diff --git a/docs-site/go.mod b/docs-site/go.mod
index 4aeeb135..429204ed 100644
--- a/docs-site/go.mod
+++ b/docs-site/go.mod
@@ -4,5 +4,5 @@ go 1.21
 
 require (
 	github.com/imfing/hextra v0.12.3 // indirect
-	github.com/solo-io/docs-theme-extras v0.3.16 // indirect
+	github.com/solo-io/docs-theme-extras v0.3.17 // indirect
 )
diff --git a/docs-site/go.sum b/docs-site/go.sum
index b4dbb5c2..33241215 100644
--- a/docs-site/go.sum
+++ b/docs-site/go.sum
@@ -2,3 +2,7 @@ github.com/imfing/hextra v0.12.3 h1:DZHY2rUWYteyzjlHi9r4n7Bb5e2Q+6LXe4C1Dqn0ZjM=
 github.com/imfing/hextra v0.12.3/go.mod h1:vi+yhpq8YPp/aghvJlNKVnJKcPJ/VyAEcfC1BSV9ARo=
 github.com/solo-io/docs-theme-extras v0.3.16 h1:lPSS9awzzgeD39h32v3gEISlerOr0rEwi+QW3yy7b3A=
 github.com/solo-io/docs-theme-extras v0.3.16/go.mod h1:jjjYu/QoD+vMu30zgcpfEuTEGuJOJWs5qai/K18kltg=
+github.com/solo-io/docs-theme-extras v0.3.17-beta.1 h1:d4uoaQqdvx2IZOSjKV9TgtFjIUPwivVDGyqsO4Y34Ko=
+github.com/solo-io/docs-theme-extras v0.3.17-beta.1/go.mod h1:jjjYu/QoD+vMu30zgcpfEuTEGuJOJWs5qai/K18kltg=
+github.com/solo-io/docs-theme-extras v0.3.17 h1:SSfI0zexM1ac3XMKkj4em22lRZkjF+8C/0uXkSjaXp0=
+github.com/solo-io/docs-theme-extras v0.3.17/go.mod h1:jjjYu/QoD+vMu30zgcpfEuTEGuJOJWs5qai/K18kltg=
diff --git a/docs-site/layouts/partials/utils/version-noindex.html b/docs-site/layouts/partials/utils/version-noindex.html
index 1580ca94..dca6dea1 100644
--- a/docs-site/layouts/partials/utils/version-noindex.html
+++ b/docs-site/layouts/partials/utils/version-noindex.html
@@ -29,10 +29,17 @@
        entry while 1.0 is in beta, so today that spares every 1.x page the 0.x
        tree has no counterpart for.
 
+       Like upstream, this RETURNS a directive string ("noindex, follow" or "")
+       and emits no markup: the module's _partials/head.html folds the result
+       into the one robots tag it writes. Printing a <meta> tag here instead
+       puts that markup inside head.html's content attribute, which renders as
+       an empty `content` on exactly the pages that should be noindexed.
+
        Re-check this against the pinned module on any docs-theme-extras bump: if
        upstream learns to resolve a baseURL path prefix itself, this override
        should be deleted rather than left to rot. */ -}}
 
+{{- $directive := "" -}}
 {{- $root := partial "utils/version-root.html" . -}}
 {{- with partial "utils/resolve-section-versions.html" $root.section -}}
   {{- /* The current version's URL segment. `latest = true` is the only signal
@@ -58,7 +65,8 @@
     {{- end -}}
 
     {{- if site.GetPage $latestEquiv -}}
-  <meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow" />
+      {{- $directive = "noindex, follow" -}}
     {{- end -}}
   {{- end -}}
 {{- end -}}
+{{- return $directive -}}