Robots.txt Generator

robots.txt is a plain text file placed in the root of a website that tells compliant web crawlers which parts of the site they may or may not access. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP) and is voluntarily followed by search engines like Google, Bing, and others.

The robots.txt file must be placed in the root directory of your domain. For example, if your site is example.com, the file should be accessible at https://example.com/robots.txt. It cannot be read from subdirectories.

No. robots.txt controls crawling, not indexing. If a page is disallowed in robots.txt but linked from external sites, search engines may still index the URL without crawling its content. To prevent indexing, use the noindex meta tag or X-Robots-Tag HTTP header.

Yes. You can block Googlebot by adding a User-agent: Googlebot group with Disallow directives. Googlebot respects robots.txt and will not crawl the specified paths.

It is good practice to have one even if you want all crawlers to have full access. An empty or permissive robots.txt (User-agent: * Allow: /) prevents crawl errors in search console and gives you a place to add your sitemap URL.

Yes. You can include multiple Sitemap directives pointing to different sitemap files. Google and other major search engines support multiple sitemap references in robots.txt.

If no robots.txt file exists, crawlers assume they are allowed to crawl every URL on the site. Your pages will still be indexed normally, but you miss the opportunity to provide sitemap references or block unwanted crawlers.

No. Google does not support the Crawl-delay directive. To manage Google's crawl rate, use the Google Search Console crawl rate settings instead. Some other crawlers including Bing and Yandex may honor Crawl-delay.

No. robots.txt is a publicly visible file that only blocks compliant crawlers. Malicious bots and humans can still access blocked URLs. Never rely on robots.txt for security — use proper authentication and access controls instead.

robots.txt controls crawling at the directory or file level across your entire site. Meta robots tags control indexing on a per-page basis in the HTML head. They serve different purposes: robots.txt = crawl control, meta robots = index control.

robots.txt tells crawlers what not to crawl. An XML Sitemap tells crawlers what content is available and how it is organized. They work together: robots.txt excludes unimportant content, the sitemap highlights important content.

Yes. You can use pattern matching to block specific file types. For example, Disallow: /*.pdf$ blocks all PDF files. However, support for pattern matching varies by crawler.

You can test your robots.txt by visiting the URL directly (yoursite.com/robots.txt), using Google Search Console's robots.txt Tester, or using the live preview in this generator to verify the syntax.

Google and some other crawlers support wildcards: * matches any sequence of characters, and $ marks the end of a URL. For example, Disallow: /*.pdf$ blocks all PDF files while Disallow: /private/* blocks everything under /private/.

Yes. Each subdomain requires its own robots.txt file. The file at subdomain.example.com/robots.txt only applies to subdomain.example.com, not example.com or other subdomains.

Yes. You can block known AI crawlers like GPTBot, CCBot, and others by adding dedicated User-agent groups with Disallow: /. However, new AI crawlers appear frequently, and not all respect robots.txt. Blocking AI crawlers is a valid use of robots.txt, but it is not a guaranteed solution.

Indirectly. robots.txt does not directly influence search rankings. However, it affects which pages search engines can crawl. Blocking important pages can prevent them from being indexed and ranked. Properly configured, robots.txt helps search engines discover and crawl your most valuable content.

Use a text editor or a robots.txt generator like this tool. Start with a User-agent directive, then add Allow or Disallow rules for specific paths. Include a Sitemap directive pointing to your XML sitemap. Save the file as robots.txt and upload it to the root directory of your domain.

Crawlers handle errors differently. Some may ignore the entire file and crawl everything. Others may stop crawling certain sections. A syntax error in one directive can cause the rest of the file to be misinterpreted. Always validate your robots.txt before deploying.

By convention, directives are case-insensitive (<code class="text-foreground bg-muted/50 rounded-sm px-1 py-0.5 text-xs font-mono">User-agent</code> and <code class="text-foreground bg-muted/50 rounded-sm px-1 py-0.5 text-xs font-mono">user-agent</code> are both valid). However, path values are typically case-sensitive on most web servers. <code class="text-foreground bg-muted/50 rounded-sm px-1 py-0.5 text-xs font-mono">Disallow: /Admin</code> may not match <code class="text-foreground bg-muted/50 rounded-sm px-1 py-0.5 text-xs font-mono">/admin</code>. It is safest to use consistent casing.

The Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP) is the standard that defines how robots.txt works. It specifies the format and meaning of User-agent, Allow, Disallow, Sitemap, and Crawl-delay directives. The REP is a voluntary standard — compliant crawlers choose to follow it, but malicious bots may ignore it entirely.