---
title: Exclude search interfaces from external search engines
slug: l9e90128
canonical_url: https://docs.coveo.com/en/l9e90128/
collection: build-a-search-ui
source_format: adoc
---
# Exclude search interfaces from external search engines
You may want to exclude Coveo-powered [search interfaces](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2741/) from external search engines (SEs).

External SEs make requests to the pages they index, increasing traffic on these pages. In the context of Coveo-powered search interfaces, this can be problematic as it impacts the [query per month (QPM)](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1391/) count for a given [Coveo organization](https://docs.coveo.com/en/185/).

If you don't want some Coveo-powered search interfaces to be indexed by external SEs, you can implement the following mechanisms:

* [`robots.txt` files](https://docs.coveo.com/en/l9e90128#robots-txt-files)

* [`noindex` directive](https://docs.coveo.com/en/l9e90128#noindex-directive)

## `robots.txt` files

External SE crawlers look for, download, and parse a website's `robots.txt` file to know which URLs the crawlers can access before beginning the indexing process. `robots.txt` files can also be used to direct crawlers to your [sitemaps](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/sitemaps/overview).

> **Note**
>
> This approach is used to avoid overloading your site with requests and isn't a mechanism to avoid keeping your pages out of external SEs.

For more information on `robots.txt` files, and on how to configure them, see [Introduction to robots.txt](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/robots/intro).

## `noindex` directive

Coveo-powered search interfaces are excluded from external SE search results when they include a `noindex` HTML meta tag or when they include a `noindex` header in their HTTP response.

For more information on the `noindex` directive, and on how to configure it, see [Block Search indexing with 'noindex'](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/crawling/block-indexing).