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Meta Robots & X-Robots-Tag Conflict Resolver

Detect conflicting crawler directives, understand effective behavior, and generate a clean recommendation.

Technical SEO & Metadata Local processing Directive data is analyzed locally.

Resolver

Results

Paste meta robots tags or X-Robots-Tag headers, then run the audit.

Parsed directives

    Effective directives

      Introduction

      Robots directives can be set in HTML meta tags and HTTP X-Robots-Tag headers. When these sources disagree, crawlers may receive confusing or conflicting instructions.

      This tool helps you identify those conflicts and choose a consistent directive set.

      How it works

      The tool parses meta tags and header lines, groups directives by user agent, and evaluates indexing and following behavior. It then flags conflicts and generates a recommended output based on your selected intent.

      • Meta robots directives are parsed from <meta> tags.
      • X-Robots-Tag lines are parsed as header text.
      • User-agent-specific directives are grouped separately.
      • All processing happens locally.

      How to use

      1. Paste your meta robots tags.
      2. Paste any X-Robots-Tag header lines.
      3. Select the intended behavior if you want a specific recommendation.
      4. Run the audit.
      5. Review conflicts and copy the suggested directive set.

      Practical example

      If a page contains <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"> but the server also sends X-Robots-Tag: noindex, the page has a conflict. The tool flags the conflict and helps you decide which directive should win.

      Use cases

      • Debugging pages that are unexpectedly excluded from indexing.
      • Auditing template-level robots directives.
      • Checking CDN or hosting header exports.
      • Reviewing crawler-specific overrides.
      • Documenting directive behavior before migration.

      Best practices

      • Use one source of truth for robots directives where possible.
      • Avoid mixing index and noindex on the same URL.
      • Use crawler-specific directives only when necessary.
      • Document why a page is blocked from indexing.
      • Test after changes with fetch tools or crawler diagnostics.

      Common mistakes

      • Adding a global noindex header during development and forgetting to remove it.
      • Using none when only noindex is intended.
      • Adding nofollow to pages that still need link discovery.
      • Setting conflicting directives in templates and server headers.
      • Assuming all crawlers support every directive.

      Limitations

      • The tool does not fetch live HTTP headers.
      • It does not verify robots.txt rules.
      • Crawler support for directives can vary.
      • Search engines may interpret conflicting directives differently.

      Browser compatibility

      The tool works in current versions of major browsers. The directive recommendations are based on common search engine documentation.

      FAQ

      Is my configuration uploaded?

      No. All parsing and analysis happen locally in your browser.

      Does this check robots.txt?

      No. Robots.txt controls crawling access, while meta robots and X-Robots-Tag control indexing behavior.

      Which directive wins when there is a conflict?

      Many crawlers apply the more restrictive interpretation, but the safest fix is to remove the conflict and publish one clear directive set.

      Can I analyze crawler-specific directives?

      Yes. The tool groups directives by user agent such as googlebot when they are specified.

      References

      Version and changelog

      • Version: 1.0.0
      • Last updated: August 8, 2026
      • Changelog: Initial production release.