Why It Matters #
Google wants to help users avoid unexpected explicit content in search results. If your site has adult or explicit material, correctly labeling and handling it ensures:
- Your content is categorized accurately.
- Users who want explicit content can find it.
- Users who want to filter explicit content (via SafeSearch) won’t see it accidentally.
- Your site maintains good search rankings without being unfairly filtered or penalized.
How Google Handles Explicit Content in Search #
- SafeSearch filters out explicit sexual content, nudity, sex toys, sex-related services, violence, gore, and links to such content.
- SafeSearch allows explicit content only if it has educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic (EDSA) value.
- Google uses automated machine learning systems analyzing text, images, videos, and links.
- Google removes content that violates policies, such as child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and non-consensual explicit content, often upon legal or user removal requests.
- Sites with a significant volume of such removals get demoted in search rankings.
Best Practices for Site Owners with Explicit Content #
1. Prevent Harmful User-Generated Content #
- Use content moderation and publisher verification to stop harmful or illegal content (especially CSAM and non-consensual explicit content).
- Use industry-standard tools like hash matching and classifiers to detect and remove CSAM proactively.
2. Allow Google to Fetch Video Files #
- Make your video content accessible to Googlebot (avoid blocking it).
- This lets Google understand the content and apply protections against violations.
- Blocking video files can lead to lower rankings or filtering of your pages, especially in video search.
3. Let Googlebot Crawl Without Age Gates #
- If you use age verification, allow Googlebot access without triggering the gate.
- Verify Googlebot requests to serve content directly.
- Blocking Googlebot can cause poor ranking and misclassification of your site as fully explicit.
4. Separate Explicit Content into a Different Domain or Subdomain #
- If your site has both explicit and non-explicit content, host explicit pages separately (e.g., explicit.example.com).
- This prevents your whole site from being flagged as explicit and filtered out by SafeSearch.
- You don’t need to use the word “explicit” in the domain — just keep content separate.
5. Mark Explicit Pages with Metadata #
- Add <meta name=”rating” content=”adult”> or <meta name=”rating” content=”RTA-5042-1996-1400-1577-RTA”> tags in your page’s <head>.
- This helps Google identify explicit pages and filter them correctly for SafeSearch users.
- If using CMS platforms (like WordPress or Wix), check their guides for adding meta tags.
6. Use the <video:family_friendly> Tag in Video Sitemaps #
- For video content, mark explicit videos with <video:family_friendly>no</video:family_friendly> in your sitemap.
- This flags those videos as explicit so they can be filtered when SafeSearch is on.
- You only need to tag videos that are explicit, not all videos.
Additional Notes #
- Google constantly updates and uses multiple signals to protect users, but your clear labeling helps improve the accuracy and user experience.
- Sites with high levels of policy violations may face demotion or removal from search results.
- Always keep user safety and legal compliance as a priority.