Snippet controls — nosnippet, max-snippet and data-nosnippet for Google and AI Overviews
TL;DR
Page-level rules that decide how much of a page Google may quote in Search, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google has no separate AI Overviews opt-out: these rules are the control, and a page with no snippet cannot be a supporting link in AI Overviews.
Explain Simply
Imagine a librarian who may read your book aloud to visitors. nosnippet says "you may list my book, but do not read from it". max-snippet:50 says "read at most 50 letters". data-nosnippet puts a sticky note over one paragraph. noindex says "do not put my book on the shelf at all".
Where they live: a <meta name="robots"> (or googlebot) tag in the HTML, or the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header. data-nosnippet is an HTML attribute.
The rules:
- nosnippet: no text snippet; Google says it also prevents the content from being a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- max-snippet:N: at most N characters; 0 equals nosnippet, -1 means no limit (the default).
- data-nosnippet: keeps marked text out of snippets; valid only on span, div and section.
- noindex: the page is not shown at all.
Conflicts: when the meta tag and the header disagree, Google applies the more restrictive rule.
Not a snippet control: Google-Extended in robots.txt. It governs Gemini training and grounding, and Google states it does not affect inclusion in Google Search.
⚡Why It Matters
Google's AI features guide says a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet to be a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode. An unintended nosnippet or max-snippet:0, often added by a plugin or a CDN header, quietly removes a page from AI answers and shortens its normal search result.
🔍How CiteStat Checks
CiteStat reads noindex, nosnippet, max-snippet and data-nosnippet from both the robots meta tags and the X-Robots-Tag header, applies the stricter value on a conflict, and reports in the AI Visibility card whether the page can be quoted in AI Overviews. Check by hand: curl -sI <url> | grep -i x-robots-tag and look for a robots meta tag in the page source.
CiteStat Score Impact
noindex is a technical finding today. nosnippet / max-snippet are not scored yet.
Fix Difficulty
Editor: Easy | Developer: Easy | AI Agent: Easy