Robots.txt Generator

A robots.txt file is a simple text file that tells search engine crawlers which parts of your website they can or cannot access. It helps manage crawl budget, prevents indexing of unimportant pages like admin areas, and guides search engines to your most valuable content. Every website should have one to optimize crawling efficiency and improve SEO performance.

The robots.txt file must be placed in the root directory of your website. For example, if your website is example.com, the file should be accessible at example.com/robots.txt. It cannot be placed in subdirectories and must be named exactly "robots.txt" (case-sensitive). Each subdomain requires its own robots.txt file.

Disallow (in robots.txt) prevents search engines from crawling a page, while noindex (meta tag) prevents them from indexing it. Importantly, if you block a page with robots.txt, search engines can't see the noindex tag, so the page might still appear in search results. Use robots.txt for crawl control and noindex meta tags for index control.

No, you should not block CSS and JavaScript files in robots.txt. Google specifically warns against this practice because search engines need to access these resources to render your pages properly and understand your content. Blocking these files can hurt your SEO as search engines won't see your pages as users do.

No, robots.txt should never be used for security purposes. The file is publicly accessible and actually reveals the locations you're trying to hide. For sensitive content, use proper security measures like password protection, server-level access controls, or noindex meta tags. Robots.txt is only for managing legitimate search engine crawling.

Wildcards in robots.txt include the asterisk (*) which matches any sequence of characters, and the dollar sign ($) which indicates the end of a URL. For example, "Disallow: /*.pdf$" blocks all PDF files, while "Disallow: /search*" blocks all URLs starting with /search. Use wildcards carefully as mistakes can accidentally block important content.

Use Google Search Console's robots.txt Tester tool to validate your file. Go to the "robots.txt" report in Search Console to check for errors and test specific URLs. You can also manually check if your file is accessible at yoursite.com/robots.txt. Always test after making changes to ensure you haven't accidentally blocked important pages.

For WordPress sites, commonly block /wp-admin/ (admin area), /wp-login.php (login page), and /wp-includes/ (core files). Include your sitemap URL and avoid blocking /wp-content/ as it contains themes and plugins. Many WordPress sites also block search result pages and private content directories. Always test changes carefully to avoid blocking important content.

Yes, robots.txt rules are case-sensitive. This means "Disallow: /Admin/" will not block "/admin/". To ensure complete blocking, you may need multiple rules for different cases or use consistent lowercase paths on your website. The filename itself must also be exactly "robots.txt" in lowercase.

You can only have one robots.txt file per domain or subdomain. Each subdomain (like blog.example.com) needs its own robots.txt file. Having multiple files with the same name in the same directory will cause conflicts. If you need complex rules, use a single robots.txt file with multiple user-agent blocks and directives.

If you accidentally block your entire site (with "Disallow: /"), your pages may disappear from search results. Fix this immediately by correcting your robots.txt file, then request re-crawling through Google Search Console. Submit your sitemap again and monitor your indexing status. Recovery can take days to weeks depending on your site's crawl frequency and importance.

Yes, including your sitemap URL in robots.txt is a best practice. Add "Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml" to help search engines discover your content more efficiently. While you should also submit sitemaps directly through Search Console, including them in robots.txt provides an additional discovery method for search engines.