How can I exclude images from Google search?
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2025 8:47 am
If you don't want certain images to appear in search results or be crawled, you can block images for Google or image SEO in general. This can be done, for example, via the robots.txt file. There you can block individual images or all images for the Google image bot ( source ). It is important to note that you can completely forbid search engines or the Google image bot (depending on the settings) from crawling the images. This can be useful for images that should be visible on the website but otherwise not be publicly accessible, and that Google should not be allowed to access either. This will probably be the case less often.
Example robots.txt (Source: Google )
Alternatively, you can "just" exclude the images from indexing using X-Robots – crawling will then still be permitted. Here, you can add the robots tag "noindex" to the images, so that it is displayed in the HTTP header and tells jamaica phone number data Google that the respective image should not be indexed. This can be the case, for example, with team photos or graphics that should not be indexed, so that others could copy them.
Example for Apache (Source: Google )
Example for NGINX (Source: Google )
Note: Robots tags are recorded during URL crawling. If you prohibit crawling of images via robots.txt, the search engine cannot read the X-Robots tags. If your sole concern is to prevent images from being indexed, X-Robots are the more sensible approach.
Furthermore, it's important to consider whether the effort is worth it. If it doesn't matter whether a website's images are indexed or not, then nothing needs to be added.
Summary
Depending on the business model, images can be an important traffic channel. Especially for products or services that are highly visually driven and require high user involvement, images can support emotions and promote conversions. Nobody buys a car without seeing it first. Users may want to see the sights of travel destinations beforehand. Even with a recipe, people want to know what the finished product will look like. In all these cases and many more, images are extremely useful. They break up the content, add value, and can even generate traffic themselves if done correctly.
As with all areas of search engine optimization, the quality of the content should be the top priority. Interchangeable stock photos are no longer a real differentiator, but unique images or graphics are. Of course, optimization can also be done with stock photos if it makes sense, but competing websites may also use them.
Example robots.txt (Source: Google )
Alternatively, you can "just" exclude the images from indexing using X-Robots – crawling will then still be permitted. Here, you can add the robots tag "noindex" to the images, so that it is displayed in the HTTP header and tells jamaica phone number data Google that the respective image should not be indexed. This can be the case, for example, with team photos or graphics that should not be indexed, so that others could copy them.
Example for Apache (Source: Google )
Example for NGINX (Source: Google )
Note: Robots tags are recorded during URL crawling. If you prohibit crawling of images via robots.txt, the search engine cannot read the X-Robots tags. If your sole concern is to prevent images from being indexed, X-Robots are the more sensible approach.
Furthermore, it's important to consider whether the effort is worth it. If it doesn't matter whether a website's images are indexed or not, then nothing needs to be added.
Summary
Depending on the business model, images can be an important traffic channel. Especially for products or services that are highly visually driven and require high user involvement, images can support emotions and promote conversions. Nobody buys a car without seeing it first. Users may want to see the sights of travel destinations beforehand. Even with a recipe, people want to know what the finished product will look like. In all these cases and many more, images are extremely useful. They break up the content, add value, and can even generate traffic themselves if done correctly.
As with all areas of search engine optimization, the quality of the content should be the top priority. Interchangeable stock photos are no longer a real differentiator, but unique images or graphics are. Of course, optimization can also be done with stock photos if it makes sense, but competing websites may also use them.