Robots.txt

Why It Matters

Robots.txt helps search engines crawl your site efficiently by blocking unimportant pages (admin areas, duplicate content) and directing them to valuable content. Proper robots.txt usage improves crawl budget efficiency, prevents indexing of sensitive areas, and can speed up discovery of new content by up to 40%.

How It Works

Search engine crawlers check the robots.txt file before crawling any pages. The file uses directives like 'User-agent' to specify which bot, 'Disallow' to block URLs, and 'Allow' to permit specific paths. The file is located at yourdomain.com/robots.txt and uses specific syntax that crawlers understand.

Use Cases

• An e-commerce site blocks crawling of cart, checkout, and admin pages to save crawl budget for product pages
• A large site disallows crawling of search result pages and filtered URLs that create duplicate content
• A staging website uses robots.txt to block all crawlers while in development

Best Practices

• Block admin areas, shopping cart pages, and internal search results that waste crawl budget
• Don't block CSS, JavaScript, or images - Google needs these to understand pages properly
• Use robots.txt for crawl control, not for preventing indexing (use noindex meta tag instead)
• Include your sitemap.xml location in robots.txt to help crawlers discover it
• Test robots.txt changes with Google Search Console's robots.txt tester before deploying
• Remember robots.txt is publicly accessible - don't use it to hide sensitive information