Robots Directives Audit Checklist

Here’s a comprehensive list of questions to ask during a technical SEO audit for directives-related issues.

Proper Placement of Meta Robots Tag

Is the <meta name=”robots”> directive placed inside the <head> section?
Are meta robots directives mistakenly placed within <body>, making them ineffective?
Does the page contain multiple robots meta tags in different locations, causing confusion?
Does the directive appear correctly in the rendered HTML?

noimageindex (Preventing Image Indexation)

Are important images blocked from being indexed due to noimageindex?
Is noimageindex applied site-wide instead of selectively?
Are product images, infographics, or content images being unintentionally hidden from Google Images?
Should noimageindex be removed from key visual content that drives organic traffic?
Is noimageindex necessary for privacy reasons or copyright protection?

noindex (Preventing Page Indexation)

Are important pages incorrectly marked as noindex, preventing them from ranking?
Are paginated pages, product pages, or blog posts unintentionally set to noindex?
Do noindex directives conflict with canonical tags, confusing search engines?
Should outdated pages be redirected instead of using noindex?
Are noindex directives being respected by Google, or are they ignored in Search Console?

nofollow (Blocking Link Equity & Crawl)

Are internal pages mistakenly marked with nofollow, preventing link equity flow?
Is nofollow applied site-wide, blocking Google from discovering valuable pages?
Should nofollow be used selectively for specific external links rather than internal links?
Are important category or filter pages blocked with nofollow, reducing discoverability?
Is nofollow applied to paid links, sponsored content, or user-generated links for compliance?

none (Combination of noindex, nofollow)

Are pages using none, which combines both noindex and nofollow?
Are critical pages (e.g., landing pages, product pages) mistakenly excluded from search results?
Should the none directive be replaced with a more specific directive (noindex or nofollow)?
Does the directive align with the site’s indexing and ranking strategy?

unavailable_after (Expiration Date for Indexation)

Are pages set to expire using unavailable_after, even though they are still relevant?
Is the directive mistakenly applied to evergreen content or active products?
Should expired content be 301 redirected instead of relying on unavailable_after?
Is Google properly removing pages from the index after the set date?
Should temporary content (e.g., event pages, limited-time promotions) use unavailable_after, or is there a better alternative?

nosnippet (Disabling Snippets in Search Results)

Are important pages mistakenly marked with nosnippet, preventing rich snippets?
Is nosnippet affecting click-through rates (CTR) by hiding useful meta descriptions?
Should structured data be used instead of nosnippet to control how search results appear?
Are search engines displaying content snippets anyway, despite nosnippet?
Is nosnippet necessary for privacy reasons or legal requirements?

noodp (Deprecated Open Directory Project Descriptions)

Is noodp still in use, even though the Open Directory Project (DMOZ) was shut down in 2017?
Should noodp be removed entirely, as it has no effect on rankings today?
Are outdated meta directives still present due to legacy SEO configurations?
Has the site’s meta description been manually written to replace any old DMOZ entries?

noydir (Deprecated Yahoo Directory Descriptions)

Is noydir still being used, despite Yahoo Directory closing in 2014?
Should noydir be removed entirely, as it is now obsolete?
Are outdated meta robots directives still present in templates or CMS settings?

notranslate (Preventing Google from Offering a Translation)

Are multilingual pages mistakenly using notranslate, reducing accessibility for international users?
Should the directive be removed to allow users to translate pages in Google Search?
Are important product or content pages unintentionally restricted from translation?
Would enabling translation improve engagement and conversions for non-English-speaking users?
Is notranslate necessary due to branding, legal, or content integrity reasons?