In short. Google's nosnippet rule suppresses text snippets and video previews and prevents page content from serving as direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Definition: As of 17 October 2026, Google's robots meta tag specification defines nosnippet as a page-level rule that suppresses the text extract, called a snippet, and video preview in search results. It also prevents the page's content from being used as direct input for Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Key facts

Google's robots specification allows a static image thumbnail to remain visible on a page's search result despite nosnippet.
Google's AI features documentation requires a page to be indexed and eligible for a Search snippet to qualify as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode.
Google's featured snippets documentation says nosnippet blocks both regular snippets and featured snippets, the special result boxes that display the descriptive extract first.

How is nosnippet applied?

A robots meta tag is an HTML instruction controlling indexing and search presentation for an individual page. Google's implementation specification places it in the page's <head> section. This example applies the snippet restriction:

<meta name="robots" content="nosnippet">

The robots name addresses all crawlers that support the rule. Google also documents a targeted form:

<meta name="googlebot" content="nosnippet">

An alternative is X-Robots-Tag, an HTTP response header carrying robots instructions. The same specification permits any robots meta rule in that header, including for non-HTML resources:

X-Robots-Tag: nosnippet

Google reads these instructions when it crawls the URL. Blocking that URL through robots.txt, the file controlling crawler access, prevents Google from reading its serving restrictions.

What changes for Google's AI features?

AI Overviews and AI Mode are AI answer features within Google Search. Google's AI features guide connects their supporting-link eligibility to ordinary Search eligibility: a page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet. Applying nosnippet therefore removes that snippet eligibility and the associated eligibility for supporting links.

The robots specification separately states that nosnippet prevents content from serving as direct input for these features. These controls concern Google's Search features; the AI features guide points to Google-Extended for controls in some other Google systems.

Google's robots specification defines max-snippet as a limit on text snippet length in characters. The value max-snippet:0 is equivalent to nosnippet. When nosnippet and a positive max-snippet value conflict, the more restrictive nosnippet rule applies.

For selected passages, data-nosnippet is an HTML attribute supported on span, div, and section elements. It excludes their text from snippets while leaving other page text available. Structured data, machine-readable markup describing page content, has separate treatment: the specification says robots meta limitations generally leave its use available, with exceptions for article.description and description values for other creative works.

FAQ

Does nosnippet remove my page from Google Search?

Google's robots specification assigns removal from search results to noindex. With nosnippet, your page can remain indexed and appear without a text snippet or video preview.

Can I restrict snippets in Google News separately?

Yes. The same specification documents <meta name="googlebot-news" content="nosnippet"> for restricting Google News snippets while allowing full snippets in Google's web search results.

How can I check why a restriction has not appeared yet?

Google's AI features troubleshooting guidance recommends the URL Inspection tool to check the HTML Googlebot receives. You can then request recrawling; Google says crawling can take several days to several months, depending on the page's refresh frequency.

Sources

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