About

The netzSINN Meta Robots Plugin adds a Robots selector to the Joomla frontend editor for individual articles.

This allows editors to decide directly while editing an article whether search engines should index that specific page or not. Typical options include index, follow or noindex, follow.

The value is stored directly in the Joomla core metadata field. No custom database tables are created, and no core hacks are required.

This makes it easy to exclude individual pieces of content from search engines without changing the global SEO settings of the entire website.

Key Features

  • Robots setting directly in the frontend editor
    Authors and editors do not need to switch to the Joomla backend. The Robots selector is available directly while editing an article in the frontend.
  • Clean storage in the Joomla core
    The Robots value is stored in Joomla's existing article metadata field. The plugin intentionally uses Joomla's built-in structure.
  • No custom tables, no core modifications
    The extension stays lean and update-friendly. No Joomla core files are modified.
  • Visible only to approved user groups
    You can define exactly which user groups are allowed to see and edit the Robots field in the frontend editor.
  • Additional server-side protection
    Even if someone tries to submit a manipulated request manually, only an allowed Robots value will be accepted.

Typical Use Cases

  • Set individual landing pages to noindex
    If certain campaign, test, or promotional pages should not appear in search engines, the Robots value can be adjusted individually per article.
  • Give editors more SEO control
    Teams can make SEO-related decisions directly during the editorial process without needing an administrator every time.
  • Keep global Joomla settings unchanged
    The site's standard Joomla configuration remains unchanged. Only selected articles receive a different Robots rule when needed.

How it works

The plugin adds an extra Robots field to the Joomla frontend article editing form. The selected value is then stored in that article's metadata.

In the default Joomla frontend editor, this field currently appears as its own tab because the core template does not render all metadata fields dynamically.

Installation

  1. Download the ZIP file
  2. In Joomla: System → Extensions → Install → Upload Package File
  3. Enable the plugin: System → Plugins → System – netzSINN Meta Robots
  4. Done — the plugin works immediately with no further setup required

To check that everything is working, login to frontend and open the edit view of an article.

Available Robots Values

The following values can be stored:

  • Use global
  • index, follow
  • noindex, follow
  • index, nofollow
  • noindex, nofollow

System Requirements

  • Joomla 5.3+ or Joomla 6.x
  • PHP 8.1+
  • No additional PHP extensions, Composer packages, or external services required.

Notes

  • The plugin works with the Joomla frontend article editing form.
  • The value is stored in Joomla's core article metadata field.
  • Unauthorised users do not see the field and cannot inject the value through a server-side request.

Changelog

  • v1.0.0
    • First official release

License

GNU general public license

Download

netzsinn_metarobots_1.0.2.zip

Please, support this extension and review on Joomla Extension Directory JED!