What is a robots.txt file?
A robots.txt file is a simple text file that tells web robots (like search engine bots) which pages they can and can't visit on your website. It also can control how often these bots visit your site.
How does robots.txt work?
Webmasters create a robots.txt file to guide web robots (mainly search engine bots) on how to crawl and index their website. This file is part of the robots exclusion protocol, which sets rules for how bots explore and index web content.
By using robots.txt, you can specify which parts of your site should not be accessed or indexed by bots, including certain pages, files, directories, or content types.
Should I have a robots.txt file?
Yes, you should. A robots.txt file helps search engine bots understand which pages to crawl and index on your site. Including this file ensures that your content is efficiently crawled and indexed.
Where to find a robots.txt file?
You can find a robots.txt file in the root directory of a website. It’s usually located at `www.example.com/robots.txt`.
What is a Website Robots File Checker?
A Website Robots File Checker is a tool used to verify the presence and correctness of a robots.txt file on a website.
This file is essential for search engine optimization (SEO) and web crawling management.
It instructs search engines and other web crawlers about which pages or sections of a website should not be indexed or accessed
Ensuring that your robots.txt file is correctly set up can help control how your site is viewed and ranked by search engines.
Benefits of having a robots.txt file:
- Better website crawlability: Helps search engines easily and accurately crawl your site.
- Improved security: Prevents bots from accessing sensitive information.
- Enhanced performance: Reduces bandwidth usage by limiting bot access to certain content.
- Better usability: Ensures search results show relevant content by blocking unnecessary pages.
- Improves SEO: By managing which parts of your site are crawled and indexed, you can improve your SEO strategy, focusing search engine attention on the most important pages.
- Controls Crawlers: Prevents search engines and other bots from accessing certain parts of your site, such as duplicate content or private information.
- Troubleshooting: Helps identify if the robots.txt file is missing or incorrectly configured, which can be crucial for site visibility.
- Efficiency: Automates the process of checking the presence and correctness of the robots.txt file, saving time compared to manual checks.
How to validate your robots.txt file?
Use a Robots.txt Checker. Enter the full URL of your robots.txt file or paste its content into the checker and click “Validate.”
Where to put your robots.txt file?
Place your robots.txt file in the root directory of your website, where your index.html file is located.
Is robots.txt safe?
Yes, it’s safe. It instructs web robots on how to crawl and index your site, helping to prevent access to private or sensitive information.
Is it legal to bypass robots.txt?
No, it is not legal. Bypassing robots.txt can lead to legal issues, such as copyright infringement or violation of terms of service.
Understanding robots.txt Rules: User-agent, Disallow, and Allow
User-agent
The User-agent directive specifies which web crawlers or search engine bots the following rules apply to. A user-agent is essentially the name of the web crawler.
User-agent: Googlebot
In this example, the rules that follow will only apply to Google’s crawler.
Disallow:
The Disallow directive tells the web crawler which parts of the website should not be accessed or indexed. This is used to prevent specific pages or directories from being crawled.
Disallow: /private/
This rule tells the crawler not to access any URLs that start with /private/.
Allow:
The Allow directive is used to explicitly permit access to specific pages or directories within a Disallow directive. This is useful for giving access to certain resources while restricting others.
Disallow: /private/ Allow: /private/public-page.html
This rule tells the crawler not to access anything under /private/, except for /private/public-page.html.
Combined Example
Here’s an example of a robots.txt file that combines these directives:
User-agent: * Disallow: /private/ Allow: /private/public-page.html Disallow: /temp/
Explanation:
- User-agent: *: The rules apply to all web crawlers.
- Disallow: /private/: No web crawlers are allowed to access any URLs under
/private/. - Allow: /private/public-page.html: Despite the general disallow rule, this specific page is allowed to be crawled.
- Disallow: /temp/: No web crawlers are allowed to access URLs under
/temp/.