With WordPress 5.7 we will have a new API, the Robots API , which will add a series of meta tags for SEO in the header of our pages created with WordPress.
In this way, any site updated to WordPress 5.7 or higher will see added meta robots tags in its header like these:
<meta name = “robots” content = “max-image-preview: large” />
In principle, the WordPress Robots API will only include that directive in the meta robots tag, and if you don’t have any other system for generating meta robots tags there is no problem .
Why should you disable WordPress meta robots?
If you usually use a plugin to apply granular and specific SEO adjustments to your page headers, it will generate new meta robots tags, which will not override WordPress meta robots tags, so the result is that you will have double meta robots tags , and that it can confuse search engine bots, not knowing which one to apply, with what priority, etc.
That is why, if you are clear that you prefer to control the meta tags for SEO through your favorite WordPress plugin , the ideal is to make sure that meta robots are not duplicated, disabling the WordPress ones, which are less configurable in principle.
It is possible that in future versions the SEO plugins will previously deactivate this WordPress meta robots tag, but for now, if you do not want surprises, but above all annoyances, with the positioning of your website, I recommend deactivating the WordPress meta robots , yes you use SEO plugins.
How do I disable WordPress meta robots?
There are 2 ways to disable WordPress meta robots, although there will be 3 soon, I will list them all:
- With a filter that disables the API.
- With a plugin that disables the API.
- Have your SEO plugin disable the API (shortly).
If you prefer the first option, the filter that you have to add to the functions.php file of the active theme or to your utility plugin is this:
remove_filter (‘wp_robots’, ‘wp_robots_max_image_preview_large’);
On the other hand, if you choose to use a plugin, install and activate Disable WP Robots , it has no settings, and it will do the same.
And finally, if you are more than waiting for your SEO plugin to do this work, keep an eye on the blog and its updates, making sure that when WordPress 5.7 is available, your favorite SEO plugin deactivates the WordPress meta robots so that there are no duplicates.
I already warn you that, for now, none of them do, all the main SEO plugins duplicate the meta robots of WordPress 5.7 :
So avoid any hassles, disable the Robots API when upgrading to WordPress 5.7 and then check if your favorite SEO plugin is updated to disable it, before generating duplicate robots meta tags .