How do nosnippet, max-snippet, and data-nosnippet work?

What are snippets in search results?

A snippet is the description or summary that appears below a page's title in Google Search results and other Google properties, such as Google News. Google primarily uses the content on your page to automatically determine the appropriate snippet for a search result.

Sometimes, Google may use the content from a page's `<meta name="description">` tag to generate a snippet if it provides a more accurate description for users than the on-page content alone. While there is no limit to the length of a meta description, the snippet displayed in search results is typically truncated to fit the device width.

How do nosnippet, max-snippet, and data-nosnippet control content?

Google provides specific controls to prevent or limit the information shown from your pages in search results. These controls allow you to manage whether a snippet is created and displayed for your site, or to specify the maximum length for your snippets. They apply to all forms of Google Search results, including web search, Google Images, Discover, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

You can prevent snippets from displaying in search results entirely, or you can specify a maximum length. Additionally, you can exclude specific parts of an HTML page from being included in a snippet.

• nosnippet: This directive prevents Google from showing any text snippet or video preview for the page in search results. It also stops the content from being used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode.
• max-snippet: [number]: This directive specifies the maximum number of characters Google can use as a textual snippet for a search result. For example, setting `max-snippet:0` will prevent any snippet from displaying.
• data-nosnippet: This attribute can be applied to specific HTML elements, such as `div`, `span`, and `section` tags, to exclude their content from snippets. This allows you to prevent certain parts of a page from being shown in a snippet while allowing other parts to be used.

How do you implement snippet controls?

You can specify page-level settings for snippet controls by including a meta tag within the `<head>` section of your HTML pages or in an HTTP header. Meta tags are HTML tags that provide additional information about a page to search engines.

For text-level settings, you can use the `data-nosnippet` attribute on specific HTML elements within the page. This attribute can be applied to `div`, `span`, and `section` tags to exclude their content from snippets. The `<meta name="robots" ...>` tag applies to all search engines, while the `<meta name="googlebot ...>` tag is specific to Google.

How do snippet controls affect AI Overviews and AI Mode?

Snippet controls directly influence how your content interacts with Google's AI features, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode. The `nosnippet`, `max-snippet`, and `data-nosnippet` directives prevent your content from being used as a direct input for these AI features.

For a page to be eligible to be shown as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, it must be indexed by Google and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet. If you use `nosnippet` or `max-snippet:0`, your page will not be eligible for these supporting links. Google documents that SEO best practices remain relevant for AI features in Google Search. The `robots.txt` file remains the primary control for site owners to manage how Googlebot crawls their sites for Search, which includes AI features.

What happens with conflicting rules or crawling issues?

When there are conflicting robots rules, Google applies the more restrictive rule. This principle also applies to conflicting `robots` or `googlebot` meta tags; the more restrictive tag takes precedence. For example, if one meta tag allows a snippet and another disallows it, the `nosnippet` rule will be followed.

It is important to note that if a page is disallowed from crawling through the `robots.txt` file, any information about indexing or serving rules, including snippet controls, will not be found by Googlebot. In such cases, these rules will be ignored because the page content cannot be accessed.

How can you check your snippet control implementation?

To verify that your snippet controls are correctly implemented, you can use Google's URL Inspection tool. This tool allows you to see the HTML that Googlebot received when it crawled your page, helping you confirm that the meta tags and attributes are present and correctly configured.

After making changes to your snippet controls, allow time for Google to recrawl and process the updates. If you need the changes to be reflected more quickly, you can request that Google recrawl your pages through Google Search Console.

Common questions