Search Engines uses robots (User-Agents) to crawl web pages. The robots.txt file is a text file that defines which parts of a domain can be crawled by a robot. In addition, the robots.txt file can include a link to the XML-sitemap.
Whenever search engines crawl a website, the first thing it looks for is a robots.txt file in the domain root. If found, the search engine then reads the file’s list of directives to see which directories and files, are accessible and also check for the ones that are blocked from it access. This file can be created with a robots.txt file generator.
This Free Tool allows you to easily create robots.txt file for your site.
you can create and copy the text or create and save the file.
Robots.txt allows webmasters or developers to control how search engines navigate their websites. By specifying the directories or pages that should be excluded from indexing, you can prevent search engines from crawling sensitive information or low-value pages.
Search engine crawlers consume server resources while indexing a website. By using robots.txt to limit crawlers’ access to non-essential areas, you can conserve server bandwidth and reduce the load on their servers.
You can use robots.txt to prioritize important pages or directories, directing search engines to focus on indexing those that contribute the most to the website’s overall value.
By disallowing crawlers from accessing certain directories, you can enhance the privacy and security of sensitive data, such as admin panels or user accounts.
Implications of Using Robots.txt Incorrectly
Blocking Essential Pages: Misconfiguration may result in search engines being blocked from indexing crucial pages, causing a drop in organic traffic and visibility.
Unintentional Disallowance: A single typo or syntax error in the robots.txt file can inadvertently block crawlers from indexing an entire website.
Mixed Signals: Inconsistent or conflicting instructions in robots.txt and meta tags can confuse search engines, leading to incomplete indexing and unpredictable rankings.
Indexing Duplicate Content: If not properly managed, robots.txt can allow search engines to index duplicate content, which can adversely affect SEO efforts.
Blocking CSS and JavaScript Files: Preventing search engines from accessing CSS and JavaScript files can lead to improper website rendering, resulting in a poor user experience.
So, it is important that you carefully review and test your robots.txt file before implementation.
Google uses a process called “crawling” to find and index web pages and it is done in following order;
Crawling: Google uses automated programs called “Googlebot” or “spiders” to crawl the web. These bots follow links from one page to another, and as they go, they collect information about each page they visit, including its content, structure, and any links it contains.
Indexing: Once Googlebot has crawled a web page, the information it collects is added to Google’s index. This is essentially a massive database of all the pages that Google has crawled, organized by keywords and other relevant data.
Ranking: When someone performs a search on Google, the search engine uses an algorithm to determine which pages in its index are most relevant to the query. This algorithm takes into account a wide range of factors, including the content of the page, the quality and relevance of the links pointing to it, and the user’s location and search history.
When Googlebot (Google’s web crawler) encounters a robots.txt file on a site, it reads and interprets the instructions contained within. These instructions guide Googlebot on which pages to crawl, which directories to avoid, and how often to revisit the site.
To verify a website’s robots.txt file, follow these steps:
You can manually check by typing the website’s URL followed by “/robots.txt” (e.g., www.example.com/robots.txt) into your web browser. This will display the robots.txt file, if available. If your website doesn’t have one, then you should generate it by using Robots txt generator.
Alternatively, you can check if your website has a robots.txt file using Google Search Cole. Google search console has a “robots.txt Tester” tool that provides valuable insights into how Googlebot interacts with the file.