What is Robots.txt?


What You Need to Know about Robots.txt

Strategic Crawl Budget Management

This protocol directs search engine bots away from administrative pages, duplicate content, and low-value sections, ensuring crawlers focus on revenue-driving pages that matter for rankings.

Syntax Errors Break Crawling

A single syntax mistake in robots.txt can accidentally block your entire site from search engines, causing catastrophic drops in organic traffic and revenue.

Testing Before Deployment Is Critical

Google Search Console’s robots.txt tester lets you validate directives before publishing, preventing costly mistakes that could hide important pages from search results.

Disallow Doesn’t Prevent Indexing

Blocking a page in robots.txt stops crawling but doesn’t guarantee deindexing. Pages can still appear in search results if other sites link to them with anchor text.

Platform-Specific Implementation Challenges

Ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WordPress often generate default robots.txt files that may block important pages, requiring careful review and customization for optimal performance.

Regular Audits Catch Configuration Drift

As sites evolve, robots.txt files can become outdated, accidentally blocking new product categories or important content sections that should be crawlable for rankings.


Frequently Asked Questions about Robots.txt

1. What’s the difference between robots.txt and meta robots tags?

Robots.txt controls crawler access at the file level before they reach pages, while meta robots tags control indexing behavior after crawlers access page content.

2. Can robots.txt hurt my search rankings?

Yes, blocking important pages or entire sections accidentally can prevent Google from crawling and indexing revenue-driving content, resulting in significant ranking and traffic losses.

3. Should ecommerce sites block search and filter pages?

Generally yes, to prevent crawl budget waste and duplicate content issues. Use robots.txt or meta robots tags to block faceted navigation URLs while keeping main category pages accessible.

4. How often should I review my robots.txt file?

Review quarterly or after major site changes, redesigns, or platform migrations. Check Google Search Console regularly for blocked pages that shouldn’t be restricted.


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Related Terms

XML

XML is a markup language used in SEO primarily through XML sitemaps that help search engines discover and index website pages more efficiently.

XML

Referrer

Referrer is the URL of the previous webpage a user visited before landing on your site, transmitted through HTTP headers and used for traffic attribution.

Referrer

Status Codes

HTTP status codes tell search engines whether pages are accessible, moved, or unavailable, directly affecting crawl efficiency and indexing.

Status Codes

.htaccess File

.htaccess is a server configuration file controlling Apache web server behavior, essential for SEO redirects and technical optimizations.

.htaccess File


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