Google has updated its document on how to block Google Search

Google has updated its Control what you share with Google Search help document to add “include existing options such as the robots meta tag, data-nosnippet, X-Robots-Tag, and the Search generative AI control,” Google said.

What Google added. Google specifically added these two sections:

• Use the Search generative AI control
• Use robots meta tag, data-nosnippet, or X-Robots-Tag

Google said it made this change “to keep the page fresh and reflect the current set of options available to site owners.”

Here is a screenshot of what was added:

More updates. Google also made a number of smaller changes to the document – here is a diff of the changes:

Also, Google updated its URL structure best practices for Google Search help document this morning – these also were small updates.

Why we care. While these controls are not new, Google has decided to add it to the help documentation officially.

Controlling what Google Search can crawl, see, access, and use from your website is important for many site owners.