What is Robots.txt? What is the Correct Format Specification for it?

What is Robots.txt What is the Correct Format Specification for it

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Robots.txt is a text file that is used to manage search engine crawlers.

Nextwinz use robots to instruct search engine crawlers which pages or parts of content can be crawled and indexed and which cannot. Robots rule files are usually located at a website’s root and named robots.txt.

What is Robots.txt?

In search engines and website indexing, robots.txt is a small yet critical file that controls how web crawlers interact with your site. It tells search engine bots (like Google) which parts of your website they can access and index and which parts they should leave alone.

The robots.txt file is placed in the root directory of your website and is one of the first things search engines check when they begin crawling a site. By issuing specific commands in this file, you can manage crawler access, avoid overloading your server with requests, and ensure that sensitive or non-essential pages aren’t indexed.

What is a Google Search Console?

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free web service provided by Google that enables website owners, webmasters, and SEO professionals to monitor and optimize their site’s presence in Google search results. Formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, it offers tools and reports that help users understand how Google indexes their site, troubleshoot issues, and improve their search performance.

Why is Robots.txt important for Google SEO?

Why is Robots.txt important for Google SEO

Control search engine crawler access

Web admins control which pages or parts of content can be accessed and indexed by search engine crawlers. This helps to avoid unnecessary pages being indexed, such as:

  • Duplicate content
  • Temporary or test pages
  • Backend management page
  • Inconsequential or low-quality pages

By restricting these contents, you can improve the performance of essential pages in search results.

Improve the efficiency of grabbing

Search engine crawlers have a crawl budget, which means they are limited in the time and resources spent on each website. Using robots.txt files to block crawlers from accessing irrelevant or low-value pages, you can focus your crawler’s crawl budget on more important pages, increasing the indexing speed and frequency and SEO guide.

Block private pages

Some pages or files contain sensitive information, such as thank you pages, that you don’t want publicly searched or indexed. With robots.txt, you can stop search engine crawlers from accessing these contents, thus preventing them from appearing in search results.

Avoid search engine penalties

Some search engines, including Google, may penalize duplicate content, low-quality pages, or content that violates search engine guidelines. With robots.txt files, you can effectively manage and control this content and avoid unnecessary search engine penalties to maintain or improve your website’s search rankings.

Proper use of Robots.txt processes

Proper use of Robots.txt processes

Robot rules

Format Specifications:

  • File name: The file name must be robots.txt, and all letters must be lowercase.
  • Location: The file should be stored in the website’s root directory, which is the directory where the domain name points directly.
  • The formatted robots.txt file should be a plain text file and should not contain any HTML or script code.
  • Annotations: Annotations can be added using the # symbol, and search engines will not parse the annotation content.
  • Blank lines: To improve the file’s readability, you can leave blank lines between instructions.

Directives & Rules:

The robot.txt file consists of instructions, each taking a line. Common directives include User-agent, Disallow, Allow, and Sitemap.

User-agent

  • What it does: What it does is specify the name of the search engine crawler to which the following rules apply; furthermore, this ensures that the directives are clearly understood and correctly implemented.
  • Syntax: User-agent: [crawl name]. Among them, * stands for all crawlers
  • Examples:
Syntax Description
User-agent: * Applies to all web crawlers. Indicates that the following rules apply to all crawlers.
User-agent: Googlebot Only applies to Google’s crawler, Googlebot.
User-agent: Bingbot This only applies to Bing’s crawler, Bingbot.

Disallow

  • Purpose: Specify the URL path that you do not allow crawlers to access.
  • Syntax😀 disallow: [path]. Paths can use wildcards * and $, where * represents an arbitrary sequence of characters and $ represents the end of the path.
  • Examples:
Syntax Description
Disallow: / Prohibit access to the entire website. Crawlers will not retrieve any pages from the website.
Disallow: (empty) An empty Disallow allows crawlers to visit all content.
Disallow: /** Prohibit access to all URLs that include query parameters (? and everything after it).
Disallow: /wp-admin/ Prohibit crawlers from accessing the WordPress admin directory to avoid crawling unnecessary admin pages.
Disallow: /wp-includes/ Prohibit crawlers from accessing WordPress’s core files to prevent indexing important internal files.
Disallow: /?s= Prohibit crawlers from retrieving search results pages to avoid indexing unnecessary or duplicate content.

Special emphasis on Disallow: Configure carefully to avoid forgetting to remove it, as this can prevent the entire site from being included.

Allow

  • Purpose: Contrary to Disallow, specify the URL path crawlers can access. It often overrides a broader range of Disallow rules when used with Disallow.
  • Syntax: Allow: [path], the path rules are the same as Disallow.
  • Example: To prevent crawlers from accessing the entire /wp-admin/ directory, you must, however, allow access to the admin-ajax.php files.
Example Syntax Description
User-agent: * Indicates that the following rules apply to all web crawlers.
Disallow: /wp-admin/ Prohibits crawlers from accessing the entire /wp-admin/ directory.
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php Allows crawlers to access the admin-ajax.php file within the /wp-admin/ directory

Sitemap

  • Purpose: Specify the URL address of the sitemap to help search engines better crawl the content of the website
  • Syntax: Sitemap: [URL]
  • Examples:
Syntax Description
https://xxxx/sitemap.xml Indicates that the website’s sitemap file is located at this URL.

Notes

  • Case-sensitive: Search engine crawlers are case-sensitive, so you need to be case-sensitive when writing robots.txt files.
  • Validity verification: After writing, you can verify the validity of the robots.txt file through a search engine tool or an online verification tool.
  • Avoid accidental bans: Double-check when writing rules to make sure you don’t mistakenly block important pages or resources.
  • Regular updates: Depending on how the website changes, it is necessary to update robots.txt documents regularly.

Create a Robots file manually

Use a text editor to create a new file and name it Robots.txt. Add the rules you want search engines to follow in your robots.txt file, writing examples:
Create a Robots file manually
  • Crawlers are blocked from accessing the /admin/, /login/, and /private/ directories, but they are allowed to access the /public/ directory.
  • Only Google crawlers are blocked from accessing the /test/ directory.
  • Finally, add the sitemap of the website

Robots file uploaded to the website

Upload the robots.txt file to the root directory of your website. As shown in the following diagram, using SiteGround web hosting as an example, this step is essential for ensuring search engine crawlers know which parts of your site they can access.

Moreover, by placing this file in the correct location, you enhance your site’s SEO strategy and control its visibility on search engines.

Robots file uploaded to the website

Automate the creation of Robots files

You can use WordPress with plugins to automatically configure settings on third-party website building systemsRecommended plugins: AIOSEO, Rank Math SEO, Yoast SEO, SEOPress

I’m using the AIO SEO plugin to generate Robots here, as follows:
In the AIOSEO plugin, under the Tools menu column, go to Robots.txt Editor, turn on the Enable Custom Robots.txt switch, add or import Robots rule, and save it to see the actual effect.

Test the Robots file

You can test robots.txt files in the following ways:

  1. First, use the Google Search Console. This tool allows you to check how Googlebot interprets your robots.txt file. 
  2. Additionally, you can employ online testing tools. Several websites offer robots.txt testing services, enabling you to analyze your file’s effectiveness quickly and easily.
  3. Moreover, consider manually checking the file by visiting your website.com/robots.txt. Reviewing the contents directly ensures that your directives are correctly formatted and reflect your intentions.
  4. Finally, after making any changes, always remember to test again. This ensures that your updates work as expected and that crawlers will access or avoid the specified paths accordingly.

Browser access test

To ensure the file displays correctly, access http://xxxx/robots.txt in your browser.

Google Search Console tool test

  • Sign in to Google Search Console.
  • Select the website to view.
  • In the left navigation menu, find the “Settings” section and click “robots.txt” in the scrape section.
  • to view the status of the robots.txt file

 Third-party online tool testing

You can use some online tools to test your robots.txt files, such as the Technicalseo Robots.txt Tester (visit URL: https://technicalseo.com/tools/robots-txt/).

Conclusion

The robots.txt file may be small; however, it holds substantial power in controlling search engines’ crawling and indexing of your site. Moreover, a correctly configured robots.txt file improves your site’s SEO and guides search engine bots to your most valuable content while keeping irrelevant pages hidden. 

Furthermore, robots.txt optimizes your site for better search visibility, saves server resources, and protects sensitive information from being indexed. Whether you manage a small website or a large-scale e-commerce platform, implementing a practical robot.txt file is crucial for enhancing your online presence.

FAQs

What happens if I don’t have a robots.txt file?

If your website doesn’t have a robots.txt file, crawlers will assume they can access all pages. Consequently, they will only avoid those pages protected by other methods, such as ‘no index’ tags. Therefore, it is crucial to create a robots.txt file to indicate which sections of your site you want to restrict. Moreover, without this file, you risk exposing sensitive content you may not want indexed.

Can I block specific search engines using robots.txt?

You can block individual search engine bots by specifying their user agent name in the robots.txt file. For example, to block Bingbot, you would

Does robots.txt prevent my content from appearing in search results?

No, while robots.txt prevents crawlers from accessing specific URLs, it does not necessarily stop those URLs from appearing in search results. You must use a “no index” meta tag or other methods.

Is robots.txt a security measure?

No, robots.txt does not provide security. It simply gives instructions to crawlers; however, it doesn’t stop users from accessing URLs directly. Therefore, while the robots.txt file serves as a guideline for search engines, it does not provide any security measures for the content.

How do I test my robots.txt file?

You can test your robots.txt file using tools like Google Search Console’s “robots.txt Tester or third-party testing tools to see if it’s working as intended.

Can robots.txt improve my site speed?

By preventing unnecessary crawling of specific pages, robots.txt can reduce the load on your server, improving site performance for users.

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