Robots.txt Generator
Build a robots.txt file visually. Add user-agent rules, allow/disallow paths, sitemap URL, and crawl delay.
Build a robots.txt file visually. Add user-agent rules, allow/disallow paths, sitemap URL, and crawl delay.
The robots.txt file is a text file placed at the root of your website that tells search engine crawlers which pages and directories they are allowed to access. It is the first file a crawler checks before indexing your site. A well-configured robots.txt file helps manage crawl budget, prevent indexing of duplicate or private content, and guide search engines to your most important pages.
Start with the default rule block for all user agents (the wildcard *). Add Disallow paths for pages you want to block from crawling, such as admin panels, staging areas, or duplicate content. Use Allow paths to explicitly permit access to specific subdirectories within a blocked path. Add additional user-agent blocks to create specific rules for different crawlers like Googlebot or Bingbot.
Including your sitemap URL in the robots.txt file helps search engines discover your XML sitemap quickly without having to search for it. The crawl-delay directive requests that a crawler wait a specified number of seconds between requests. Note that Google does not honor crawl-delay, but Bing and other crawlers do. Use it when your server has limited resources.
Do not block your CSS or JavaScript files, as Google needs them to render your pages properly. Avoid blocking pages that you want indexed. Remember that robots.txt is a directive, not a security measure. Sensitive content should be protected with authentication, not just a Disallow rule. Always test your robots.txt file after deploying it.