, {{RFC("850")}}, or ISO 8601.
+
+    By default there is no expiration date for content.
+    If omitted, this page may be shown in search results indefinitely.
+    Crawlers are expected to considerably decrease the crawl rate of the URL after the specified date and time.
+
+## Description
+
+Indexing rules via `<meta name="robots">` and `X-Robots-Tag` are discovered when a URL is crawled.
+Most crawlers support rules in the `X-Robots-Tag` HTTP header that can be used in a `<meta name="robots">` element.
+
+In the case of conflicting robot rules within the `X-Robots-Tag` or between the `X-Robots-Tag` HTTP header and the `<meta name="robots">` element, the more restrictive rule applies.
+For example, if a page has both `max-snippet:50` and `nosnippet` rules, the `nosnippet` rule will apply.
+Indexing rules won't be discovered or applied if paths are blocked from being crawled by a `robots.txt` file.
+
+Some values are mutually exclusive, such as `index` and `noindex`, or `follow` and `nofollow`.
+In these cases, the crawler's behavior is undefined and may vary.
+
+### Interaction with robots.txt
+
+If a resource is blocked from crawling through a `robots.txt` file, then any information about indexing or serving rules specified using `<meta name="robots">` or the `X-Robots-Tag` HTTP header will not be detected and will therefore be ignored.
+
+A page that's blocked from crawling may still be indexed if it is referenced from another document (see the [`nofollow`](#nofollow) directive).
+If you want to remove a page from search indexes, `X-Robots-Tag: noindex` will typically work, but a robot must first revisit the page to detect the `X-Robots-Tag` rule.
+
+## Examples
+
+### Using X-Robots-Tag
+
+The following `X-Robots-Tag` header adds `noindex`, asking crawlers not to show this page, media, or resource in search results:
+
+```http
+HTTP/1.1 200 OK
+Date: Tue, 03 Dec 2024 17:08:49 GMT
+X-Robots-Tag: noindex
+```
+
+### Multiple headers
+
+The following response has two `X-Robots-Tag` headers, each with an indexing rule specified:
+
+```http
+HTTP/1.1 200 OK
+Date: Tue, 03 Dec 2024 17:08:49 GMT
+X-Robots-Tag: noimageindex
+X-Robots-Tag: unavailable_after: Wed, 03 Dec 2025 13:09:53 GMT
+```
+
+### Specifying user agents
+
+It's possible to specify which user agent the rules should apply to.
+The following example contains two `X-Robots-Tag` headers which ask that `googlebot` not follow the links on this page and that a fictional `BadBot` crawler not index the page or follow any links on it, either:
+
+```http
+HTTP/1.1 200 OK
+Date: Tue, 03 Dec 2024 17:08:49 GMT
+X-Robots-Tag: googlebot: nofollow
+X-Robots-Tag: BadBot: noindex, nofollow
+```
+
+In the response below, the same indexing rules are defined, but in a single header.
+Each indexing rule applies to the user agent specified behind it:
+
+```http
+HTTP/1.1 200 OK
+Date: Tue, 03 Dec 2024 17:08:49 GMT
+X-Robots-Tag: BadBot: noindex, nofollow, googlebot: nofollow
+```
+
+## Specifications
+
+Not part of any current specification.
+
+## See also
+
+- {{Glossary("Robots.txt")}}
+- {{Glossary("Search engine")}}
+- {{RFC("9309", "Robots Exclusion Protocol")}}
+- [Using the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag#xrobotstag) on developers.google.com